May 2, 2007
ConCom Business – Marion Way
Will ask C. McKee to determine when Marion Way OOC is expiring and address issue, requesting A. Couilliard to attend the next Conservation meeting.
ConCom Business - 165 School Street – Chesterton – M. Dempsey received an email from Chesterton regarding their stream project, and how it handled the overflow from the big rainstorm. It brought in a lot of silt and filled it with silt again. Chesterton wants to know where the silt originated from. Possibly out of ConCom’s jurisdiction. M. Dempsey carry out a site visit with T. Grim. Possible site visit date: Saturday, May 5th.
ConCom Business – Minutes
M. Dempsey made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted for April 4, 2007. J. Termini 2nd. Unanimous.
ConCom Business – Commissioner
M. Dempsey got a call from a potential Conservation Commissioner. Jennifer Rogers will now be working on Open Space and Trails Committee.
ConCom Business – Community Preservation Fund Warrant Articles –
All warrant articles on CPA were approved. Veasey Park will be getting a new roof, upgraded electrical system and $75,000 toward purchasing land on Uptack Road. M. Dempsey spoke with Trust Republic Land regarding negotiating a purchase and sale. M. Dempsey made a motion to authorize him to begin negotiations with Sue Hancock to purchase eight (8) acres on Uptack Road. T. Grim 2nd. Amendment: The majority of the Conservation Commissioners would like to see the purchase and sale negotiation agreement before it’s binding. All in favor. Unanimous.
Shanahan Field Development Project –
Present: Joe D’Amore, Bob Goreman
“Go Pentucket Soccer” is a non-profit organization. They are asking Conservation to consider the revitalization of Shanahan Field. Work involved would be building an extra field. They submitted a 2 year plan to accomplish: cleaning up the area behind the bleachers which is an overgrown forest, removing a dangerous tree that’s falling apart, implementing a formal and long-running maintenance for that field, creating a third field in 2008, and a parking lot. They left pictures and numerous written proposals, and plans for four fields, with the understanding that they would not be able to hold 4 games at one time. J. Termini asked if they had spoken with a wetland biologist yet. J. D’Amore said they’ve spoken with UMASS soil and plant testing services.
M. Dempsey told them the Town of Groveland needs to file with Conservation; that they’ll need a wetland scientist company to show where buffer zones, wetlands, impact, etc., before deciding which plan is best. J. D’Amore spoke with the abutter, Mr. Sheehan, and says Mr. Sheehan would like a “line of demarcation” to show the line of property.
They requested addressing the issue of the tree where it’s a safety concern. M. Dempsey told him the Town could file for a Groveland RDA permit, with a letter from the Town authorizing them to come before Conservation for a hearing, requesting to cut down the trees. The local filing fees would be waived. Secondly, they need to file a NOI with DEP/state and with Conservation for the other work.
4 Brierwood Land – GRDA
Present: Darryl Rowe
Darrell Rowe needs to cut 2 very old apple trees down. T. Schaefer went to the property for a site visit and says it’s within the 100’ buffer zone, and could not see any running water. Based on the visit, they are approximately 50’ from the edge of the wetlands. He intends to cut so they fall in a controlled manner and will chop them up. He will not use any truck, all work will be done by hand. There’s fairly low impact. M. Dempsey made a motion that ConCom grant a permit to cut down 2 trees with the condition that they work be done by hand and the stumps left in place. Clarification of “by hand” means using a chain saw is okay. J. Termini 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous. M. Dempsey will write a permit letter and
send via email.
Lot 4 – King St.
Present: Nick DeCoulous, Rob Ahern
History – Mr. Ahern and Mr. DeCoulous originally filed an NOI for a single family house. Conservation had turned them down. DEP issued a superceding order and permitted it. The house is 16’ from the wetlands buffer. They had to appeal to the state superior court to override the Groveland permit. Town Counsel recommended that ConCom settle and issue the best set of conditions that we could with the local permit. They then needed to get a building permit and ran into problems. Planning Board believes it’s a non-conforming lot and refused to sign-off on the building permit, but somehow a building permit was issued anyway.
There is a question if the building permit was illegally issued. M. Dempsey spoke with Greg Lebrecque asked about an issue with owed back taxes during the filing. G. Lebrecque’s opinion was that ConCom shouldn’t issue any permits either. M. Dempsey submitted a letter to Mr. Ahern telling him not to do any work until meeting with ConCom to determine Conservation’s position regarding the permits in light of this other information. M. Dempsey asked Mr. DeCoulous if he had the DEP superceding order, because according to DEP, it has expired and was not renewed. Mr. DeCoulous said he did not have it with him. M. Dempsey said everything is null and void if it’s true that the order has expired. N. DeCoulous thought the Groveland OOC overruled the DEP.
M. Dempsey said no, it does not overrule DEP, but that it goes hand-in-hand with DEP. ConCom cannot let them work without a DEP number. N. DeCoulous disagreed. L. Felch will contact DEP to get clarification on this issue.
J. Termini said ConCom cannot issue a permit with the tax issue. N. DeCoulous said it’s been taken care of, and submitted documentation to verify. He said there is a parcel of land, 8 acres, at the end of Ashcroft Terrace. He has an agreement with the Board of Appeals to donate it to the Town in memory of his daughter. He gave the Town a deed and they never did anything with it. N. DeCoulous said he contact G. Lebrecque two weeks ago. In the letter, he was told the taxes would be abated once N. DeCoulous gave the Town the deed. The 8 acres will lay fallow. He feels he is in compliance now.
M. Dempsey said he wants a letter from the Board of Selectmen saying the building permit is valid before moving forward, plus ConCom will contact DEP. He asked Mr. DeCoulous to not do any work until we make these contacts and a decision can be made. M. Dempsey proposes that ConCom gather more information and asked Mr. DeCoulous to apply for an extension for the Order of Conditions. Planning Board said Building Inspector has issued a Cease and Desist. Mr. Ahern said it was never issued. Planning Board is contending that the Building Inspector illegally issued the building permit.
N. DeCoulous claims he doesn’t need a permit from the state and won’t wait until the next meeting, June 6, 2007. M. Dempsey informed him that ConCom will start fining him. N. DeCoulous says they’re acting within the law. ConCom advised him that a DEP number needs to be posted according to the Order of Conditions. It’s a finable violation. M. Dempsey will follow up with the Selectmen. M. Dempsey suggests the policy of not signing off on building permits until the Planning Board has signed off.
M. Dempsey made a motion to adjourn at 8:45 pm. T. Schaefer 2nd. All in favor. Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Felch
Administrative Consultant
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