 |
Minutes of the Taunton Conservation Commission January 26, 2009
Motion to accept the minutes of 1/12/09, ST, second MI. Under discussion, RN said he wanted the ACOE here and also the Attorney General notified, this was on the tape but not in the minutes and the tapes need to match the minutes to cover the TCC in case anything comes up regarding this. ST rescinded his motion, MI seconded that. Motion to table the minutes until the next meeting so someone can listen to the tapes, ST, second MI.
Vernon Street and the incident with Mr. Domingo was brought up. After some discussion, it was decided this would be discussed under other business.
Violations
1. 1386 Middleboro Avenue. Matthew DeCarlo the homeowner and Darren McCallis the engineer were present. MR said ATVs are notorious for destroying and tearing up the land, especially in wetland areas. She is concerned with this because there were tracks right by the wetlands and there is less than an acre there. They use this to get to another area to ride. She wouldn’t have made such an issue if they had 25 or 50 feet before the wetlands but they don’t have that. They were told that they need to stop use of this area and MR will go out in the spring and see if there is another way to get to the riding
area from their property. They must do nothing out there regarding ATV riding until MR has gone out and walked the site and talked with the homeowners. Motion to remove the violation, ST, second NK, RN opposed, motion carries. The TCC has removed the violation, but if they use this area between now and when MR goes out there, then they will be brought back in to the TCC on a violation.
Motion to revert back to the regular order of business, ST, second RN, so voted.
Continued Public Hearings
1. 1386 Middleboro Avenue, Jordan, (NOI) SE73-2368 A field report was read. Matthew DeCarlo the homeowner was present. He has owned the property for 3 years, but it has always been owned by his wife’s family as rental property before that. The Applicant is proposing to construct an addition to an existing garage that is being converted to a single family dwelling, and to relocate the existing driveway to the other side of the property. A bordering vegetated wetland is located along the eastern property line and was flagged by Foresight Engineering on 12/03/08.The Agent visited the property on January 6, 2009 to review the
wetland line. She agreed with the placement of the wetland flags and recommends that the line be approved by Taunton Conservation Commission as follows: flag WF-3 to WF-8 with flags WF-1 and WF-2 for reference purposes only.The addition and proposed fence will be within the 100-foot buffer zone – the fence will be within 51 feet and the addition within 86 feet of the wetland. The shows an erosion barrier but no washout area is depicted. Roof drains should go into drywells. The shed (28 feet from the wetland) shown on the plan has been on site for quite some time. There is no record of a filing with conservation or building permit.
Motion to approve the wetland line as written in MR’s field report, ST, second MI, so voted. A question was asked regarding the shed? It was there before they bought the house. They are moving the driveway completely to the other side of the house. The homeowner tows cars for a living (a repo man), and he has a garage on that side and he sometimes stores cars overnight. The driveway is now near the wetland, but it will be moving further away by putting it on the other side of the house. It will now be in the upland area. RN asked if the ZBA should be notified because he runs a business out of there. The homeowner said he doesn’t actually run the business out of there. If he comes home late at night from repossessing a car, he will park his
truck there overnight and bring the car to work the next day. At the most it is overnight, maybe a day, no more than that. ST and BM recommended to the homeowner, do not store cars there. RN said he should move the trailer/pod thing out of where it is now to another place, it is near the wetlands and the homeowner said he stores ATVs and lawnmowers in there now, if it leaks it will go right into the wetland. He should either not store those items in there or put something underneath it so if anything ever leaks it will be caught before it can go anywhere. RN also had a question about the septic system. He wanted to know if the old one failed, they said yes, he asked that they send a letter from the Board of Health to the TCC to be put in the file stating this. The new system is out of the TCC’s jurisdiction, but the failed one is not. They are also putting in a new leaching field. Motion to issue a standard order of
conditions with the following special conditions, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and with the letter from Board of Health sent to the TCC to be put in the file regarding the failed system, MI, second ST, so voted.
Violations
1. 70 Weir Street. The owner did request that the TCC stop ticketing because they are beginning to take some action. But still have not sent an NOI plan, or anything else showing they are taking any kind of action, so the ticketing is not stopping. MR said the EPA, DEP, and the Building Department are all watching the building. MR was told to continue to do what she has been doing, fining, etc., and continue this violation to the next meeting. Motion to have MR continue with what she has been doing regarding this site, continue fining, and continue this to February 23, 2009, RN, second MI, so voted.
Other Business
1. PSA-re: fines being kept at the same amount. The Public Service Announcement stating that the TCC decided to have their fees remain the same, was read to the TCC. There were 2 sent in, and one version that included things from both of the previous 2. Motion to use the PSA written by MR which included combining both ideas, ST, second NK, so voted.
