James Jr. and Laura Ryan Shachoy filed a Notice of Intent heard by the Marion Conservation Commission on April 10 to remove and replace the stone armor located landward of their seawall at 1 Water Street.
In a 7:10 pm public hearing, Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., represented the Shachoys’ application, telling the commissioners that the property was impacted by the December 2022 storm. A buoy, he said, went over their seawall and took a chunk out of their lawn. Other damage occurred in the yard and stone driveway.
Davignon said his group was not available to survey the damage until the fall of 2023. More storms in December 2023 eroded the lawn, so the survey was redone.
The proposal is to remove all the small rock and replace it with a rip-rap seawall. All the work will be done in the lawn area behind the coastal bank, according to Davignon, who noted the land is subject to coastal storm flowage and in the buffer zone. None of the work will be done in the resource areas seaward of the coastal bank.
Access will be provided by the driveway and the gravel road to the wharf on the north part of the lot.
The new rip-rap seawall will keep the same width and contour as the present wall with boulders reinforcing. The difference will be the same elevation and the elimination of low spots.
Davignon identified direct waves crashing vertically up the wall and shooting down the other side of the wall as the cause of erosion.
“That’s what’s causing damage, and by putting in, basically, a 12 foot-wide splash pad will prevent that (wave action) from doing any damage…,” said Davignon. “When you look at all the storms we’ve had over the last year and a half, this is the extent and we’re going to go beyond that. … Can’t promise they won’t have some minor damage, but this should solve the problem that they’re having with the current storm-event cycle that we’re in right now.”
Commissioner Shaun Walsh asked if the mortar being proposed to fill cracks and voids will inadvertently create a barrier. Davignon said the work would be done on the top couple of feet of wall, just above the high-tide line.
Walsh also asked if Davignon had considered a 1-to-1 sloped wall.
“It was my first consideration,” said Davignon, who was rebuffed by his client. “Their response was they didn’t want to touch any of the seawall because it’s still intact. … That will all but double the cost of the job. … As it is, I believe this is going to be pretty expensive.”
Abutter Michael Moore commented to support the Shachoys’ application.
The case had yet to be assigned a Department of Environmental Protection number, so the public hearing was continued at the applicant’s request to April 24 at 7:00 pm.
Indian Cove Trust was issued a Negative Box 2 Determination of Applicability, green-lighting its plan to install an Osprey nest/stand in the salt marsh on property off Indian Cove Road also listed as Map 18, Lot 127.
In comments to the Planning Board on Ever Ortiz, 13 Washburn Lane, Doubrava said the applicant seeks to sell used cars in a General Business zone. Noting there is buffer zone on the 12-acre property, including a site known to people as the skating pond, Doubrava suggested it depends on where the construction and vehicle storage will occur, saying Ortiz may need to file.
Also in comments to the Planning Board, the commission determined that Eydie Matteos – Healing Villa Company, LLC, 163 Front Street Suites 100 and 102, is not jurisdictional to the commission.
The commission granted Anne Bramhall a three-year, extension in her Order of Conditions for work at 260 Converse Road.
Following up on comments from the public submitted on two properties (21 Olde Meadow Road and Point Road vacant lot, Map 10, Lot 11), Conservation Agent Doug Guey-Lee prepared a letter that the commission would submit advising the owners of those properties that they have jurisdictional areas on their properties and that if planning activity, it would be recommended that they discuss their projects with Guey-Lee to determine if it should involve an application with the commission.
The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station on Route 6.
Marion Conservation Commission
By Mick Colageo