The Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is once again fully loaded, that is, with a full slate of commissioners to handle the growing demands of the community for land use under the jurisdiction of the Wetlands Protection Act. The new commissioners are Trevor Francis and Mike Dubuc. Dubuc is also a member of the Agricultural Commission.
For the new commissioners, it was a fairly smooth and painless first performance. Coming before the commission of behalf of his client, Lorraine Cottle, was Doug Schneider of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates. The application of Cottle’s Request for Determination of Applicability became the question, should the filing be an RDA or a Notice of Intent?
After describing Cottle’s objective – offering plans for a single-family dwelling with associated infrastructures nearing a 50-foot buffer zone –Chairman Robert Rogers asked why Cottle had not filed a NOI. Noting that the plans did not include any clearing for a backyard and terming the drawing “vanilla,” Rogers stated, “I’m struggling to understand the strategy.”
Schneider said, “We want to get the property to where the owner can sell it…. We need to meet something that can be permitted.”
ConCom member Peter Newton asked, “Why permit the house? Why not delineate the wetlands?”
Commission member Michael King interjected, “To defer the large cost to the buyer.”
During a follow-up interview, when asked what the cost differential is between filing a RDA or a NOI, Conservation Agent Liz Leidhold stated that there is no cost for filing an RDA. There is a $500 fee, however, to file a NOI.
Schneider conceded that he was assisting his client in the most cost effective manner he could and was aware that in the future a new owner would most likely return to the commission with an entirely new plan with a far greater impact on jurisdictional areas.
After fully vetting the pros and cons of the filing, Newton and Rogers voted ‘nay,’ while King, Francis, and Dubuc voted ‘yea,’ granting the applicant a Negative 3 determination (not required to file a NOI) with conditions.
Four Certificates of Compliance were approved for 173 Brandt Island Road, and a certificate of compliance was granted to Ted Gowdy of 15 Fieldstone Drive at The Preserve at Bay Club.
During a discussion period, Rogers told the board that he and Leidhold had recently met with the town administrator to discuss a fee schedule for site visits.
Rogers said the Board of Selectmen wished to evaluate charging for this service in an effort to fund more working hours for the agent and the departmental secretary. Rogers said the workload was more than sufficient to justify a full-time agent and secretary, and fees would help defray the cost.
“We do a good job of getting applications in and out,” Rogers said, but other towns, he added, do charge for site visits and have full-time staffs with lighter workloads.
An implementation of new fees would have to pass Town Meeting, Rogers said, while reminding all that a previous attempt had failed.
Several older jurisdictional matters were also discussed.
Leidhold told the commissioners that a site visit to Brandt Point Village with Environmental Scientist Brad Holmes showed several roadway washouts and the presence of silt leeching into the detention ponds.
Regarding Leisure Shore Marina, Rogers said the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection had not yet approved the clean up plan to date, and a consent order was pending.
And regarding 4 Seabreeze Lane, Rogers noted that an Enforcement Order had been issued.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for October 26 at 6:30 pm in the Mattapoisett Town Hall conference room.
By Marilou Newell
