BY JENN MCDOWELL

The state Wetlands Bureau inspector in charge of the Hooksett Sewer Commission’s application to culvert a small stream next to the town’s sewage plant for expansion said the application has not been officially reviewed yet.

Jocelyn Degler, the wetlands inspector assigned to the site, said they have until the end of the month to make a final decision and send out their response to the Hooksett Sewer Commission.

Degler said she and Melissa Coppola of the Natural Heritage Bureau visited the site on Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 9 a.m.

At a Hooksett Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 22, Bruce Kudrick of the Sewer Commission expressed concern the Wetlands Bureau would not allow them to culvert the stream to install a second clarifier, but would instead require them to redirect the entire stream.

Installing a culvert requires putting a pipeline in to redirect the water. The Wetlands Bureau would prefer a trench to redirect the stream.

Kudrick said this was not feasible because it would require moving part of the stream onto their neighboring property, Brox Sand and Gravel.

He also pointed out the stream had been culverted before for the plant’s opening in 1969 and for an expansion in 1974.

Kudrick said the sewer commission sent in the application in mid-June, but Degler said they did not recieve all of the information to make the application complete until July 12.

A notice of administrative completeness was sent out on July 16, Degler said.

Kudrick told the Town Council it could take 75 days to get a response per the Wetland Bureau’s regulations.

Degler said that 75-day period started on July 16, which gives the bureau until Saturday, Sept. 29.

Degler said that while the application has not been thoroughly examined, the bureau does frown upon culverting the stream.

She said the site in question has “an exemplary natural community on it ... a system that is pretty rare in the state of New Hampshire.”

Degler would not comment on the specifics that make the site rare, but said she was working with Coppola, and added that Coppola would know more about the nature of the site.

A phone call was placed to Coppola, who said information about the natural significance of the stream in question was private.

Degler said the Wetlands Bureau is trying to ensure that the impact on the wetlands near the sewage plant is minimal and necessary.

She added, “Recently in the town of Hooksett, to be consistent, we required that they reconstruct the stream channel for the Lowe’s and Wal-Mart. We’re just trying to be consistent from one project to the next.”