Don't Tear Down This Barn!

Cowls barn, 134 Montague Road, North Amherst

After impassioned pleas by North Amherst neighbors with no vested interest other than visual, the Amherst Historical Commission voted unanimously (4 yes, 3 absent) to impose a "one year demolition delay" on W.D. Cowls, the largest private landowner in the state, doing business in the town of Amherst before there was a town of Amherst.

 Amherst Historical Commission

The barn sits immediately behind and looms over the Cowls family farmhouse -- built in 1768 -- which now serves as company headquarters.

 Cinda Jones failed to convince the Amherst Historical Commission to allow demolition

The barn is within spitting distance of the cow barn @ 113 Cowls Road that will be almost completely dismantled and rebuilt for the selling pleasure of Atkins Farms Country Market, a relative newcomer at just over 100 years of doing business in the far south end of town.

 Cow barn:  future home of Atkins Farms Country Market

 More than a dozen friendly neighbors showed up to oppose demolition

The cost to repair the barn for agricultural reuse approached $250,000, which would not provide a viable return on investment.  The current preferred plan is to donate the salvageable wood to the Emily Dickinson Homestead for an interpretive historically accurate barn raising on the property.

Q: What would you put in place of the #historic barn? A: Parking is 1 option. (Geez why don’t you stick a gun in your mouth? That was fatal)
— CitizenWald (@CitizenWald) July 23, 2014

The one year delay does have an "escape clause" whereby the owner can come back in three or four months showing that there are no economically viable solutions to save the structure, and the delay could be lifted.

The Historical Commission seemed genuinely troubled over enacting the full delay, pointing out that Ms. Jones had already done many of the things an owner is expected to do AFTER the one year delay is imposed.  

Barn with 1 year stay of execution (left) Atkins new north location (right)

 

"Of All Places ..."

Fellow UMass journo -- and one of my favorite columnists -- Kevin Cullen seems to have run afoul of UMass cheerleaders with his latest column about a "stupid college kid" who made the grave mistake of aiding and abetting the current poster boy for satanic terrorists, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Three little words were spiked after initial publication.

Obviously when you talk about an uber rich guy sending his son to "elite schools" but then when it comes time for college sends him to "of all places" UMass Dartmouth, it kind of sends the message that it's not exactly the same as an "elite school."  Which of course it's not.

But you can't say that.   In the venerable Boston Globe.  Apparently.

When DUIs Converge

Heather Leupold, age 27,  arrested by Hadley PD last night Rt9/Rt116 intersection near Amherst town line

So if my weekly reports of drunk drivers arrested by Amherst Police all over our little town is not depressing enough for you, consider this past weekend Pelham and Hadley police also arrested impaired drivers who were only moments away from crossing the town line into Amherst.

 Seth Alison arrested by Pelham police for DUI on Saturday

Kind of like that level three sex offender arrested at Puffer's Pond earlier this month:  He was not one of our 24 registered sex offenders, as he lives in Southampton. 

And you wonder why I'm a fan of additional police officers (and firefighter/EMTs).

#####

 

Amber Theriault stands before Judge Payne

Meanwhile, Judge Payne accepted a standard 24D plea deal (only available to 1st time offenders) this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court from Amber Theriault, age 22, arrested by APD back in  mid-May for DUI in town center.

She was observed taking a really w-i-d-e turn onto Triangle Street from North Pleasant and when pulled over had all the common attributes:  smell of liquor, glassy eyes, slurred speech.  She also lost her balance when performing the Field Sobriety Test.

Ms. Theriault will lose her license for 45 days, pay $600 up front in fines and another $65/month for a year while on probation.  If she has no further incidents over the course of the year the DUI is dismissed. 

When asked by Judge Payne where she had her last drink she replied, "Stacker's Pub" in the heart of downtown Amherst.  And considering her breath test back at APD headquarters was .18% -- more than twice the legal limit -- she was pretty drunk when served that "last drink."

 

Stacker's Pub, 57 North Pleasant Street (building owned by Jamie Cherewatti)

Make That Over $100K

Cherry Hill Municipal Golf Course lost a tad more than the $87,739 I reported the other day.  Now add an additional $16,225 for a "Sand Pro Groomer" and the new total breaks the six-digit price point, coming in at $103,964 in tax dollars.  For the game of golf.  Ouch!

