The first hearing of the night was for Susan Domolky, regarding her Notice of Intent to trim dead or downed trees and brush for property at 85 Moorings Road. Domolky would also like to remove Japanese knotweed and phragmites in order to create a wetland restoration planting area.
The previous owner was planning to maintain the same area, but sold the property to the Domolky family before the project was realized.
“Part of what we’ve shown is a transition to do more of a planting area to create a curve-shape around the edge of the pond,” said Susan Nilson of CLE Engineering, who represented the Domolky family at the meeting.
The biggest focus of the project would be on the invasive knotweed and phragmites.
“The trimming and the cleaning is really being done to try to clean it up,” she said.
“That species is so invasive. It’s a mess out there,” said Commission member Steve Gonsalves.
“We’re not asking to clear it down to grade. We’re going to save everything we can,” Nilson said.
The Commission voted to continue the hearing because the project has not yet been issued a DEP file number.
Then the Commission had a hearing regarding a Request for Determination of Applicability for the construction of a temporary storage shed at Tabor Academy on 215 Front Street.
“I would say we have to define temporary,” said Commission Clerk Norman Hills. No one from Tabor or their engineering firm were present at the meeting.
The submitted plans offered two ways to anchor the building: bolted-down sonotubes or a concrete slab. In addition, the storage shed would be used for only one year.
“A slab isn’t very temporary,” said Commission member Joel Hartley.
The Conservation Commission voted in favor of the project, but are requiring the shed be anchored by sonotubes.
Next, the Commission held a continued hearing for Peter and Asha Wallace of 167 Converse Road, regarding their Notice of Intent to maintain two existing view corridors that span from the edge of their lawn to a local salt marsh.
Clerk Norm Hills said that, upon their site inspection, there were conflicts between the location of flags on site and on the plans.
“I went out there and I found a flag west of the wetland line,” Hills said.
Dave Davignon of Schneider and Associates, who represented the Wallaces, concurred that there were minor inconsistencies.
“This wetlands study seems to say we were justified in doubting the line, but we still can’t say for sure where it is,” said Commission member Joel Hartley.
Hills was also concerned about the amount of trees that would be removed during the project.
“There are several trees out there that, if you look at them, you know they’re going to come down, but they’re not the ones you’ve indicated,” he said.
The Commission said that there were several trees in the area marked for razing and trimming and asked that the trees be re-labeled so that only the dying trees would be removed.
The Commission voted to continue the hearing until the September 26 meeting so that the trees can be re-marked and another site inspection can take place.
Then, the Conservation Commission heard Davignon again, this time on behalf of the Indian Cove Association to discuss the redevelopment of the boatyard site.
“As you know, this is a boatyard facility and they have a purchase and sales agreement to make it into three single-house lots,” Davignon said.
While frontage for the area would be considered to be off Aucoot Road, Marion Fire and EMS request that Indian Cove Road be the primary way for access to the properties.
Hills voiced concern over the process for removing the existing buildings, some of which are fairly large.
“The buildings on the boatyard have been falling apart for some time. With taxes going up, this has become nothing but a detrimental liability,” said Kenneth Jacobsen, another representative for the project. Jacobsen also said that some of the buildings were built on foundations, while others were not.
“Ultimately we’ll be filing a Notice of Intent for two things: one for bringing a road across the wetland, and then we’ll be proposing to build a driveway in the layout here that will be 12-foot and gravel,” said Davignon. “We wanted to bring this to you to see if it is a permittable project.”
The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission will be held on Wednesday, September 26, 2012, at 7:00 pm at the Town House.
By Eric Tripoli