Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday approved the long-awaited buffer-zone restoration plan for 89 Box Turtle Drive, a year-and-a-half old after the dispute started over property owner Doug Rose clearing land there too close to wetlands without a permit.
The restoration plan that the petitioner’s representative, Brad Holmes, presented to the commission proposes the area to within 35 feet of the wetlands to include a 10-foot buffer strip of wood chips and native plantings that will include at least three sapling trees 6-to 8-feet tall.
The latter detail was a result of Commissioner Ben Bailey insisting that the trees removed originally be replaced with similar “large caliber” ones. Holmes said it will be hard to fit large trees in that area but added he was willing to abide by the commission’s wishes. He said he hopes to start the restoration plantings after September 15 and be finished by the end of October.
Over a year ago, the commission voted to begin delivering “noncriminal enforcement tickets,” fining the property owner on a climbing scale of $50, then $100, then $300 per day for clearing without a permit. Chairman Chris Gerrior said Rose will still owe those fines.
The commission also approved an Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation for a proposed solar project at 0 Old Tuck Bog Road. The applicant’s representative, Andrew Gorman of Beals and Thomas, Inc., of Southborough, sought to confirm the limit and regulatory status of its wetlands resource area by describing the topography of the 73-acre central parcel.
The only complication came from abutters Diane and Rodney Fielding, who said some of the wetlands flags on the parcel were actually on their land and that the petitioner had gone on their property without permission. Gorman said he and his client will gladly exchange information with them to take down the incorrectly set flags.
In other business, the commission approved a Certificate of Compliance for completed Order of Conditions work at the Old Middleboro Road solar project and another for completed Order of Conditions work at 119 Dexter Lane that involved allowing the thinning of under and overgrowth on the nonwetlands area of the property.
The board then responded with a Negative Determination of Applicability to wetlands protection regulations for residential septic system work at 1087 Walnut Plain Road. The plan to abandon an old septic system there by filling it with sand and building a new system at a safe buffer zone will not affect wetlands, the commission concluded.
Lastly, the commission signed the much-debated Conservation Restriction on 13 acres at Red Brick Farm East.
When the commissioners first heard of the CR plan approximately two months ago, they complained that Rochester has lost the right to use its own water resources too many times over the decades. The regional agreement would give Mattapoisett the water rights to the Rochester parcel, including possibly digging up to four new wells under a coownership agreement with the Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Authority. The commissioners were united in their refusal to sign the Red Brick Farms CR without more information, especially as to whether the CR can be rewritten to give Rochester rights to some of that water.
The commission agreed to the plan, only it was emphasized that the $1 purchase offer needed to be part of the letter’s language. The Conservation Restriction that the board signed Tuesday puts in writing that the Mattapoisett water authority “will make every attempt to transfer the land to the town of Rochester for $1.”
Bailey added, however, that now it will be up to the town’s attorneys to make sure the Conservation Restriction treats the town and its water rights fairly.
The Rochester Conservation Commission set its next meeting for Tuesday, September 5, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester’s Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco