[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Millville 5-13-2013 ATM by Art. 18. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the wetlands, water
resources, and adjoining land areas in the Town of Millville by controlling
activities deemed by the Conservation Commission likely to have a
significant or cumulative effect upon resource area values, and wetland
interests including but not limited to the following: public or private
water supply, groundwater, flood control, erosion and sedimentation
control, aesthetics, storm damage prevention, including water quality,
water pollution control, erosion and sedimentation control, protection
of fisheries, protection of wildlife, protection of wildlife habitat,
protection of rare species habitat, including rare plant species,
agriculture, aquaculture, and recreation values, deemed important
to the Town (collectively, the "resource area values protected by
this bylaw"). This bylaw is intended to utilize the Home Rule authority
of the Town to protect additional resource areas, for additional values,
with additional standards and procedures stricter than those of the
Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40)
and regulations thereunder (310 CMR 10.00).
Except as permitted by the Conservation Commission or as provided
in this bylaw, no person shall commence to remove, fill, dredge, build
upon, degrade, or discharge into, or otherwise alter the following
resource areas: any freshwater or wet meadows; bogs; swamps; vernal
pools; banks; reservoirs; lakes; ponds; rivers; streams; creeks; tributaries;
lands under water bodies; lands subject to flooding or inundation
by groundwater or surface water; the one-hundred-foot buffer zone
to any of the aforementioned resource areas or lands abutting any
of the aforesaid resource areas; and the two-hundred-foot buffer zone
of rivers, ponds and lakes (collectively the "resource areas protected
by this bylaw"). Said resource areas shall be protected whether or
not they border surface waters.
A.
Public utility facilities. The application and permit required by
this bylaw shall not be required for 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 to
provide electric, gas, telephone, telegraph, or other telecommunications
services, provided that written notice has been given to the Commission
prior to commencement of work, and provided that the work conforms
to performance standards and design specifications in regulations
adopted by the Commission.
B.
Agricultural uses. The application and permit required by this bylaw
shall not be required for work performed for normal maintenance or
improvement of land which is lawfully in agricultural use.
C.
Emergency projects. The application and permit required by this bylaw
shall not be required for emergency projects necessary for the protection
of the health and safety of the public, provided that the work is
to be performed by or has been ordered to be performed by an agency
of the commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof; provided that
advance notice, oral or written, has been given to the Commission
prior to commencement of work or within 24 hours after commencement;
provided that the Commission or its agent certifies the work as an
emergency project; provided that the work is performed only for the
time and place certified by the Commission for the limited purposes
necessary to abate the emergency; and provided that within 21 days
of commencement of an emergency project a permit application shall
be filed with the Commission for review as provided by this bylaw.
Upon failure to meet these and other requirement of the Commission,
the Commission may, after notice and a public hearing, revoke or modify
an emergency project approval and order restoration and mitigation
measures.
D.
Exceptions contained in the Act. Other than stated in this section,
the exceptions provided in the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131,
§ 40) and regulations (310 CMR 10.00) shall not apply under
this bylaw.
A.
Application. Written application shall be filed with the Commission
to perform activities affecting resource areas protected by this bylaw.
The permit application shall include such information and plans as
are deemed necessary by the Commission to describe proposed activities
and their effects on the resource areas protected by this bylaw. No
activities shall commence without receiving and complying with a permit
issued pursuant to this bylaw. The Commission, in an appropriate case,
may accept as the permit application and plans under this bylaw the
notice of intent and plans filed under the Wetlands Protection Act
(MGL c. 131, § 40) and regulations (310 CMR 10.00).
B.
Request for determination. Any person desiring to know whether or
not a proposed activity or an area is subject to this bylaw may in
writing request a determination from the Commission. Such a request
for determination (RFD) shall include information and plans as are
deemed necessary by the Commission.
C.
Filing fee. At the time of a permit application or RFD, or application
for certificate of compliance, the applicant shall pay a filing fee
specified in regulations of the Commission. The fee is in addition
to that required by the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40)
and regulations (310 CMR 10.00). The fees shall be deposited in a
dedicated account, for use only for wetland protection activities,
from which the Commission may withdraw funds without further appropriation.
D.
Consultant fee.
(1)
Upon
receipt of a permit application or RFD, or at any point during the
hearing process, the Commission is authorized to require an applicant
to pay a fee for the reasonable costs and expenses borne by the Commission
for specific expert engineering and other consultant services deemed
necessary by the Commission to come to a final decision on the application.
