The year-and-a-half-old 89 Box Turtle Drive dispute over owner Doug Rose clearing land there too close to wetlands without a permit is slightly closer to resolution but not close enough for Rochester’s Conservation Commission.
Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly reported to the commission during Tuesday night’s public meeting that her office has received a memo from Rose’s technical consultant with a restoration plan and full-color drawings of that plan.
Board members focused on what is missing. In its previous meeting, the board asked that the owner’s No Trespassing order be lifted to allow a site visit. Kelly reported Tuesday that she has received no word on the subject.
“I haven’t heard anything on that at all,” she said.
Commissioner Ben Bailey said that without that being lifted, board members or the agent could be arrested if they set foot on the property. “The property owner has to be the one to rescind the order in writing. We can’t be hamstrung on this.”
Bailey instructed Kelly to notify Rose and his attorney that the order must be lifted. The commission agreed that Rose’s deadline to do so will be by its next meeting on August 15.
“If we can’t get that (order) lifted by the August 15 meeting, I’m going to encourage reinstituting the fines,” Bailey said in conclusion.
Over a year ago, the board voted to begin delivering “noncriminal enforcement tickets,” fining the property owner on a climbing scale of $50, then $100, then $300 per day. Kelly said in a previous meeting that Rose has been served with fines of $300 per day since April 19. None of these fines have been paid, she said. Meanwhile, serving Rose via a constable is costing the town $75 a day, she said, though this fee is to be taken from the fines Rose should be paying.
In other action, the board approved a project at 301 Hartley Road as not requiring adherence to wetlands regulations. It was responding to a Request for a Determination of Applicability (to wetlands regulations) for a plan to install a new septic system 75 feet outside of a buffer zone at that address. The existing leaching field within the buffer zone will be pumped out and backfilled, said consultant Rick Charon of Charon Associates. The work is for a three-unit, five-bedroom home that is being sold and will therefore require a new septic system.
The commission also approved a three-year extension of an Order of Conditions for Connet Woods, Forbes Road and Douglas Corner Road, to complete three remaining lots at Box Turtle Drive and final roadway construction on Box Turtle, Horse Neck, Cole Circle, Martin Circle and Comstock Drive.
Connet Woods consultant Mark Meltzer explained that the project was slowed when 10 additional lots became just three additional lots because of drainage problems in the area as well as by a slow real-estate market. One of the three lots is now under agreement to be sold. The other two lots and the roadway are what need construction work.
Commission Chairman Christopher Gerrior asked why three years and not just one or two? Meltzer said such a request is standard procedure for such a large project.
Lastly, the commission met a new resident interested in joining the commission who has an impressive background. Drew McManus, who very recently moved to Rochester with his wife, is the conservation agent in Mashpee. He requested he be considered for an associate-member position.
Impressed by his background, Gerrior led a motion to send a letter to the Select Board recommending McManus’s appointment to the commission as an associate member.
McManus explained his wife is a veterinarian with the Tufts University, Grafton campus and has many horse patients in Middleboro, Lakeville and Rochester.
The commission set its next meeting for Tuesday, August 15, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco