[HISTORY: Adopted 4-7-1986 ATM, Art. 42 (Section V, K,
of the 5-1-2005 printing of the Zoning Bylaws); amended in its entirety 5-6-2019 ATM by Art. 42. Subsequent amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 415.
The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the wetlands of the
Town of Rockland by controlling activities deemed to have a significant
effect upon wetland values, including but not limited to the following:
public or private water supply, groundwater, flood control, erosion
control, storm damage prevention, water pollution, fisheries, shellfish,
wildlife, recreation and aesthetics (collectively, the "interests
protected by this bylaw").
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
and implementation of this bylaw.
A.
The term "person" shall include any individual, group of individuals,
association, partnership, corporation, company, business organizations,
trust, estate, the Commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to
the extent subject to town bylaws, administrative agencies, public
or quasi-public corporations of bodies, the Town of Rockland, and
any other legal entity, its legal representatives, agents or assigns.
B.
The term "alter" shall include, without limitation, the following
actions when undertaken in areas subject to this bylaw:
(1)
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, or aggregate
materials of any kind;
(2)
Changing drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics, salinity
distributions, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns and flood retention
characteristics;
(3)
Drainage or other disturbances of water level or water table;
(4)
Dumping, discharging or filing with any material which may degrade
water quality;
(5)
Driving of piles, erection of buildings or structures of any kind;
(6)
Placing of obstructions whether or not they interfere with the flow
of water;
(7)
Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees;
(8)
Changing of water temperature, biochemical oxygen demand or other
physical or chemical characteristics of the water;
(9)
Placement of a Title V subsurface disposal system for new construction
within 100 feet of any area subject to protection under the bylaw.
C.
The term "banks" shall mean that part of land adjoining any body
of water which confines the water.
D.
The term "vernal pool" shall include, in addition to scientific definitions
found in the regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act,[1] any confined basin or depression not occurring in existing
lawns, gardens, landscaped areas or driveways which, at least in most
years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months during the
spring and/or summer, contains at least 200 cubic feet of water at
some time during most years, is free of adult predatory fish populations,
and provides essential breeding and rearing habitat functions for
amphibian, reptile or other vernal pool community species, regardless
of whether the site has been certified by the Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Wildlife. The boundary of the resource area for vernal
pools shall be 100 feet outward from the mean annual high-water line
defining the depression, but shall not include existing lawns, gardens,
landscaped or developed areas.
[1]
Editor's Note: See M.G.L. c. 131, § 40.
A.
Application for permit. No person shall remove, fill dredge, alter
or build upon or within 100 feet of any bank, freshwater wetland,
including isolated land subject to flooding, coastal wetlands, beach,
dune flat, marsh, meadow, bog, swamp, or upon or within 100 feet of
any estuary, creek, river, stream, pond or lake, or upon or within
100 feet of any land under said waters or upon or within 100 feet
of any land subject to tidal action, coastal storm flowage, flooding
or inundation, or within 100 feet of the 100-year storm line, other
than in the course of maintaining, repairing or replacing, but not
substantially changing or enlarging, an existing and lawfully located
structure or facility used in the service of the public and used to
provide electric, gas, water, telephone, telegraph and other telecommunication
services, without filing written application for a permit so to remove,
fill dredge, alter or build upon, including such plans as may be necessary
to describe such proposed activity and its effect on the environment,
and receiving and complying with a permit issued pursuant to this
bylaw.
B.
Form of application. Such application may be identical in form to
a notice of intention filed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 131, § 40,
shall be sent by certified mail to the Rockland Conservation Commission
(the "Commission"), and must be filed concurrently with or after applications
for all other variances and approvals required by the Zoning Bylaw,
the Subdivision Control Law or any other bylaw or regulation have
been obtained. Sufficiently in advance of the public hearing, the
applicant shall be expected to submit (1) receipts of mailings to
abutters; (2) vested interest in the property information, such as
a deed, purchase and sale agreement, notarized statement from owner,
and plans and water calculations with a P.E. or R.L.S. stamp if applicable.
C.
Request for determination. Upon written request of any person, the
Commission shall, within 21 days, make a written determination as
to whether this bylaw is applicable to any land or work thereon. When
the person requesting a determination is other than the owner, notice
of the determination shall be sent to the owner as well as to the
requesting person.
D.
Filing fees. The Commission shall set a filing fee by regulation,
but no filing fee is required when the Town of Rockland or its officers,
boards, departments and/or commissions file an application for a permit.
E.
Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not apply to work
performed for normal maintenance or improvement of land in agricultural
use.
The Commission shall hold a public hearing on the application
within 21 days of its receipt. Notice of the time and place of the
hearing shall be given by the Commission at the expense of the applicant,
not less than five days prior to the hearing, by publication in a
newspaper of general circulation in Rockland and by mailing a notice
to the applicant, the Board of Health, Board of Selectmen, Planning
Board and to such other persons as the Commission may by regulation
determine. The applicant at his expense shall mail notice of the time
and place of hearing to all abutters of the land on which the proposed
work is to be done by certified mail, at least seven days prior to
the hearing and shall present to the Commission proof in the form
of receipts of such mailing at the time of the hearing. The Commission,
its agents, officers, and employees, may enter upon privately owned
land for the purpose of performing their duties under this bylaw.