This fee is called the "consultant fee." The specific consultant services
may include, but are not limited to, performing or verifying the accuracy
of resource area survey and delineation; analyzing resource area functions
and values, including wildlife habitat evaluations, hydrogeologic
and drainage analysis; and researching environmental or land use law.
The exercise of discretion by the Commission in making its determination
to require the payment of a consultant fee shall be based upon its
reasonable finding that additional information acquirable only through
outside consultants would be necessary for the making of an objective
decision.
(2)
Method of payment. The Commission may require the payment of the
consultant fee at any point in its deliberations prior to a final
decision. If a consultant fee account is authorized by a special act,
the applicant's fee shall be put into such account, and the Commission
may draw upon that account for specific consultant services approved
by the Commission at one of its public meetings. Any unused portion
of the consultant fee shall be returned to the applicant after the
Commission comes to a final decision on the application unless the
Commission decides at a public meeting that additional services will
be required.
A.
Notice. Any person filing a permit application or an RFD with the
Commission at the same time shall give written notice thereof, by
certified mail (return receipt requested) or hand delivered, to all
abutters at their mailing addresses shown on the most recent applicable
tax list of the Assessors, including owners of land directly opposite
on any public or private street or way, and abutters to the abutters
within 300 feet of the property line of the applicant, including any
in another municipality or across a body of water. The notice to abutters
shall have enclosed a copy of the permit application or request, with
plans, or shall state where copies may be examined and obtained by
abutters. An affidavit of the person providing such notice, with a
copy of the notice mailed or delivered, shall be filed with the Commission.
When a person requesting a determination is other than the owner,
his/her request, the notice of the hearing and the Commission's determination
itself shall be sent by the Commission to the owner as well as to
the person making the request.
B.
Public hearing. The Commission shall conduct a public hearing on
any permit application or RFD, with written notice given at the expense
of the applicant, not less than five business days prior to the hearing,
in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. The Commission
shall commence the public hearing within 21 days from receipt of a
completed permit application or RFD unless an extension is authorized
in writing by the applicant. The Commission shall issue its permit
or determination in writing within 21 days of the close of the public
hearing thereon unless an extension is authorized in writing by the
applicant. The Commission, in an appropriate case, may combine its
hearing under this bylaw with the hearing conducted under the Wetlands
Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40) and regulations (310 CMR
10.00).
C.
Continuation of hearing. The Commission shall have authority to continue the hearing to a certain date announced at the hearing, for reasons stated at the hearing, which may include receipt of additional information from the applicant or others deemed necessary by the Commission in its discretion, or comments and recommendations of the boards and officials listed in § 95-6.
Any person filing a permit application or RFD with the Commission
shall provide a copy thereof at the same time, by certified mail (return
receipt requested) or hand delivery, to the Board of Selectmen, Planning
Board, Board of Appeals, Board of Health, and Building Inspector.
A copy shall be provided in the same manner to the Conservation Commission
of the adjoining municipality, if the application or RFD pertains
to property within 200 feet of that municipality. An affidavit of
the person providing notice, with a copy of the notice mailed or delivered,
shall be filed with the Commission. The Commission shall not take
final action until the boards and officials have had 14 days from
receipt of notice to file written comments and recommendations with
the Commission, which the Commission shall take into account but which
shall not be binding on the Commission. The applicant shall have the
right to receive any comments and recommendations, and to respond
to them at a hearing of the Commission, prior to final action.
A.
Issuance of permit. If the Commission, after a public hearing, determines
that the activities which are subject to the permit application or
the land and water uses which will result therefrom are likely to
have a significant individual or cumulative effect upon the resource
area values protected by this bylaw, the Commission, within 21 days
of the close of the hearing, shall issue or deny a permit for the
activities requested. If it issues a permit, the Commission shall
impose conditions which the Commission deems necessary or desirable
to protect those values, and all activities shall be done in accordance
with those conditions. The Commission shall take into account the
cumulative adverse effects of loss, degradation, isolation, and replication
of protected resource areas throughout the community and the watershed,
resulting from past activities, permitted and exempt, and foreseeable
future activities.
B.
Denial of permit. The Commission is empowered to deny a permit for
failure to meet the requirements of this bylaw; 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
resource area values protected by this bylaw; and where no conditions
are adequate to protect those values.
C.
Buffers.
