Mizhir v. Conservation Commission of Winchendon

19 Mass. L. Rptr. 721
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedAugust 30, 2005
DocketNo. 032065D
StatusPublished

This text of 19 Mass. L. Rptr. 721 (Mizhir v. Conservation Commission of Winchendon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mizhir v. Conservation Commission of Winchendon, 19 Mass. L. Rptr. 721 (Mass. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

Wexler, James H., J.

This matter came before the Court on an appeal filed by the plaintiff, Catharine Mizhir, as Trustee of Three M. Realty Trust (“Trust”) pursuant to G.L.c. 249, §4, challenging an enforcement order issued by the members of the Winchendon Conservation Commission (“Commission”) pursuant to the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (“Act”), G.L.c. 131, §40. The plaintiff moves for a judgment quashing that part of the enforcement order requiring the Trust to file a Notice of Intent with the Commission. The defendants oppose the plaintiffs motion and have moved that the court dismiss the plaintiffs complaint.

BACKGROUND

Three M. Realty Trust owns land off of Route 12 within the Town of Winchendon, Massachusetts. The property is shown on a February 13, 1995 plan entitled, “Grading Plan” prepared by the Trowbridge Engineering Company. The plan shows wetland resource areas and buffer zones at the southwest, northwest, north and east areas of the property.

Having filed a determination of applicability request on March 27, 1995, the plaintiff notified the Winchendon Conservation Commission of her plan to remove sand and gravel from the property, including areas located within the wetland protection and buffer zone areas. The Commission, following a hearing on April 11, 1995, in a letter dated April 12, 1995, determined that the work described “is within the Buffer Zone as defined in the regulations, and will alter an area subject to protection under the act.” The [722]*722Commission stated that the work “require[d] the filing of a Notice of Intent including calculations as requested at the 11 April Hearing.”

During a meeting with the Commission on April 25, 1995, the plaintiff represented that the Trust was “only proposing to remove gravel outside of the 100-foot buffer zone.” The plaintiff argued that a notice of intent was therefore not required. However, the plaintiff did not file any document or plan to withdraw or modify the determination of applicability.

In a May 2, 1995 memorandum to the Town Manager, Board of Selectman, and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), the Commission noted that notwithstanding the plaintiffs representations during the April 25, 1995 hearing, the plan on file showed that excavation work was contemplated for areas within the protected areas.

The Commission noted that:

Three M. Realty Trust assured the Commission that the [Notice of Intent] would be filed in time for the 25 April 1995 hearing. On, or shortly before 25 April, the Commission was informed by Attorney Joseph Mizhir that 3M [sic] Realty Trust would not be submitting a NOI because they were not (contrary to their submitted plan) intending to work within 100 feet of the wetlands shown on the plan. The plan submitted with their original “Request” indicated work as close as 30 feet from the wetlands. As the applicant said to the Commission on 4/25/95, he would not be working to the plan submitted, the Commission does not now have a plan showing the new extent of excavation and since no NOI was submitted we have not been able to issue an Order of Conditions to prevent potential impacts to adjacent wetlands. There is continued concern of the Commission that the project could very likely cause a negative impact to the wetland to the rear of the project ... If the applicant does proceed and alters any of the wetland areas including but not limited to the wetland along the access road, the Commission will be required as set forth in [G.L.C. 131, §40], to issue an Enforcement Order for the violation.

At its meeting on May 31, 1995, the Winchendon Board of Selectman voted to issue a permit to the plaintiff to:

[OJperate a commercial sand and gravel pit on property located on Spring Street (Route 12); this permit is issued subject to the following expressed conditions:
(1) That Three M. Realty Trust, within thirty (30) days of the issuance of said permit, provide the Winchendon Conservation Commission with an amended plan that specifically delineates a distance of one hundred (100) feet from the edge of all established buffer zones . . . and written assurance that when activities at the gravel pit begin at the said one hundred-foot delineation line from the buffer zone, Three M. Realty Trust shall file a Request for Determination of Applicability, fully documenting the measures to be taken. If subsequently required by the Winchendon Conservation Commission, a Notice of Intent will be filed . . .
(3) The Three M. Realty Trust shall reasonably allow members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, or their designee, and/or the members of the Conservation Commission or their designee, to conduct an official inspection of the site to determine compliance with [G.L.c. 131, §40] or any permit issued from the Town of Winchendon.

Six months later, in a November 21, 1995 letter, Winchendon’s Town Manager Richard S. Lak advised the plaintiff that:

[A]s of this date, the Three M. RealtyTrust has failed to comply with two (2) expressed conditions of a permit signed by the Winchendon Board of Selectman . . . issued July 21, 1995 to said Three M. Really Trust regarding operations of its sand and gravel pit on Spring Street (Route 12), Winchendon, Massachusetts.
First Violation: Three M. Realty Trust has failed to provide the Winchendon Conservation Commission with an amended site plan as specifically required by Condition One (1) of said permit.

In a letter dated December 13, 1995, the Commission notified the Chief Enforcement Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) of the plaintiffs violations of the Wetlands Act. The letter stated:

3M [sic] Realty Trust of Winchendon is denying the Winchendon Conservation Commission permission to check the site of their gravel operation on Spring Street (Rt 12) in violation of their permit to operate ... In addition to the permit violations that impact the Wetlands Protection Act, Commission members and their agent . . . have observed alterations in, and adjacent to the access road on the site . . . this road had been experiencing noticeable flooding. The access road is immediately adjacent to a wetland, well within the 100-foot buffer zone ... A “positive” Determination of Applicability had been voted by the Commission at the [April 11,1995] meeting and a Notice of Intent was requested. Since that time 3M Realty Trust has refused to file. However, the Board of Selectmen permit . . . assurred [sic] the Commission of a revised plan (never submitted) and inspection rights (now denied).

The DEP issued Enforcement Order UAO-CE-96-6003 on May 5, 1996 based upon an agent of the DEP visiting the property on May 4, 1996, and observing:

[S]oil from the west side of the access road [was] eroding and causing sedimentation deposit and siltation to the Wetland . . . Clearing of trees and grading activities in the buffer zone of the wetlands [723]*723east of the access road and along the wetlands northeast of the property.

The DEP had determined that:

[T]he activity described ... is in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act, G.L.c. 131, §40 and the Regulations promulgated thereunder pursuant thereto 310 CMR 10.00, because . . .

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Bluebook (online)
19 Mass. L. Rptr. 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mizhir-v-conservation-commission-of-winchendon-masssuperct-2005.