The Commission is authorized to establish a schedule of fees and costs
as may be reasonably required to process applications.
A.
If after the public hearing, the Commission determines that the area
which is the subject of the application is significant to the interest
protected by this bylaw, the Commission shall, within 21 days of such
hearing, issue or deny a permit for the work requested. If it issues
a permit after making such determination, the Commission shall impose
such conditions as it determines are necessary or desirable for protection
of those interests, and all work shall be done in accordance with
those conditions.
B.
The Commission is empowered to deny a permit for failure to meet
the requirements of this chapter for failure to submit necessary information
and plans requested by the Commission; for failure to meet the design
specifications, performance standards, and other requirements in regulations
of the Commission; for failure to avoid or prevent unacceptable significant
or cumulative effects upon the wetland values protected by this chapter
and where no conditions are adequate to protect those values. Due
consideration shall be given to any demonstrated hardship on the applicant
by reason of denial, as presented at the public hearing.
C.
Lands within 100 feet of the specified resource areas, and within
200 feet of rivers, streams, and creeks, are presumed important to
the protection of these resources because activities undertaken in
close proximity to resource areas have a high likelihood of adverse
effect upon them either immediately, as a consequence of construction,
or over time, as a consequence of daily operation or existence of
the activities. These adverse impacts from construction and use can
include, but not be limited to, erosion, siltation, loss of groundwater
recharge, poor water quality, and loss of wildlife habitat. In order
to protect such areas, there shall be a strip of continuous, undisturbed
vegetative cover within 25 feet of the specified resource areas shall
not be disturbed and treated as a no disturbance area. The Commission
therefore may also require that the applicant maintain a strip of
continuous, undisturbed vegetative cover within the aforementioned
100-foot or 200-foot area, unless the applicant convinces the Commission
that the area or part of it may be disturbed without harm to the values
protected by this chapter. In the case of areas within 200 feet of
rivers, streams, and creeks, no permit issued hereunder shall permit
any activities unless the applicant, in addition to meeting the otherwise
applicable requirements of the chapter, has proved by a preponderance
of the evidence that there is no practicable alternative to the proposed
project with less adverse effects, and should there be no practicable
alternative, that such activities, including proposed mitigation measures,
will have no significant adverse impact on the areas or values protected
by this chapter. The Commission shall regard as practicable an alternative
which is reasonably available and capable of being done after taking
into consideration the proposed property use, overall project purposes,
logistics, existing technology, costs of the alternatives and overall
project cost.
D.
Permits shall expire three years from the date of issuance, unless
renewed prior to expiration, and all work shall be completed prior
to expiration. No proposal which has been unfavorably acted upon by
the Commission shall be considered within two years after the date
of such unfavorable action unless by a 4/5 vote of the Commission.
This bylaw shall not apply to any emergency project as defined
in M.G.L. c. 131, § 40.
Any person who purchases, inherits or otherwise acquires real
estate upon which work has been done in violation of the provisions
of this bylaw or in violation of any permit issued pursuant to this
byaw shall forthwith comply with any such order or restore such land
to its condition prior to any such violation; provided, however, that
no action, civil or criminal, shall be brought against such person
unless commenced within three years following date of acquisition
of the real estate by such person.
The Commission may require, as a permit condition, that the
performance and observance of other conditions be secured by one or
both of the following methods:
A.
By a bond or deposit of money or negotiable securities in an amount
determined by the Commission to be sufficient and payable to the Town
of Rockland;
B.
By a conservation restriction, easement or other covenant running
with the land, executed and properly recorded (or registered, in the
case of registered land).
The applicant shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance
of the credible evidence that the work proposed in the application
will not harm the interests protected by this bylaw. Failure to provide
adequate evidence to the Commission supporting a determination that
the proposed work will not harm the interest protected by this bylaw
shall be sufficient cause for the Commission to deny a permit or grant
a permit with conditions, or in the Commission's discretion,
to continue the hearing to another date to enable the applicant or
others to present additional evidence.
The Commission shall not impose additional or more stringent
conditions pursuant to M.G.L. c. 131, than it imposes pursuant to
this bylaw, nor shall it require a Notice of Intention pursuant to
§ 40, to provide materials or data in addition to those
required pursuant to this bylaw.
A.
Any person who violates any provision of this bylaw or of any condition
or a permit issued pursuant to it shall be punished by a fine of $300
per day. Each day or portion thereof during which a violation continues
shall constitute a separate offense; if more than one, each condition
violated shall constitute a separate offense. This bylaw may be enforced
pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40, § 210, by a Town police officer
or other officer having police powers.
B.
Upon request of the Commission, the Board of Selectmen and Town Counsel
shall take such legal action as may be necessary to enforce this bylaw
and permits issued pursuant to it.
C.
Moreover, the Building Commissioner/Zoning Enforcement Officer shall
not sign a building permit or certificate of occupancy permit for
any structure upon land wherein an order of conditions is in effect
without written consent of the Conservation Commission.
After due notice and public hearing, the Commission may promulgate
rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this bylaw. Failure
by the Commission to promulgate such rules and regulations or a legal
declaration of their invalidity by a court of law shall not act to
suspend or invalidate the effect of this bylaw.