   Cherry Hill Golf Losses

There's a Killer On The Road

Newman Galati aka @Newmasaur (Used without permission)

Amherst police only made one OUI Liquor arrest over the weekend but it was a doozy ... Newman Galati, age 22,  a repeat offender.  He had come over the Notch by Atkins Country Market in deep South Amherst heading toward Amherst town center not-all-that-late Saturday night driving erratically and with his headlights off.

 

Newman Galati, booking photo, courtesy APD

Amherst police pulled him over on South Pleasant Street (about 350 yards from my house) a beer can throw from town center and immediatley noticed the fresh front end damage to his vehicle.  He was arrested on a host of charges:

APD arrests driver on South Pleasant Street near town center Driving Under Influence (erratically and without headlights)
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) July 19, 2014

And Then There Were None

 

Pat Kamins landlord, Rob Morra (on right)  Building Commissioner

Amherst Building Commissioner Rob Morra reports the most recent Rental Permit Bylaw enforcement actions taken by his office to bring into the compliance the final dozen properties (out of 1,300) has been successful.

Only one remains -- 84 Grantwood Avenue -- and they have told him the "application is in the mail."

 A dozen years ago the Board of Health made an ill fated attempt to bring about Rental Registration but it was mostly ignored; and after the contentious "Smoking Ban in Bars War" from a few years earlier the Board seemed reticent to take on the enforcement challenge.  

Naysayers with a vested interest claimed the current implementation of the common sense bylaw, with its nominal $100 annual fee, would be a logistical nightmare and that the Zoning Board would be overwhelmed with hearings to approve the parking component of the program. 

But all of that sound and fury has apparently signified nothing.

100% compliance now sets the stage for rental occupancy peak season when students return next month.  So the next big test is yet to come.  

Red Ink Runaround

 

Cherry Hill Clubhouse cost $4,365 liability insurance, not part of "operation budget"

Okay, I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong.  Eight months ago I predicted Cherry Hill Golf Course, the town's most insatiable White Elephant, would squander $60,000 in FY14 (just ended June 30).

Instead the beleaguered beast lost $87,739 -- or well over the cost of a firefighter, police officer or teacher.  Also well over the $47,141 in tax monies it lost last year or $40,132 the year before that.

As usual the business overran their operation budget by $6,696 and missed their target revenue goal by $12,495, a 9.4% reduction from last year's total revenues.

But when you add in those other significant hidden costs -- employee benefits, capital/equipment, insurance -- that do not show up as part of the "operation budget" -- the red ink flows like the River Jordan.

Amherst Town Meeting took Cherry Hill back in 1987 by eminent domain using an "emergency measure" provision that made the action "Referendum proof."  A malevolent move that cost $2.2 million dollars ($4.4 million in today's dollars), the most expensive land acquisition in town history.

And of course it was inspired by North Amherst NIMBYs who wished to stop a modest 134 unit housing development in their backyard.  In fact the developer offered to deed the entire golf course to the town for $1 as all he wanted was the land overlooking it for housing.

In a July 7 memo to the illustrious Select Board, Cherry Hill cheerleader John Musante (who also happens to be the Town Manager) stated:  "This ongoing evaluation will likely include revisiting the cost-benefit of privatizing operations of the Cherry Hill Golf Course."

Even if we lease it out for $1 the town still greatly benefits because taxpayers would avoid subsidizing hefty annual losses, and the commercial business would go back on the tax rolls.  Last year Amherst College, our largest landowner, paid the town just over $15,000 in property taxes for their nine hole golf club.

And if we can't find anyone to take it off our hands to continue providing the luxurious game of golf, then other uses should be found.  Like solar for instance.  

Former cornfield, East Hadley Road, Hadley

Coming & Going

Mango Mango, 61 Main Street, Amherst

While food aficionados celebrated the opening of two new restaurants in the downtown -- El Rinconsito Cuscatleco (Salvadoran) and The Taste Thai Cuisine of Amherst -- those same foodies will probably miss Mango Mango located only a mango throw away.

The eclectic cozy lunch and dinner operation opened in the former location of Fresh Side five years ago and closed rather suddenly yesterday.  The lack of a liquor license probably didn't help. 

Restaurants have one of the highest failure rates of any business, with over half failing to celebrate their fifth birthday.

But chances are that location will be up and running again this fall ... as a restaurant.

