Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday night learned its year-long dispute with 89 Box Turtle Drive owner Doug Rose over clearing land too close to wetlands without a permit is a step closer to being resolved.
A restoration plan has been submitted, but the board said it isn’t enough. Chairman Christopher Gerrior said the town has received a “90 percent completion plan.” He complained that what the board really needs is a formal Notice of Intent to do the work, along with a final restoration plan, a narrative of that plan and a notice to abutters of the plan.
All of these requirements were in the motion the panel approved to resume fining Rose until these conditions are met.
Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly said fining Rose hadn’t started yet because his lawyer had promised to deliver a plan by the next day and had done so. Member Ben Bailey said the plan the lawyer handed in is not detailed enough, and the other board members agreed. The resulting vote to start fining Rose again was unanimous.
A year ago, the board voted to begin delivering “non-criminal enforcement tickets,” fining the property owner on a climbing scale of $50, then $100, then $300 per day. The property owner’s wetland-code violations involve working closer than 25 feet from wetlands without a permit. This vote came after the board asked the property owner to file a restoration plan with erosion and sedimentation controls in late July 2022.
The meeting began with a Negative Determination of Applicability for a plan at 228 Mary’s Pond Road to install a new leaching field with a portion of it and 62 feet of effluent pipe within a wetlands buffer zone, a decision that the work will not affect wetlands.
The board then approved the Certificate of Compliance for the construction of a new home, private well, septic system and private dock at 417 Mary’s Pond. The project’s representative, Rick Charon of Charon Associates, admitted that this project started too soon. But since then, everything has been done right, he reported.
The dock itself sparked the most discussion. Gerrior instructed Charon to consult with the property owners on whether they are working on obtaining a Chapter 91 License for the dock, a permit required for any structure being built in water.
The board next approved a Notice of Intent to build a seasonal aluminum rolling dock at 536 Snipatuit Road. Here, too, the board recommended that the petitioner’s representative look into getting a Chapter 91 License for the dock.
In other action, the board reappointed John Divorski as its representative on the Soil Board. Divorski is a former Conservation Commission member who is now a full member of the Soil panel, Bailey explained.
Bailey received approval to send the Select Board members a letter requesting their support of a hydrological study of the waterflow at Snipatuit Pond.
A flow gauge would be installed with ARPA funds totaling $20,000. Bailey explained the decades-old agreement that gives New Bedford full access to Rochester is based on a withdrawal from Great Quittacas. More data will tell experts if that’s actually water also flowing from Snipatuit into Quittacas, data which could change the agreement, possibly in Rochester’s favor.
The Rochester Conservation Commission will next meet on Tuesday, May 2, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco