MASHPEE CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Minutes of July 22, 2004
Public Hearing
Mashpee Town Hall Meeting Room 1
Commissioners present: Jack Fitzsimmons, Chairman, Leonard Pinaud, Clerk, Lloyd Allen, Cass Costa, Jeffrey Cross, Stephanie Jones, John Miller and Ralph Shaw.
Staff present: Robert Sherman, Agent, and Frances Wise, Board Secretary.
Jack Fitzsimmons, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 6:55 p.m.
Public Comment:
1. Don Megathlin, McLean Realty, requested our action on a 20 ft. easement on Great Neck Road South. He said a couple of months ago it was almost unanimously approved at the annual Town Meeting. Basically this involves about 2,900 linear feet that belongs to the Conservation Commission. There are about 75 trees in this 20 ft. easement, and only four have a diameter of 14” at about waist height. The environment analysis on shade trees was done by Horsley and Witten, who worked closely with the tree warden. Phase I involves Conservation Commission land, Phase II involves a coastal bank, so he will have to come back to the Commission as this phase gets under way, and Phase III involves some wetland, for which they will file a Notice of Intent.
Bob said he has not yet had corroboration from Town Counsel and Joyce Mason that this work does not need a typical Town Meeting vote, a Conservation Commission vote and a State Legislature vote. It may be that it does not, and he will bring it up with Town Counsel at a meeting on Monday. Bob doesn’t think the project is at all objectionable in that it serves a public purpose and has minimal impact on our Conservation land, but he wants to be sure we are on firm legal ground. He had no objection to our approving Phase I contingent on Town Counsel’s approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve Phase I of the work on Town Conservation land contingent upon Town Counsel’s saying that a State Legislature approval is not needed.
2. Anthony Ricci said he and his wife just purchased property at 14 Pem Lane. When they bought the property they had approval to install a dock. His question now is what kind of a boat can they tie to the dock – how do they determine the size of the boat, depth draft, etc. The low mean tide level in the area is about 19-20”. He would like to buy about a 23 ft. boat and have an ancillary motor of about 6-10 horsepower mounted on the back which he would use to get out to deeper water where he could drop the engine on tilt or run it on full bottom. Bob said he is reluctant to take the precedent of waiving our policy on the mean tide level. Also we have new dock and pier guidelines from DEP that we have not yet had a chance to integrate with our regulations. However, Bob said he doesn’t have any objection to considering it as an amended order.
Non-Hearing Agenda
Old Business:
1. Assistant Conservation Agent. At Bob’s recommendation, there will be a ConCom meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 29th to interview the top three applicants and make our recommendation to Joyce Mason who will make the final decision.
2. Request from AFCEE re monitoring wells. Len reclused himself from this discussion. Bob said AFCEE is requesting two monitoring wells on Conservation land. Bob said they are necessary, the work will also result in a small parking lot for us, and they will revegetate where needed. Bob recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the AFCEE request to build the two wells per the above.
3. Vacation. Bob said he will be taking vacation the week of August 1st and he will leave his recommendations for the August 5th hearings for the commissioners.
4. Save the Bay letter. Bob said the Board which is responsible for the substation for the windmill farm has turned down Popponesset Bay as a site, so we won’t have to deal with that.
5. Regulation revisions for Chapter 173. Bob distributed to the members 1) the Mashpee Code for our current wetlands by-law which governs the use of Conservations lands and 2) the Proposed Regulations for Chapter 173 – Conservations Lands. He said we should develop a fine schedule.
6. RFAA SE-43-2170. Bob described this administrative approval and recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve RFAA SE-43-2170.
7. RFAA SE-43-2202. Bob described this administrative approval and recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve RFAA SE-43-2202.
8. RFAA SE-43-2030. Bob described this administrative approval and recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve RFAA SE-43-2030.
9. Approval of minutes for 6/10/04 and 6/24/04.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the above minutes.
New Business: None.
Hearing Agenda
7:00 p.m., Charles Viglas, 10 Spoondrift Circle (pier, ramp, float, seawall, water and electric services). Dave Sanicki represented the applicant and described the project. Bob asked if an application has been made to the Board of Appeals, and the answer was no. Therefore, Bob said we cannot hear this project until applications for all permits have been made.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:25 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:05 p.m., William Levine, 37 Fiddler Crab Lane (deck, addition and exterior shower, plantings). Dave Sanicki represented the applicant. Bob said he has not had a chance to run the calculations, so he recommended a continuance.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:30 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:10 p.m., Fred Blythe, 228 Wading Place Road (chain link gate). Bob said he has had at least four conversations with Town Counsel and Catherine Gates on this matter. This afternoon he laid the most recent stamped Cape & Islands plan over the last survey plan (which is still under appeal) and they didn’t quite jive. It appears that one of the posts of the gate is off the property line. He discussed this with Town Counsel who concurs that we should not hear this case until we know if the plan is correct. Jack read a portion of a letter from Town Counsel regarding this application as follows: “In my opinion, the Conservation Commission would not have jurisdiction or authority to render any kind of determination on public access rights and other issues relevant to the
nature of proprietary interests on the subject filed.”
