TOWN OF RUTLAND
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES: DECEMBER 2, 2014
MEETING OPENED: 7:06 PM
Attendance
Board Members Present: Joe Dell’Aquila, Chairman; Scott Landgren; Shawn Moore; Eric Bigelow; Nancy Nichols
Board Members Absent: Willard Cannon
Guests
Peter Craine; Julian Votruba; Jim Soucy; Mike Pantos
Application Submissions
NONE
Votes
Minutes from November 18, 2014 – Motion to approve minutes made by Shawn, seconded by Eric; vote unanimous at 7:16 PM.
Motion to approve and sign Secretary pay – Motion to approve and sign made by Scott, seconded by Eric; vote unanimous at 7:45 PM.
Motion to close meeting – Motion made by Shawn, seconded by Eric; vote unanimous at 8:45 PM.
Hearings
Abbreviated Notice of Area Resource Delineation, J.M. Soucy Contracting, Main Street and Bond Road
Hearing opened at 7:18 PM. The site walk was done already. This is on the Holden/Rutland town line. It is possible that the house will be in Rutland with a Holden address. Part of this Holden will also be reviewing. Scott said it is pretty straightforward to him. This is a wetland line only and he will be back because he will end up in the buffer zone with a house. Motion to close hearing made by Scott, seconded by Shawn; vote unanimous at 7:26 PM.
Notice of Intent, Elbag Brothers, Inc., Lot 10, Glenwood Road
Hearing opened at 7:35 PM. Site walk was done before the snowfall. The house will be behind the septic, which will be 100’ away. Flag 2 is the closest point to the wetland. Joe asked about the driveway and it is about 80’ away. Hardest part was getting the septic out of the 100’ buffer zone. Motion to close hearing made by Nancy, seconded by Scott; vote unanimous at 7:38 PM.
Discussions
Request for Determination of Applicability, Elbag Brothers, Inc., Lot 1, Ridge Road
Site walk was done prior to the snowfall. There is a stone wall in the area. Mark thinks he won’t have to file a Notice of Intent and the percolations are varying so he isn’t sure what he will do yet.
Brice-Lemon Estates
Last Tuesday Joe received a call about a cease and desist order for numerous violations on the Brice-Lemon Estates project. Basin #2 was an issue saying that it was within 200’ even though that was done awhile ago. DCR are requesting a variance to be filed, but there is some question as to whether or not they are within 200’ and a question on some other issues, including that some siltation was going into the wetlands. Joe went to do a site walk on the property with Scott and Willard. He did not call Eric because he knew he was in Connecticut and Shawn wasn’t available. He didn’t call Nancy because he thought she would be busy with the Council on Aging considering the Thanksgiving holiday. On the site walk Joe took some pictures. In DCR’s letter, they stated that there
was siltation and they attached a picture of some silt fencing that was buried. They failed, however, to take pictures of the secondary silt fencing that was intact and not buried. Scott said that there was no siltation in the wetlands. There was siltation very close, but not in the wetlands. Joe said that this was all done prior to our order the work was completed months ago. Eric stated that obviously there was a problem for them to have to add the secondary fencing and Scott said they did that to circumvent any issues, not because of issues.
DCR said that the hay bales were deteriorated and Joe said that when he went they could not find any bad hay bales, and that Mr. Blair is going to put another line in as a precaution. Eric asked if Scott kicked leaves over to see about the siltation because of the rain we have had and Scott said that he had and saw nothing. Scott also said that they pulled a stump from the road.
The toe of the slope is within the 200’ but it is right over it; the difference, if any, would be 1.78 feet. Joe said that DCR followed up with a cease and desist order without contacting the Conservation Commission and without any input from us. Eric said this is a sensitive area and Joe agreed that the area is very sensitive. Eric asked whether Scott and Joe used a tape measure and Scott said no they used the flags that were already approved. Eric asked if they were disagreeing with DCR. Joe said no because the cease and desist order is under DCR and they enforce it, not us. Eric asked which Order they are working under and they are still under the old Order from DEP. Joe said that they have walked the whole area and they did not find any siltation in the wetlands.
DCR is saying that a specific 15’ section is delineated and there is nothing on the plans. Joe said that the detention basin has been in place for at least 5 months and DCR has been to the area numerous times but never said anything until now, now that they are already stabilized. Shawn asked who would determine the siltation and Joe said us. Joe said his problem is DCR has not had any contact with us and is not sharing any information with us but they are sharing with the public, which Joe has an issue with. Eric said that the silt fencing needs to be maintained and not maintaining them is a violation; Scott disagrees. The Board reviewed the Superseding Order of Conditions from DEP. There is a condition that states that silt fencing must be maintained. Scott said the
secondary fencing is there. Eric just wanted to show that the old Conditions did say to maintain the fences and Scott said that they did by adding a secondary fencing. Eric said that we can go look at anytime and Scott said that they actually have filed a request and we must now be accompanied by a representative of Brice-Lemon Estates when going on the site. This is for everyone, not just us. Nancy asked if we had someone at DCR we could call and Joe said that there will be plenty of calls. DCR could have called and invited someone from the Conservation Commission to witness, but we did not hear anything until someone – a 3rd party – contacted us to enforce the cease and desist order. By the time the Conservation Commission walked the site any issues there may have been possibly could have been fixed so there is no way to know.
Nancy left the meeting at 8:25 PM.
Shawn asked what they are waiting for and Joe said nothing from us. It would have been nice to have a little coordinated effort and would have been nice to know about the cease and desist order. Shawn asked when will our Order go into effect and Joe said after the 21 day appeal period expires. Scott asked if that would then make the first Order of Conditions null and void and Joe said no they can have two orders at once but must get a Certificate of Compliance for both.
We received an email requesting we enforce our orders and the Watershed Protection Act. We do not have jurisdiction to enforce the cease and desist or the Watershed Protection Act, the DCR does. Our orders are not in effect yet so there is nothing for the Conservation Commission to do at this time. Joe explained that there are many calls and many accusations including that Joe set up a lack of a quorum. Phil Nadeau should let us know if an appeal was going to be done. Joe is under the impression Marsha was going to appeal our Order of Conditions. There is a list of criteria in order for an appeal to be successful. Scott asked if there was any action that needed to be taken by us and Joe said no he just wanted to bring everyone up to speed. Joe also mentioned that because the
previous set of plans for Brice-Lemon Estates went missing he will be keeping the plans with him for now, but that they are available to anyone who wishes to view them.
Reviewed Mail.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen Wamback
Secretary
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