A Rising Tide?

 

The Amherst Regional Public Schools must be feeling the heat over their high average per student cost ($18,026 vs state average of $13,636) as this morning they issued a  link to a blog post rationalizing their high cost of administration, which of course contributes to the high average per pupil cost.

Interesting that they blame the evil state and all those "reports to Department of Elementary and Secondary and Education" which of course "are not optional."  Okay fair enough, the state is fairly anal with statistics and reports.

But they are probably fair-and-balanced enough to require such things from ALL public schools in the state. 

So why then is ARPS 60% over state average with "administration" costs of $789 per pupil while state average from all the other schools dealing with DESE reports is only $471 per pupil?

Either ARPS has too many administrators, or the perfect number they have are paid too much. 

Saving Energy One Building At A Time

 AFD North Station, first occupied 1975

39-year-old AFD North Station will get some cosmetic energy tweaks over the next year and a half courtesy of a $165,539 state Green Community grant, two-thirds of which goes to the funky but aging fire station and the other one-third to Town Hall.

The apparatus room, which dominates the center of the building, will switch to a more efficient infrared heating system at a cost of $20,558, and added insulation for the walls at a cost of $64,973.  

The last item, a "Demand Control Ventilation " system, will be installed at a cost of $23,977.  The system automatically adjusts the heating/cooling and ventilation to fit the changing usage of the building during the day/night, although since North Station is staffed 24/7, probably not a great money saver.

Town Hall also received $56,031 for a DCV sysstem. Since Town Hall is pretty much a 9-5 work operation with limited evening hours for meetings, the system will probably pay bigger dividends than the one at the fire station.

Amherst Town Hall,  first occupied 1890

The Joint Capital Planning Committee has been putting off for the past four years recommending the $12 million for a new South Fire Station.  And staffing levels at Central and North Station now routinely require Dispatch to issue tones for off duty personnel or the hourly Call Force (Engine 4) to report in for "station coverage."

UMass recently reiterated their pledge of $80,000 to staff two extra ambulances over the weekends while schools are in session, but there are still times when all five ambulances are swamped, and mutual aid is required.
 

How Many & What Kind of Weapons?

 

Amherst Regional High School

Obviously taxpayers who fund the very expensive overhead costs ($18,026 per pupil vs state average $13,636)  of our Amherst Regional PUBLIC School District have a right to know about weapons confiscated in the High School.
  
Parents with kids in the system, even more so. 

APD en route Amherst Regional High School to pick up and dispose of "previously confiscated weapons over the years."  Yikes.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) July 16, 2014

Why Do They Call It OPEN Meeting?

 Regional School Committee meeting 7/14

Temporary Chair of the Amherst Regional School Committee Lawrence O'Brien is still sputtering over the successful coup d'état orchestrated by Vice Chair Trevor Baptiste.

Five duly elected members of the committee -- a quorum -- attended a meeting that was properly posted in three of the four towns and was briefly posted properly in Amherst but cancelled when the ruling establishment felt threatened.

Did the meeting violate the Open Meeting Law?  Technically, yes.

But not because of secrecy -- which is generally what the OML targets.  Since well over 50 members of the general public showed up, along with three TV news stations and reporters from two newspapers, I would deem that a pretty OPEN meeting.

The renegade meeting was called to countermand a memo criticising Amilcar Shabazz issued by three school committee chairs with absolutely no deliberation of the three public bodies they chair.  Now that sounds to me like a violation of the Open Meeting Law.

And the irony doesn't stop there.  They were critical of Dr. Shabazz for releasing information (not entirely correct) about a violent racial school incident where three black youths ganged up on a white youth doing real physical damage in the process.

As usual the super secretive PUBLIC schools handled it "internally," not breathing a word to anyone, including the Amherst Police Department or the local District Attorney, who certainly had grounds for a "hate crime" indictment.

At the 6/24 Regional School Committee meeting where O'Brien was elected temporary Chair the committee later went into Executive Session for "litigation" discussion even though the written published agenda stated it was for  "Collective Bargaining."

A clear violation of OPM.  And these days the Attorney General wants more detail published when going into Executive Session.  If for  "Collective Bargaining" then with what unions?  Or if it's "litigation"  is it a negligence suit filed over an injury or a MCAD complaint? 

