HomeMy WebLinkAboutComment Letter Hildegarde ParisVia Email
March 20, 2025
Mr. F.P “Tom” Lee
Chairman
Town of Barnstable Conservation Commission
c/o kimberly.cavanaugh@town.banstable.ma.us
200 Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Re: Request for Determination of Applicability filed by Bog Partners LLC (the “Applicant”), for 1246
Bumps River Road and 0 Marie-Ann Terrace, Centerville, Massachusetts
Dear Chairman Lee,
We, Hildegarde Paris and Andrea Goode are writing as both Centerville residents and abutters of the property referenced above and in supporter of the Friends of the Centerville Cranberry
Bog Preservation, Inc.
I write to urge the Town of Barnstable Conservation Commission to issue a Positive Declaration of Applicability in connection with the “Change of Commodity” proposed by the Applicant
in the above-referenced application. In its RDA, the Applicant seeks a determination that the proposed “Change in Commodity” to be grown on some 9.5 acres of the property located at
1246 Bumps River Road and 0 Marie Ann Terrace is exempt from the filing requirements of the Wetlands Protection Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 131, Section 40), its implementing
regulations for agriculture (310 Code of Massachusetts Regulations 10.04), and the Town’s Wetlands Protection Regulations (Town Code Section 237). Contrary to the RDA’s unsupported assertion
that the proposed change constitutes the “normal improvement” of land involved in agricultural or aqua cultural use (“LIAU”) under 310 CMR 10.04(c) (1)(a).
We believe that the project is not exempt because the activity will occur on land that clearly is not LIAU. The seminal work Farming in Wetland Resource Areas - A Guide to Agriculture
and the
Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (1996) (http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dep/water/laws/a-thru-h/farman.pdf). The Guide includes a detailed discussion of the components of the agricultural
exemption (see pp. 2-1—2-14). After noting that it is the activity, not the land, that is the focus of the exemption, the authors of the Guide concluded that for a proposed activity
to be exempt, it must occur on land used “presently and primarily” in producing or raising agricultural commodities “for commercial purposes.” A “commercial purpose” is characterized
by two key elements: first, the activity of selling; and second, the goal of making a profit. They also admonished that: “It is not enough to have one without the other - both elements
must be present. Whether they are present must be determined on a case-by-case basis.” It also advises that “It is properfor a Conservation Commission or the DEP to require documentation
of the extent and thebasis of agricultural use. Such proof could be a USDA farm plan, or a forestland acre management plan”.
This RDA offers no such proof. When the property was last “cropped,” the Jenkins family, commercial cranberry growers on Cape Cod since the 1850s, conducted the harvest. The RDA does
not state whether the Applicant has ever been engaged, or will be engaging, within a specified timeframe, in either silviculture -- harvesting forestland as trees mature and selling
them with the expectation of making a profit from the wood--- or establishing a tree nursery, with the expectation of making a profit from selling live trees. As noted above, the Applicant
must prove to the Commission that it, too, is producing or raising an agricultural commodity “for commercial purposes” in order for its proposed project to be exempt from the Wetlands
Protection Act regulations.
Furthermore, the practices for planting, growing, and maintaining the “changed commodity” raise questions about water consumption, soil disturbance, drainage revision, possible introduction
of invasive species, and fertilizer and pesticide use, the answers to which are presumably different from those that a cranberry farmer would provide. We are also concerned that the
creation of a forest of the magnitude proposed by the Applicant will change the fundamental nature of the wetland, as the trees’ roots and canopy will affect the subsurface and surface
areas of the property and make conversion to a different agricultural commodity unlikely.
The Commission and members of the public should consider these questions, and in doing so, we respectfully request that the Commission issue a Positive Determination of Applicability
and require the Applicant to submit a Notice of Intent for its proposed project.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Hildegarde Paris
Andrea Goode
29 Emerson Way
Centerville, MA 02632
cc: Hon. Louise Foster, Vice Chair
Hon. John Abodeely
Hon. William Hearn
Hon. Jeffrey Kaschuluk
Hon. Peter Sampou
Hon. Angela Tangney
Hon. Charles Bloom, Town Council Liaison to the Conservation Commission
Mr. Lev Malakhoff, Chair, Open Space Committee
Mr. Lindsey Counsell, Chair, Community Preservation Committee