Better late than never? The Rochester Conservation Commission on Tuesday night approved a Certificate of Compliance for a 12- by 14-foot sunroom built 15 years ago within the buffer zone of wetlands at 68 Bowens Lane.
“We had no idea the certificate of compliance was not completed,” Diane Delowery explained as the public hearing began.
Fortunately for applicants Joseph and Diane Delowery, certificate approval was quick and unanimous after Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly gave the board no reason to doubt it was deserved. “Everything’s evolving down there and settled,” Kelly said.
But it wasn’t all good news for 68 Bowens Lane. Joseph and Diane Delowery’s son Liam also sought a compliance certificate to approve work to remove a trailer and block storage that he had built at the address within the 25-foot, no-disturb zone adjacent to an intermittent stream and restore 2,735 square feet of that land.
Diane Delowery was again apologetic. She said her son had wanted to start a business but had gone too close to wetlands to implement it. His son has now moved out of town.
“The empty trailer is gone,” she said. “We would like to get this done and the property cleaned up. How do we expedite this?”
The ConCom’s basic answer was: Show us your restoration plan first. “Your restoration plan in the file was for 2019,” member Ben Bailey said. “I don’t see enough trees. This inventory doesn’t exist. I don’t see the evidence of that.”
The commission agreed to continue its hearing into this petition until its next meeting, which was scheduled for May 3.
In other important business, ConCom Chairman Christopher Gerrior announced that board member and Vice Chairman Dan Gagne has resigned. The board approved Bailey as its new vice-chairman.
The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, at 7:00 pm.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco