From: 	Doug Roncarati
To:	Helen Donaldson;  Jennifer Thompson
CC:	David Margolis-Pineo;  David Senus;  Jeff Tarling
Date: 	1/2/2014 2:55 PM
Subject: 	Re: maintenance agreement for 130 Eastern Promenade

Hi Nell,
 
I don't have any major issues with the maintenance agreement and concur with Jennifer's comments.  
 
However, the maintenance plan is pretty generic and not very informative.  It does not provide a schedule for inspection, nor does it tell the owner what problems to look for during an inspection.  What do they do if the there is soil erosion, the mulch washes away or the plants die?  How does one care for the plants throughout the year?  When do I weed, remove old growth or replace dead plants?  If I were the owner of this rain garden I would not have much of anything to go on and would probably not maintain the rain garden.  The engineering firm should provide a more detailed annual inspection/maintenance schedule that lists what time of year specific tasks should be done to ensure proper functioning of this permitted stormwater BMP. A maintenance checklist is always helpful for the owner.  Note that it would also be helpful if the rain garden design drawing, planting plan/plant list and inspection/maintenance plan be included in one document to make it easier for the owner to meet their maintenance obligations. 
 
Note that I've CC'd Jeff Tarling, Dave Senus and David Margolis-Pineo on this email, since they also review these systems.
 
Doug