This coming August the Regional School Committee will head to an undisclosed location for a weekend "retreat".  That strikes me as a violation of Open Meeting Law.

In 2010 FIVE school committee chairs (with no deliberations of their respective committees) issued an official memo to the District Attorney asking for an investigation of Amherst School Committee member Catherine Sanderson, hoping the DA would muzzle her.

The DA ignored their whiny request.

The more voices brought into the public process the better.  That's the very heart and soul of Open Meeting.

Barn Blast

Ye old (125+ years) barn, 134 Montague Road, North Amherst

Another "historic" barn owned by W.D. Cowls, the largest private landowner in Mass, is destined for the dustbin due to age, disrepair and the arrival of Atkins Farms Country Market in a refurbished building only 35 feet away.

The Amherst Historical Commission could enact a one-year demolition delay but that's the extent of their power.

Three years ago the Commission did restrain Cowls from demolishing their trolley barn on Cowls Road,  but six weeks after the expiration of the one-year delay the barn came tumbling down after an attempt to shore it up using a backhoe. 

Rotting floorboards

The shortlist of reusing the (non rotting) barn boards include:  Donation to Emily Dickinson Homestead for a project to recreate a historically accurate barn that was once on site; donation to the Porter Phelps Huntington House in Hadley for a similar historic project; or simply reuse the materials in the upcoming development of "The Mill" all along Cowls Road. 

 

The Mill as envisioned by Kuhn Riddle Architects

Equitable Vs Fair

Officials from all 4 towns:  Amherst, Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury

The Regional Assessment Working Group -- yet another subcommittee formed by the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee -- met yesterday for the first time to deliberate their charge:  "Analyze historical assessments, investigate assessment alternatives, and make a recommendation of an assessment method going forward."

The "working group" is facilitated by Sean Mangano who stepped into the well worn shoes of former Finance Director Robert Detweiler after he mysteriously disappeared six months ago. 

School spending accounts for the lions share of municipal budgets in all four towns.  The current 50+ year old  Region consists of the Middle and High School but the Regional School Committee also formed a committee almost three years ago to discuss and plan for regionalization at the pre-K through six grade as well.

The criteria for the working group is to come up with a finance method that is fair, predictable, affordable, easy to explain to the voters and one that avoids budget buster spikes for individual towns.  Or what one member referred to as "No nukes."

 

Obviously the equitable thing is for all four towns to pay the same cost per student.  Currently the assessment method takes that into consideration but is also based on a "five year rolling average."  And that seems to generate "a hit" to individual towns about once every five years.

Discussion centered around what is fair vs equitable, or ... how do you provide a "circuit breaker" or "cap" to help  any one overburdened town deal with what could be a budget buster?

Amherst Finance Director Sandy Pooler, obviously a numbers guy, wondered how you define "ability to pay?"  He seemed to  approve of the common sense policy of everybody paying the same cost per student, thinking it might better "resonate" with voters.

The group will meet every other week and expect to have a recommendation for the Amherst Regional School Committee sometime in September.  

Approval will require a simple majority vote by the RSC and then all four Town Meetings must endorse the new assessment method; although after that only three-out-of-four approvals will be required to pass the  Regional Budget.

 

(left to rt) Maria Geryk, Kay Moran, Alisa Brewer, Bernie Kubiak, Andy Steinberg

Regional School Committee Countermand

5 of 9 (3 from Amherst) Regional SC members showed up to the 4:00 meeting unanimously chastising 7/3 memo from Committee Chairs

The renegade Regional School Committee meeting today called by Vice Chair Trevor Baptiste and (sort of) cancelled by Chair Lawrence O'Brien did attain a quorum, and after a brief discussion unanimously passed a motion countermanding a 7/3 memo critical of Dr. Amilcar Shabazz.

 

Over 75 people crammed into the Pelham Library 

   Another Racial Incident ARPS by Larry Kelley

 

What A Twit

Worst Tweets Ever has a whopping 3 followers

As I close in on a Twitter milestone, one thousand followers (hint, hint), I'm reminded by a youthful critic otherwise known as a "Cowardly Anon Nitwit" why the service rocks.

With only 140 characters to play with you have to be a tad concise.  Kind of like the telegraph of old where you paid by the word so you tended to use as few as possible.

Or the early days of the telephone when the thought of "long distance" charges struck fear into the hearts of your parents, so you learned to talk fast with far flung family members.

