Mashpee Conservation Commission
Minutes of March 18, 2010
Public Hearings
Mashpee Town Hall
Commissioners: Lloyd Allen, Jeffrey Cross, Brad Sweet, John Rogers, and Lou Seligowski (Associate)
Staff Present: Drew McManus (Conservation Agent) and Kris Carpenter (Administrative Secretary)
The meeting was called to order with a quorum by Commissioner Allen at 6:55 pm.
There was no public comment.
Pre/Post Hearing Agenda
1) Approval of Minutes from 3/04/10
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the minutes of March 4, 2010.
2) Chief Baker: Phase II & III Roadside Clearing: Mashpee Natural Wildlife Refuge
Agent McManus explains that this is a continuation of the Wildfire Treatment by Federal Fish and Wildlife, State Fish and Wildlife and DCR. It began in the southern part of Great Hay Road and winds through Jehu Pond. It consists of roadside clearing to expand the width of the roads to allow access for emergency equipment and crew in the case of a wildfire.
Chief Baker mentions that they had received a grant from the County Extension Service and added one egress at the center of the parcel (west of the Mashpee River) with a gate and a lock box. They have been maintaining the urban interface area so that if there was a wildfire, it should hold at the interface. The grant money allowed the purchase of equipment for a middle-story and ground treatment which was to remove the underbrush. Over the next couple of weeks, they will be working in the Great Hay Rd section of the Mashpee Wildlife Refuge and also will need to finish the roadside treatment and pick up debris. They would like to continue work in the neighborhood of Great Pines Drive, Dover Road and Holland Mills area. The
treatment scheduled for this area will be more aggressive based on a prescription written by a forestry consultant for Federal Fish and Wildlife. Chief Baker is asking permission from the Conservation Board to continue the prescription into these areas.
Agent McManus mentions that another round of grant money may be forthcoming and he will recommend treatments of other areas such as the Pickerel Cove/Vin Haven Campground which is a newly acquired parcel and has several old buildings that should be demolished.
3) Administrative Approval: SE 43-2562 (30 Ockway Bay Road) – Alter and Replace Hardscaping.
Applicable Resource Area: Flood zone A; Buffer zone to salt marsh
John Slavinski represented the home owner and explains that they would like to revise the hardscaping; walkway, driveway, etc. They will install a 5’ fence with approximately 8” above ground so the wildlife can pass through.
Agent McManus states that all of the work except the fence is in a pre-approved work limit. The fence will be placed just outside the limit of work and it is per Mashpee Building regulations. The mitigation planting is extensive outside the silt fencing.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the Administrative Request of SE 43-2562.
4) Cancel 4/15/10 Hearing: Agent Training Workshop – UMass Cooperative Extension
Agent McManus states that he received information a while ago regarding an opportunity to attend a Keystone Project which is a 3 day program starting April 15th through April 17th and takes place at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Ma., and involves Forestry Mgmt., Land Stewardship and Wildlife and Fisheries Mgmt. Considering that April consisted of three scheduled hearings, he is requesting a vote to cancel the April 15th meeting.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to approve the cancellation of the April 15, 2010 hearing.
5) Updates:
- Garner Farley Bog Site Visit (date TBD): Agent McManus would like to postpone this site visit until Chairman Jack Fitzsimmons returns. The Agent wants to have all the Commissioners and Associates to go out to the site by the end of April. There are two separate leases; the Garner Bog and the Farley Bog. The Garner Bog is one contiguous bog in Mashpee, 6.4 acres that are in pretty good shape. The Farley Bog is on the Falmouth Mashpee town line and cuts through a bog that is 90% owned by Falmouth with a tiny sliver in Mashpee. It is very difficult to divide the barrels from the small portion of the Farley Bog and wouldn’t be worth creating a lease as there is not much profit. The Agent has also invited Steve Hurley from the Division of Mass Fish and Wildlife since he has done a lot of work on the
Child’s River and Quashnet River with restoring the Brook Trout habitat also to consult with him about using pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Agent McManus would like to review the usage of the Child’s River culvert to flood the bogs as has been done historically but he would like to recommend installing a fish screen because the flooding coincides with the departure of the Herring Frye. The Herring will follow the sound of water current and if there is no screen in place they will swim into the culvert and get trapped in the bogs which could result in fish kills
The Agent is also concerned about the lease agreement because Mr. Bottomley has not signed the lease as of yet and he also has not returned any phone calls or emails, at least not until Town Council notified him in which case he called the very next day.
- Regulation 27: Docks, Piers and Floats (please review) – Agent McManus handed out his proposed Regulation 27 at the beginning of the meeting. He would like to have it reviewed with comments and feedback before the beginning of summer boating season. This revised regulation basically combines regulations 10, 11 and 27. Regulation 27 was the most comprehensive of dock regulations but it was titled Docks Having No Permit History. Regulation 10 and 11 were for floats and then Regulation 3 contained requirements concerning plan submittal requirements for docks and piers. All the information was scattered over multiple regulations and created confusion for residents so Agent McManus combined everything into one regulation and made the language much easier to read. It also makes note of the importance
of including the Harbormaster and the Shellfish Warden in the application process.
- Two New Dump Piles: Johns Pond / Quashnet Woodlands – Agent McManus was notified of a dump pile off of William Mingo Road which consisted of household trash and around the corner, at Great Hay and William Mingo, he found another dump pile. The Agent was able to learn who the offenders were by bills and financial statements left in the trash at both sites. Both parties were sent a citation.
Agent McManus suggested gating off these areas because he feels with the dump fee increase, there may be more illegal dumping in the future. He may also look at putting in signs and cameras.
- Herring Run Clean Up (re-cap) – The Herring Run Clean Up was completed last week. Commissioner Brad Sweet and Michael Richardson (Board of Selectman) assisted along with volunteers from the Americorp , the Wampanoag Tribe and DPW employees.
Hearing Agenda
7:00 Jamie Shone NOI SE 43-2600 (49 Tide Run) – Demo / Rebuild Fire Damaged Home Continued to 4/01/10 @ 7:00pm
Applicable Resource Area: ACEC Flood Zone & buffer zone to Coastal Bank
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried for a continuance until 4/1/10 at 7:00pm
7:06 Bruce & Luanne Croft RDA (19 Waterline Drive) – Increase Garage and Dwelling, Bluestone Patio, Remove (5) Trees, Mitigation, Replant Drainage Swale
Applicable Resource Area: Flood zone A; Buffer zone to salt marsh
Tom Bunker with BSS Design represented the homeowners. They are seeking permission for some additions to the dwelling and garage, change the existing patio on the water side to a smaller patio, remove five trees, additional mitigation and replant drainage swale. Mr. Bunker explains that there is a crawl space that is approximately 2 feet below grade so they would like to haul out an existing swale which the ground will be at the crawl space elevation and run out to level off without removing any trees. Agent McManus asks Mr. Bunker if he could explain the plan in regards to the leaching field. Mr. Bunker states that the reason the plan show two septic systems is a sort of “hangover” from a 2009 plan and it should
have been removed. Agent McManus confirms that there is no septic work on this project. He mentions that some of the trees are a hazard and some are not but will be adding about 320 sq. ft. of mitigation.
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried for a Negative Determination
Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried to adjourn the meeting at 8:16 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kris Carpenter
Administrative Secretary
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