(1)
Presumed importance of buffer zone. Lands within 200 feet of rivers,
ponds and lakes, and lands within 100 feet of other resource areas,
are presumed important to the protection of these resources because
activities undertaken in close proximity to resource areas have a
high likelihood of adverse impact upon the wetland of other resources,
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, without
limitation, erosion, siltation, loss of groundwater recharge, poor
water quality, and loss of wildlife habitat. The Commission, therefore,
may require that the applicant maintain a strip of continuous, undisturbed
vegetative cover within the two-hundred-foot (or one-hundred-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 bylaw.
(2)
Presumption of fifty-foot undisturbed buffer.
(a)
The Conservation Commission presumes that an undisturbed forest
or naturally vegetated buffer at least 50 feet wide between the edge
of the resource area and the area the applicant proposes to disturb
during a project is necessary to protect the interests of this bylaw,
the Act, and the DEP wetlands regulations.
(b)
An applicant proposing to disturb any area within such fifty-foot
buffer shall have the burden of showing that the work proposed in
the application will not harm the interests protected by this bylaw,
the Act and the DEP wetlands regulations. Failure to provide adequate
evidence satisfactory to the Conservation Commission supporting a
determination that the proposed work within such fifty-foot buffer
will not harm the interests protected by this bylaw, the Act, and
the DEP wetlands regulations shall be sufficient cause for the Conservation
Commission to deny a permit or grant a permit with conditions, including,
without limitation, such buffer as the Conservation Commission deems
appropriate, or, in the Conservation Commission's discretion,
to continue the hearing to another date to enable the applicant or
others to present additional evidence.
(c)
Nothing in this regulation shall prevent the Conservation Commission
from prohibiting activity anywhere within the one-hundred-foot buffer
defined by the bylaw, these regulations, the Act and the DEP wetlands
regulations, including, without limitation, the area between the edge
of the fifty-foot buffer presumed necessary by this regulation and
the one-hundred-foot buffer.
D.
Practicable alternatives. In the review of areas within 200 feet
of rivers and streams, no permit issued hereunder shall permit any
activities unless the applicant, in addition to meeting the otherwise
applicable requirements of this bylaw, has proved by a preponderance
of the evidence that (1) there is no practicable alternative to the
proposed project with fewer adverse effects, and that (2) such activities,
including proposed mitigation measures, will have no significant adverse
impact on the areas or values protected by this bylaw. 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 purpose (e.g., residential, institutional,
commercial, or industrial purpose), logistics, existing technology,
costs of the alternatives, and overall project costs.
E.
Avoidance of wetlands loss or alteration. To prevent wetlands loss,
the Commission shall require applicants to avoid wetlands alteration
wherever feasible; shall minimize wetlands alteration; and, where
alteration is unavoidable, shall require full mitigation. The Commission
may authorize or require replication of wetlands as a form of mitigation,
but only with adequate security, professional design, and monitoring
to assure success, because of the high likelihood of the failure of
replication.
F.
Expiration of permit. A permit shall expire three years from the
date of issuance. Notwithstanding the above, the Commission, in its
discretion, may issue a permit expiring five years from the date of
issuance for recurring or continuous maintenance work, provided that
annual notification of time and location of work is given to the Commission.
Any permit may be renewed once for an additional one-year period,
provided that a request for a renewal is received in writing by the
Commission prior to expiration. Notwithstanding the above, a permit
may contain requirements which shall be enforceable for a stated number
of years, indefinitely, or until permanent protection is in place,
and shall apply to all owners of the land.
H.
Coordination of permit with order of conditions. The Commission,
in an appropriate case, may combine the permit or determination issued
under this bylaw with the order of conditions or determination of
applicability issued under the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131,
§ 40) and regulations (310 CMR 10.00).
I.
Recording of permit. No work proposed in any permit application shall
be undertaken until the permit issued by the Commission with respect
to such work has been recorded in the Registry of Deeds or, if the
land affected is registered land, in the Registry Section of the Land
Court for the district wherein the land lies, and until the holder
of the permit certifies in writing to the Commission that the permit
has been recorded, or provides the Commission with a copy of the recording
information or other evidence of recordation with the appropriate
registry.
After public notice and public hearing, the Commission shall
promulgate additional rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes
of this bylaw effective when voted and filed with the Town Clerk.
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. At a minimum,
these regulations shall define key terms in this bylaw not inconsistent
with this bylaw and procedures governing the amount and filing fees.
A.