Motion for ST to step down, NK, second RN, so voted.
2. Neighborhood Corp., formerly Weir Corp. request for use of the waterfront park on June 6, 2009. Motion to approve the use of the park and send a copy of this letter to Marilyn Green from Parks and Recreation so they can have the lawn mowed and barrels out for this event, RN, second NK, so voted.
ST back
3. Meeting in Boston regarding the cofferdam. BM and MR are attending the meeting that will be held in Boston regarding the cofferdam. BM emailed the writer of the original letter that was sent to City Hall regarding this meeting and both he and MR received an invite. BM also read a proposal he has sent to the City of Taunton regarding Jefferson Partnership and what to do with the dam. He feels that Jefferson Partners should pay to bring the dam into compliance and then the City of Taunton will purchase the dam for a $1.00, and waive any fines or penalties that Jefferson Partners has previously accrued from the city. RN
would also like to see a letter sent to the ACOE about the other dam/spillway on Whittenton Street. It could be made more secure by driving steel piles in front of the rocks. ST asked BM to look into the spillway on Whittenton Street and maybe the TCC can get some information on this area too while we are at it.
4. Letter regarding the incident on Vernon Street and Mr. Domingo. There was an incident on Vernon Street between Manny Domingo and RN. A letter was read that would be sent to the gentleman’s employer and be put in his file. BM read it out loud and is fine with the last paragraph but feels to put this in someone’s personnel file can be very damaging. He feels the TCC is acting with only one side of the story and acting on emotion like this can cause this man’s career damage if this is placed in his file. NK agrees with BM on this issue. ST spoke with Mr. Domingo, and he was apologetic of
the incident with RN and said he lost it and he should not have. He felt bad, saying RN remained professional at all times and that he did not. ST does not want to see this one incident affect this man’s working career and spoke with him and feels this will not happen again. BM asked RN’s opinion. RN feels that some type of letter should go out from the TCC stating that out on the field, TCC members should be respected. RN said he did meet with the DPW about this issue and feels things like this should not happen in the field, he doesn’t care if the letter goes into Mr. Domingo’s file, does not want to damage his career, but feels a letter should go out in general about having respect and dignity for all those people out in the field. Motion to have a letter sent out with just the last paragraph, remove the first part and sent it to the City Council, and all City Offices, and all engineering firms/groups that come before
the TCC or do any kind of business with the TCC, NK, second RN, so voted.
5. Abutters meeting re: Hart Street. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., on January 27, 2009. RN said none of the TCC members should go, once anything is in court, they should not touch it. They should not even discuss it. The TCC asked the property owners to meet with abutters before and they did not and now that they want to go ahead with the new site and construction, now they want to meet with them and get rid of any problems. TCC did receive a letter withdrawing the filing and RN feels they should stay away from this. MR said they do mention the Meadows, but TCC did tell them to bet back to the
abutters and now they are. They are meeting with the abutters. ST said there should be 3 or less TCC members at this meeting, this way it isn’t an official meeting. MR will be present at the meeting, BM said maybe. RN said MR sent this notice of the meeting in an email, and she should watch out about sending things like this in an email. He said you can get into trouble with the open meeting laws and things like this. MR said she just sent it out as an FYI, not intending for any response from anyone. She was sending it as information not looking for correspondence or responses to it. Steve Torres came in so they asked him his opinion on this. He said to just watch out, if they respond it can be seen as a meeting, but if it is just sent out as information with no correspondence, then it is ok. But you are walking a fine line with this, so watch out, be very careful where emails are concerned. RN said he agrees,
he lost his house over things dealing with TCC and a court case, so he will never respond to these emails. Steve Torres answered this question for the TCC. ST and NK left at 8:20 p.m., before this discussion got underway. Torres said regarding this abutters meeting, TCC members can go and listen but not deliberate amongst themselves or discuss it as a commission, they can only ask questions as an individual, a regular citizen. Just attending as a private citizen for information is ok. He would like to see what DEP says about this filing and the supposed/mistaken withdrawal of the filing. It was stated as a withdrawal in the letter, but later said to be a mistake. TCC could close and have them re-file if it comes to that, but waive the fees if it is decided it was an error on the owners part. But go with whatever DEP says. BM said he feels we all need to keep the “good neighbor” thing going with them so they
will fix the issues out there. Torres said the city did have the opportunity with them to have them fix the water issues with the road, but at the time the owners turned it down. Torres then went off the record with the TCC members to discuss a few other issues.
Back on the record, no motions were made, just discussion held.
Motion to adjourn, MI, second RN, so voted. Meeting ended at 8:40 p.m.
| |
