MASHPEE CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Minutes of February 17, 2005
Public Hearing
Mashpee Town Hall Meeting Room 1
Commissioners present: Jack Fitzsimmons, Chairman, Michael Talbot, Vice Chairman, Len Pinaud, Clerk, Lloyd Allen, Cass Costa, Jeffrey Cross, and Ralph Shaw.
Staff present: Bob Sherman, Agent, Steven Solbo, Assistant Agent, and Frances Wise, Board Secretary.
Jack Fitzsimmons, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m.
Public Hearing: Bob distributed the proposed Regulation 18 – Inland Banks for Chapter 172 to the members and public attendees. This regulation defines the inland banks for which the Commission shall exercise jurisdiction.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve Regulation 18 – Inland Banks, Chapter 172.
Non-Hearing Agenda
Old Business:
1. Flagship Storage, located on Conservation land, will be sending us a contribution of $7,970 for the Conservation Trust Fund. The Fund currently has about $21,774. The Fund can be used virtually for any purpose the Commission feels it needs to be in terms of our charge of Chapter 48C. In the past it was used to buy our initial set of computers. It can be used for educational materials and acquisition of land. This contribution is earmarked specifically for acquisition of land, so it could probably be used for survey costs.
2. RFAA SE 43-2202 – 55 Amy Brown Road – modify location of house and garage -- Bob recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve this administrative approval.
3. Rules for Hiring Outside Consultants under MGL Chapter 44, Section 53G. Bob distributed to the members his revision of these rules. It was agreed to put this on the agenda of the March 3rd meeting at the 6:45 p.m. Public Hearing.
4. Bob distributed to the members his 02/10/05 memo to Joyce Mason stating his recommendations for transferal of monies from the cranberry bogs receipts from AFCEE to the following:
Conservation Salary Account - $3,500
Conservation Lands Maintenance and Improvement Account - $200,000
Bog Maintenance and Improvement Account - $13,479.08 (This will bring this account up
to $34,462. This account can be used for corrections on erosion problems, but not for
the operation of the cranberry bog.)
The members had no recommendations for changing any of Bob’s proposal.
5. Santuit Pond Dam, Grant Application. Steve distributed his 2/5/05 memo to Joyce Mason to the members and reviewed its content. Bob said Bill Fisher has been our very able consultant on this. Mike asked about our getting funding from a grant. Bob said that’s up to the Selectmen, because it’s not Conservation land. Bob said that Chuckie Green is aware of the problem.
6. Regulations Sub-Committee. A meeting was scheduled for March 10th at 7 p.m. at Mike’s home.
7. Approval of Minutes for 01/06/05 and 01/20/05.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the above minutes.
8. Vista Pruning Extension.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the extension for vista pruning to March 15th.
9. M.I.P. SE 43-995. Bob said this is about repair of a dock permitted about 10 years ago. They had filed an NOI requesting maintenance in perpetuity, but somehow it didn’t get put into the Certificate of Compliance. Bob told them it would be ok to file an RDA to cover this now.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the repair of the dock in SE 43-995.
10. Request for tree removal at 185 Uncle Percy’s Road. Steve said there is an oak tree about 4 ft. from the house with branches extending over the roof. He told the owner it would be possible to remove that tree if he agreed to plant some shrubs. There’s another tree where the branches extend close to the house, where a significant part of the tree on one side would have to be removed. Mike will take a look at the site.
New Business: None.
Hearing Agenda
7:00 p.m., John Malloy, 196 Wading Place Road (install sono tubes and construct new step). John Slavinsky represented the applicant and described the project. Bob recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve this RDA.
7:05 p.m. John Malloy, 196 Wading Place Road (construct, maintain and license walkway, pier, ramp, and float with maintenance in perpetuity). John Slavinsky represented the applicant and requested a continuation.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 3rd at 7:10 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:10 p.m., Robert Najarian, 8 Bowsprit Point (vista pruning and pruning trees with maintenance in perpetuity, landscaping work, remove and replace plantings). Bob Gray represented the applicant and described the project. Steve said that basically he wanted to get the Commission familiar with the project and get Mike’s input on the plantings. Also, he said we can’t close tonight because the view corridor and phragmites control situations have to be addressed.
Jack said in the future he’d like to see most plans in their finished state when brought before the Commission.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 3rd at 7:15 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:15 p.m., John Wyllie, 55 Running Light Way (relocate gas and water services and septic upgrade). Bob Gray represented the applicant and described the plan. Bob recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:20 p.m., Leon Pinsonneault, 92 Cayuga Avenue (vista pruning with maintenance in perpetuity). Bob described the project, said he would meet with Brian Casey before the vista pruning was done, and he recommended approval.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:25 p.m., William Marsters, 94 Lakewood Drive (permit an existing interlocking block wall).