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:35 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:15 p.m., John Crowley, 108 Uncle Percy’s Road (upgrade septic repair to Title V). Dave Sanicki represented the applicant and described the plan.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:20 p.m., Marie Marshall, 11 Crow Road (remove and replace ties, sandbox). Mrs. Marshall was present. Bob described the plan and recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:25 p.m., Michael Crowe, 32 Popponesset Avenue (install a lawn, after the fact). Bob recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:30 p.m., Ken Marsters, 12 Wintergreen Road, (continued from 7/8/04). Bob said the septic plan still is not before the Board of Health.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 19th at 7:05 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:35 p.m., Babette E. Liebman, 86 Summersea Road (continued from 7/8/04). Sarah Turano-Flores represented the applicant. She requested a continuance because we don’t have a continuing quorum since Michael Talbot was not present, and also they now need to address the coastal bank delineation.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:50 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:40 p.m., Gary Locarno, 51 Waterline Drive (revoke permit 43-2232). Bob said Michael Grotzke advised by certified mail that he intended to be here for this hearing, but he was not. Bob said Mr. Locarno is in the middle of his fourth violation. He showed a photo of a violation in September 2003 and current photos showing an area where the vegetation along a pathway has been cleaned out and substituted with a sub species of rose which was never approved in our plan, and a recently cut lawn. Bob then showed a 2001 plan where the owner was supposed to have planted some white pine and other things, but this never happened. He had a violation in 2003 which we closed when he did a planting according to our plan. When he came to us after this recent violation, we made him re-file the vista pruning which he
did under SE 43-2230, and in that case it doesn’t show the vegetation that was put in by the landscaper, but it did indicate supplementary plantings along the edges of the path which were not roses, but native plants. Also, it’s indicated that one area once again was supposed to be allowed to regenerate, but there is nothing there now – everything is gone. One of his most recent Order of Conditions (SE 43-2232) says, “Any further violations of this property is due cause for the Mashpee Conservation Commission to revoke this Order of Conditions and no further vista pruning will be allowed at the site.” Bob’s recommendation is to vote to revoke this Order of Conditions, the exact methodology to be determined by conversations he will have with DEP and Town Counsel.
Jack read a letter from Mr. Locarno dated 7/14/04 saying he transplanted bushes that weren’t thriving in the present location. Bob said his letter means nothing. He’s saying he transplanted bushes when he had no permission to do so, he hasn’t followed the plan, and not only are the areas around the walkway devoid of acceptable rose bushes (Bob doesn’t think they are a native rose and probably aren’t appropriate), but another area which was supposed to be vegetated under a previous enforcement order was vegetated at one point, but it is now bare again. The man does not pay attention to the law.
Michael Grotzke arrived at this point. He said Mr. Locarno recognized that what was done was not permissible. Mr. Grotzke presented copies of the contractor’s estimate which explains what his proposal was. The intent was to address the failure of the plants to grow properly, beef up the landscape, enrich the soil and increase the number of plantings. What happened in reality was quite different than the proposal.
Bob pointed out that in the last Order of Conditions for the Notice of Intent to apply for a vista pruning we included a planting scheme in response to a violation. He was only permitted to remove the poison ivy and briar by hand. The revegetation was planted there and now is gone. Mr. Grotzke acknowledged that was so. He requested the Commission to issue an enforcement order giving his client 60-90 days to do the work, and if it is not acceptable then revoke the vista pruning.
Bob said he doesn’t see any reason not to revoke the vista pruning Order of Conditions now since this is the fourth violation.
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to revoke the vista pruning Order of Conditions (SE 43-2232) and issue an Enforcement Order ordering a revegetation plan to conform to what we previously had in place.
7:45 p.m., Willowbend Development Corp. LLC, 37 Shoestring Bay Road (continued from 7/8/04).
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:20 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:50 p.m., William Kramer, 41 Pond Circle (construct addition with deck). Bob said when he visited the site he discovered some serious violations possibly done by the previous owner.
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 19thh at 7:00 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:55 p.m., Charles Viglas, 10 Spoondrift Circle (demolish house, construct house, deck, septic, utilities and landscaping). Dave Sanicki and Tony Ferragamo represented the applicant. Mr. Ferragamo described the project. Bob said the plan gives us a much more enhanced vegetation complex than we had before and he recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
8:00 p.m., Eric Peterson, 80 Punkhorn Point (construct pier ramp, float with maintenance in perpetuity). Dave Sanicki represented the applicant and described the project. A jet-ski propulsion boat was proposed. A similar boat was used on the adjacent property. Since we have not had DMF’s recommendations, Bob said he would not feel comfortable approving the plan.
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 19th at 7:10 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
8:05 p.m., Edmund and Maureen English, 3 Ocean Bluff (a/k/a/) Shore Drive (construct beach access stairs and walkway). Michael Grotzke represented the applicant. Bob visited the site and recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
8:10 p.m., Robert and Syrul Lurie, 29 Shoestring Bay Road (construct single dwelling, driveway, landscaping, pool and retaining wall). Since the plan was not submitted five days prior to this hearing, Bob said we cannot hear it tonight.
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:40 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
8:15 p.m., James Crocker Jr., Trustee, 14 Sampson’s Mill Road Lane (construct commercial office building, parking, septic, utilities and drainage).
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to August 5th at 7:15 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
8:20 p.m., Elliot Bloom, 41 Fiddler Crab Lane (demolish existing structure and construct new home). Jack Vaccaro represented the applicant. Having met with Bob at the site, he requested a continuation to work out a revised buffer restoration plan.
Motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Frances Wise, Board Secretary
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