It also reminds me of Town Meeting where pretty much any local can get up in front of the body before a live microphone and say pretty much anything.

I always have that split second fear as I trudge to the podium that I'm going to suddenly have a  Tourette's moment and just start spouting "expletive deleted."

On Twitter you can get in trouble instantly for saying stupid things even if you only have a few followers, because all it takes is for one of them with a huge number of followers to retweet you.  While bad news has always moved quickly, stupid news moves at warp speed.

I have more than a few "college aged youth" who follow me just to see if I'm talking about them or their lifestyle.  They don't usually just randomly tweet at me like the nitwit "worst tweets ever" who obviously also has the account "larry kelleys whack."

Him I ignore, because if I respond to a stupid tweet that originally only went to his one follower, suddenly it goes to all almost-1,000 of my followers.  And since  a few them would like to dance on my grave, they would chime in supporting the initial idiot.

Last Spring was relatively quiet but there were a couple weekend nights where warm weather brought out the zombie party herds.  I remember tweeting a couple of low key incidents early in the evening -- APD making an arrest for "open container" on Fearing Street or AFD responding to the first ETOH (alcohol poisoning) incident of the night. 

A couple kids played off those tweets with sarcasm that was then favorited or retweeted by other like minded followers (none of them having much more than an average number of followers -- 200 or so).

But as the night wore on, and the number of ETOH incidents requiring ambulances became more and more numerous -- to the point where we ran out of ambulances -- the sarcastic tweets stopped.

So either it dawned on them that having all our ambulances tied up carting drunk students to CDH is not a good thing, or maybe some of them were the ones being carted to the hospital.

Of course the other tremendous Twitter thing is the ability to post photos instantly, conjuring up that old pre-Internet adage that still remains true:  a picture is worth 1,000 words.

And that's a lot of characters.

LarryWhack has zero followers

A Matter Of Self Defense

Eric Bertrand is lucky a Second Amendment enthusiast was not shopping at Whole Foods Market late yesterday afternoon .  The first frantic reports from the scene via multiple 911 calls indicated a man was randomly discharging a "white powder" onto innocent bystanders.

Hadley PD at Whole Foods Market to Dispatch:  "One under arrest, we do have a few victims."
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) July 11, 2014

One customer, unhappy about the assault, got into a physical altercation with Eric Bertrand, age 59, but appears to have ended up on the wrong end of his "shod foot."

Had this odd event taken place in Texas, Mr. Bertrand would probably have been shot in self defense, since many people at first worried  the powder was potentially a terrorist HazMat (hazardous materials) incident.

Amherst Fire Department later transported Bertrand from the Hadley Police Department to Cooley Dickinson Hospital after a "psychological evaluation."

Hadley police have charged him with seven counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (Cayenne pepper).   Massachusetts is the only state in the nation to require a license to carry pepper spray, although in this particular case he used store product rather than carrying his own canister of OC spray.

Last Monday Eric Bertrand's Easthampton apartment was gutted by fire, just after he was issued an eviction notice. 

Arresting Miss Emily

Emily Dickinson stands before Judge LoConto on July 7th

Amherst police arrested Emily Dickinson, age 30, back in February for stealing a credit card and her mother's prescription drugs, an all too familar combination resulting from substance abuse.

A business day doesn't go by at the Eastern Hampshire District Court without a drug related problem coming before a judge.  

And in Amherst, where the other Emily Dickinson is arguably our most famous citizen, the misery associated with drug/alcohol abuse is certainly on the short list for pernicious problems that need to be solved.

 The Dickinson Homestead

Judge LoConto placed Ms. Dickinson on probation for a year with a $65/month fee and unscheduled drug/alcohol screening.

As she was leaving the Judge, sounding sincere, wished her "good luck" and reminded her the Probation Department is there to help.

Crowd Sourcing Affordable Housing Plan

Crowd attending Planning Board Public Hearing

Amherst Planning Board Chair David Webber told the crowd of about 25 concerned citizens, town officials and housing developers who attended the public hearing at the Bangs Center last night that an Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw to help stimulate low-income housing, "Is worth doing, but we need your help."

 Amherst Planning Board

Ideas ranged from a "payment in lieu" of affordable units into a trust fund,  to allowing developers to build the required units off-site away from the market rate units, or increasing the density of projects so developers could get more market rate units to offset the affordable ones.

