Rutland, MA Earthworks Board
Meeting Minutes – February 22th, 2018
Members present: Peter Craine, Norm Anderson, Glenn Kauppila, Butch Nadeau
Members absent: none
Guests: Kate Gervais
Meeting was called to order by Peter Craine at 6:31 PM.
Meeting Minutes
Peter asked that a line referencing the Like-Kind Soil By-law be struck from the minutes, as the by-law does not yet exist and the line was irrelevant.
Norm moved to accept the minutes from the February 1st meeting as amended.
2nd: Butch
Vote: Unanimous at 6:38 PM
Discussion
Kate will submit a letter of interest to BOS for the At-Large member position.
There has been no further correspondence from IT.
Open Earth Removal permits: The Con Comm has a new secretary. Peter has been in contact with the former secretary. He is still awaiting the status of the single open permit.
Mission statement
- Goal is to balance the varying needs and voices within town.
- Kate had a question as to the enforcing agent, specifically in regards to bullet 2
- Norm asked that bullet 2, “to” be changed to “of”
- Peter is wary of overreach and overpromise, others agreed
- Perspective is important: residents vs. town vs. earth movers
- Mission statement gives “why” for by-laws
- Glenn suggested bullet 2 be moved to the bottom of the list, strike “leaders” and replace with “town residents, businesses, and other interested parties”
- Replaced “crafted” with “written”
- 1st paragraph: “These resources are protected by practical by-laws”
- Peter will find a way to move bullet 2 to paragraph 1.
Discussion, continued (out of order from agenda)
Town by-laws are undergoing codification and modernization.
Members began review of Earth Removal By-law for content:
Glenn asked if town is exempt from permitting process, and will permitting fees be waivable? Norm questioned if we would be stepping on toes in regulating town departments. Peter believes we need a way to waive fees under certain circumstances. Norm pointed out that we cannot waive part of a by-law, as that would be a variance, but we can waive part of regulation.
Peter asked about §3 C. 3): Does “streets and roads” include those not in public use?
Norm asked whether §3 pertains to solar, business, and/or industrial construction? Norm also observed that the town will see major earth removal with the disappearance of easily buildable land.
Peter believes we need to establish a lower threshold under which projects will not “trigger” the permitting process. He also mentioned that a parcel is ill-defined: will earth moving be allowed from one to another (as in a subdivision that is, at the time, under single ownership)? Norm stated that once a subdivision plan is approved, each lot becomes its own parcel, regardless of ownership.
Peter will add MGL pertaining to public hearings to §3 E.
Peter states that board needs to determine definition of abutters. He will look into process for obtaining certified list from BOA, and definitions. Norm believes a radius should be determined. Norm reminded board that if someone is determined to be an abutter, and is therefore notified of public hearing by mail, they also must be informed of the disposition of the hearing, also by mail. He states that the planning board requires applicant to supply addressed, stamped envelopes in lieu of registered mail.
Peter has already addressed AG’s comments in §4 & 5 in part (see letter, second page of meeting packet). §4 A. 5) was added in part to cover AG’s comment. Norm commented that if earth removal is otherwise required by state or federal law, the permit cannot be denied. He also mentioned that for Planning Board purposes, there is no such thing as Site Plan denial.
Pete asked that for the next meeting, members be prepared to discuss thresholds or starting conditions, regarding existing yards (house already built), built-in pools.
Peter mentioned that import and export by-laws cannot conflict.
Correspondence:
None
Next Meeting:
The Board’s next meeting will be held on March 15th, at 6:30 PM in the Annex. The regularly scheduled meeting for March 1st has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.
Adjournment:
Norm moved to adjourn the meeting.
2nd: Glenn
Vote: Unanimous at 8:01 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Kate Gervais
| 