John Slavinsky represented the applicant and described the plan. Bob said the existing wall was built without a permit. After talking with the Cape Cod Commission, he thinks it is probably somewhat above the mean annual flood level. However, before approving, he would like to wait until July to see if any BVW develops there. If so, we will need another plan and assess impacts, with the possibility that we would require a wildlife habitat evaluation. He and Steve could monitor it in the interim. He asked Mr. Slavinsky to send a letter to his client to advise that there should be absolutely no removal of vegetation in the area, and provide us with a signed receipt of the letter.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to July 14th at 7:05 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:30 p.m., Chilton Development Co., Inc., 166 Waterway (continued from 2/3/05). Cass stepped down for this hearing. Michael Grotzke represented the applicant and described the plan. Steve said he and Mr. Grotzke will be going over the mitigation based on some changes in the plan, a difference of 200 ft. However, the biggest issue concerns the coastal bank. He referred to Chapter 172 regulation requirements, Section 7A which gives the guideline: “How compelling is the need?” The plan shows the pool, patio and deck extending upon the coastal bank. He also quoted from the Coastal Construction Manual from FEMA standards for A Zones and B Zones: “Waves from 2-3 feet high are too small for an area to be classified as a B Zone, but still are capable of
causing structural damage and erosion..” In this issue, we are eliminating a natural coastal bank and putting in place of it a vertical wall, which he believes would not be structurally sound and would probably be very detrimental to the environment.
Bob said he wanted to cross reference some of our regulations in this regard. Our regulation Chapter 172 for coastal banks says, “Work shall not destroy any portions of the existing bank, nor shall the work impair the bank’s ability to perform any of the functions expressed in the Critical Characteristics and Presumptions of Significance .” As Steve pointed out, in a 100-year storm or less, you would have at least 3 ft. waves in an A Zone hitting a vertical wall, where half the energy would be reflected downward. Also, in the event of a 100-year storm or nearly one, Bob surmises that with winds from the southeast, you could very easily have more than an A Zone. He saw videos of Hurricane Bob where the waves at Popponesset Creek were more than 3 ft., so he thinks that a 100-year storm with a
southeast fetch would result in 2-3 ft. waves coming right over the barrier beach. If Mr. Grotzke would modify the project further to get the wall just beyond the top of the bank, they would substantially meet our performance standards for mitigation, and there would be no issues.
Mr. Grotzke raised several points in protest, but the Commission maintained that the wall must be beyond the top of the bank.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 3rd at 7:20 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:35 p.m., Jason Stone, 23 Shoestring By Road (continued from 2/3/05). Michael Grotzke represented the applicant and described the plan. Steve said there was a previous violation for putting the work limit and silt fence further into the buffer zone than allowed. This was discovered and reported to the Commission after the fact by Mr. Grotzke. Bob said we will not permit any vista pruning until restoration has been approved. Mr. Grotzke submitted a mitigation plan today, so Bob will visit the site to ascertain that the plan is fundamentally correct. No vista pruning will be approved until we have a reconstituted naturally vegetated buffer strip.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 3rd at 7:25 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:40 p.m., Mute Swan Corp., 333 Simons Bay Road (continued from 2/3/05). John Slavinsky represented the applicant. Bob said we still have not received confirmation that the DMF and the Shellfish Warden have come to an agreement on a shellfish issue.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 17th at 7:00 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
7:45 p.m., Cape Southport Associates, LLC, 3 Southport Drive (continued from 2/3/05). Lloyd reclused himself from this hearing. John Bresnehan represented the applicant and described the new plan, which clarifies that the delineation of the coastal bank is only good for this application. Bob said that for any future work, not only will the delineation of the banks be subject to the new regulations, but the interpretation of the banks as well. Mr. Bresnehan added that there will be no disturbance to the vegetation outside the work limit on the slope of the inland bank at any time, and he also listed the proposed plantings which will be consistent with the wildlife habitat.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the plan.
7:50 p.m., James Crocker Jr., Trustee, 14 Sampson’s Mill Road (continued from 2/3/05).
Steve said the applicant received authorization to revise their plan yesterday and they requested a continuation.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to grant a continuance to March 3rd at 7:30 p.m., at the request of the applicant.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Frances Wise, Board Secretary
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