SWAMPSCOTT — The new apartment development behind Stop & Shop in Vinnin Square took another step through the town’s approval process as the Earth Removal Advisory Committee reviewed an earth removal permit application that will now advance to the Select Board.

The permit covers excavation, movement of soil and rock, and related site work at the 555 Essex St. site. Project superintendent Mike Kalpin of Callahan Construction Managers and Nick Meninno of Meninno Construction appeared before ERAC to answer the committee’s questions related to the site and the permitting process.  

The project plans include a ground-level parking garage which will sit beneath 163 units of apartments. Meninno said the amount of excavation on the site will be relatively limited because the finished site will remain close to its existing elevation. 

“We’ve moved as much material for a house lot or a couple of house lots as we have for this whole building because… the finished grades of this site are very close to the existing grades,” Meninno said.

Meninno said the project has been designed to reuse nearly all of the material excavated on site. The existing asphalt parking lot was pulverized and blended with the material beneath it, allowing it to be incorporated into the new parking areas and building slabs rather than hauled away.

“Everything is being reused on the site,” Kalpin said. “We’re calling it a balanced site, but it could be 500 to 600 cubic yards of surplus material… for such a large site, for us that’s a near balance.”

Committee members also discussed construction hours, truck routes, erosion controls, dust suppression measures and management of a stockpile of loam containing Japanese knotweed removed from the site. Kalpin said the invasive plant has been isolated while the contractor determines the proper method of disposal or treatment.

“We disclosed it to the general contractor. They did the responsible thing by leaving it on site, and they have to find a facility for it,” Kalpin said. “We just don’t know where it’s going yet.”

Committee members, including Toni Bandrowicz, who chairs the conservation commission, noted that Japanese knotweed has been a historically invasive problem in the Essex Street area. 

Meninno also said dust generated during construction will be controlled with a dedicated water truck, and trucks hauling material from the site will be covered before leaving.

“We have a water truck that we keep onsite, and we have the stone construction entrance,” he said. “The truck is spraying, and you’re keeping the site damp to minimize dust.” 

During the meeting, committee members noted that approximately 300 to 400 cubic yards of ledge had already been blasted. Afterward, Kalpin clarified that the blasting work was conducted under a permit issued by the Swampscott Fire Department through the project’s blasting contractor, Explosive Technologies.

ERAC Chair Joe Markarian said he and Bandrowicz will draft permit conditions before bringing the application back to ERAC for approval. Once endorsed by the committee, the permit will be forwarded to the Select Board for a public hearing and final action.