Lowell Conservation Commission Clears Hadley Park Lights, Ratifies Beaver Dam Breach

LOWELL -- May 14, 2025, Lowell Conservation Commission unanimously approved two city projects at its May 14 meeting. The board issued a negative 3 determination of applicability for a city of Lowell proposal to install six LED athletic light poles at Hadley Park, 1650 Middlesex Street, where a baseball field currently has no lighting. Colleen Fowler of Gail Associates and city representative Sarah Brown told commissioners that land disturbance would stay under 15,000 square feet and that geotechnical borings had confirmed the poles would sit at least 20 to 30 feet from the Blackbrook, an underground stream running through the park in an aging culvert that the city plans to reconstruct in roughly five years. The board also ratified an emergency certification allowing the city's Department of Public Works to breach a beaver dam at 45 Wellworth Street to address residential flooding, with the vendor Watch-Us-Life confirmed to have successfully reduced water levels. A third item, a determination of applicability request from Kiss Commuter Services, was continued to May 28 after the applicant did not appear.