The problems seem greater in the downtown, which is close to built out, and therefore more expensive to develop.   Critics portrayed Kendrick Place,  a mixed-use five story building which just broke ground, as the poster child for special treatment since none of the 36 units will be affordable and the project did require some minor variances from the Planning Board.

One idea floated by PB Chair David Webber is to allow a height increase in the downtown to six floors from the current five.  The crowd seemed receptive to the idea. 

Maurianne Adams also pointed out UMass and the town need to work together to allow public/private partnerships to build new student housing on or near campus that would be plentiful, safe, and pay property taxes.

Making the affordable unit requirement too strict and you end up with nothing because developers walk away, but make it too easy and they walk all over you.  So the Planning Board, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, needs to find a proper balance that's "just right".

The Planning Board is targeting the Fall Town Meeting for an Inclusionary Zoning Article, with September 26 the deadline for article language.  In addition to the public forums soliciting advice the Planning Board will also hire a consultant to figure out the real world impacts of such an article on mixed use centers.

Amherst housing production has been practically non existent over the past generation, resulting in high rents pushing out middle class families and low income residents, the creation of students slums, and unhealthy discord in our political arena.  

Puffer's Pond Pervert

John S. Fitzgerald (center) with court attorney John McKenna left

At a his arraignment this afternoon in Eastern Hampshire District Court the prosecution asked Judge Patricia Poelher to impose a $5,000 cash bail for John S Fitzgerald on charges of "Open and Gross Lewdness" since it will most likely result in an indictment.

In addition, he has been convicted six times on the same charge since 1987, served a 6 month jail sentence, and only came off probation in 2012.

His court appointed attorney, John McKenna, requested $500 bail.

In a recitation of the statement of facts the prosecution stated Amherst police arrested Fitzgerald at Puffer's Pond yesterday early afternoon after two young females observed him masturbating and called 911.

When police arrived he freely admitted to them he was a "Level 3 Sex Offender" and that he had gotten drunk at a strip club and as a result ended up at Puffer's Pond masturbating in the bushes.

Judge Poelher took the advice of the public defender and imposed a $500 bail, but she also "impounded" the names and personal information of the two young female witnesses for their protection.

Fitzgerald will appear in Court again on July 24.

Environmental Make Good

Representative from W.D. Cowls and Landmark Properties appear before ConComm

Amherst Conservation Commission

A half dozen employees representing the interests of the current landowner, W.D. Cowls, and the buyer/developer, Landmark Properties, who wish to build a student housing project on 147 acres of woodland in North Amherst came before the  Conservation Commission again to explain how damage occurred to wetlands and how they will ensure it does not happen again.

W.D. Cowls, the largest private landowner in the state, has always allowed the general public to use the property for recreation.  And mountain bikes, all terrain vehicles and jeeps can leave behind ruts which the commission considers unacceptable in protected wetlands.

Cowls may reconsider keeping the property open to the general public and could install gates or cables at the three main entry points to keep out motorized vehicles.

Conservation members site visit to damaged area 6/25

But much of the (self reported) damage was caused by a contractor doing geo-technical drilling for the proposed buyer of the property, Landmark Properties.  Commission member Christiane Healey said, "I'm perplexed.  Don't you have experience with this?"

"We don't do this very often," responded the contractor, Mike Talbot.  "In my 30 years this if the first time doing work around wetlands on such a large tract of property.  We crossed wetlands to get to drilling sites.  We thought using logging roads was okay."

Talbot said from now on "wetlands" had been added to their job sheet checklists for awareness and a wetlands expert or land engineer would be consulted before any work took place in sensitive areas.

The "Preliminary Restoration Plan" was pronounced "thorough" by town wetlands administrator Beth Willson, but she preferred all restoration work be done by hand rather than mechanized equipment -- especially considering it was mechanized equipment that caused the damage in the first place.

The commission agreed and made that a part of their requirements as well as a paragraph about maintaining communication with the Conservation Commission and obtaining permits anytime work is performed in and around wetlands.

 About 25 concerned neighbors show up

The environmental consultants will return to the  July 23rd meeting with a final Restoration Plan and begin the work (by hand) immediately after approval by the Conservation Commission.

 Vince O'Connor worried about Fire Department access in case of a forest fire