ABUTTER
ACTIVITY
AESTHETICS
ALTER
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
AREA SUBJECT TO PROTECTION UNDER THE BYLAW
BANK
BOG
BUFFER ZONE
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
COMMISSION
CONDITIONS
DATE OF ISSUANCE
DATE OF RECEIPT
DEPARTMENT
DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY
DETERMINATION OF SIGNIFICANCE
DRIVEWAY
EROSION CONTROL
INTERESTS
ISOLATED LAND SUBJECT TO FLOODING
NOTICE OF INTENT
NOTIFICATION OF NONSIGNIFICANCE
ORDER
ORDER OF CONDITIONS
PERSON
PLANS
POND
(1)
(2)
PROTECTION OF WILDLIFE
RARE SPECIES
REMOVE
REQUEST FOR DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY
RESOURCE AREA
SEDIMENTATION CONTROL
STREAM
STRUCTURE
VERNAL POOL
WILDLIFE HABITAT
The following
definitions shall apply in the interpretation and implementation of
this bylaw:
Any person possessing whole or partial ownership of property
directly adjacent to the property on which work is proposed. This
shall include owners of land directly opposite of any private or public
street or way, and abutters to the abutters within 300 feet of the
property line of the applicant, including any in another municipality
or across a body of water.
Any form of draining, dumping, dredging, damming, discharging,
excavating, filling, or grading; the erection, reconstruction, or
expansion of any buildings or structures; the driving of pilings;
the construction or improvement of roads and other ways; the changing
of runoff characteristics; the intercepting or diverting of groundwater
or surface water; the installation of drainage, sewage, and water
systems; the discharging of pollutants; the destruction of plant life;
and any other changing of the physical characteristics of land or
of the physical, biological, or chemical characteristics of water.
The visual and sensory character of natural conditions, including
but not limited to natural lighting, sounds, odors, and significant
trees and views or vistas as at the time are experienced by the public
from public ways, including waterways.
To change the condition of any area subject to protection.
Examples of alteration include, but are not limited to, the following:
Removal, excavation, or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, or aggregate
materials of any kind.
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics,
salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns, or flood
retention characteristics.
Drainage or other disturbance of water levels or water table.
Dumping, discharging, or filling with any material which may
degrade water quality.
Placing of fill, or removal of material, which would alter elevation.
Driving of piles, erection, or repair of buildings, or structures
of any kind.
Placing of obstructions or objects in water.
Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees.
Changing temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, or other physical,
biological, or chemical characteristics of any waters.
Any activities, changes, or work which may cause or tend to
contribute to pollution of any body of water or groundwater.
Incremental activities which have, or may have, a cumulative
adverse impact on the resource areas protected by this bylaw.
Any area specified in § 95-2 of this bylaw. It is used synonymously with "resource area."
Includes the land area which normally abuts and confines
a water body; the lower boundary being the mean annual low flow level,
and the upper boundary being the first observable break in the slope
or the mean annual flood level, whichever is higher.
Any area where standing or slowly running water is near or
at the surface during a normal growing season and where a vegetational
community has a significant portion of the groundwater or surface
covered with sphagnum moss (Sphagnum) and where the vegetational community
is made up of a significant portion of one or more of, but not limited
to nor necessarily all of, the following plants or groups of plants:
aster (Aster nemoralis), azaleas (Rhododendrum canadense and R. viscosum),
black spruce (Picea mariano), bog cotton (Eriophorum), cranberry (Vaccinium
macrocarpon), high-bush blueberry (Vaccinium Corymbosum), larch (Lariz
laricina), laurels (Kalmia angustifolia and K. polifolia), leatherleaf
(Chamaedaphne calyculata), orchids (Arethuse, Calopogon, Pogonia),
pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea), sedges (Cyperaceae), sundews
(Droseraceae), sweet gale (Myrica Gale), and white cedar (Charnaecyparis
thyoides).
An area of land extending within 200 feet of rivers, ponds and lakes, and lands within 100 feet of other resource areas as specified in § 95-2 of these bylaws. The buffer zones are resources afforded protection under this bylaw.
A written determination by the Conservation Commission that
the proposed work or a portion thereof has been completed in accordance
with a pertinent order of conditions.
The Millville Conservation Commission.
Those requirements set forth in an order of conditions issued
by the Conservation Commission for the purpose of permitting, regulating,
or prohibiting any activity that removes, fills, dredges, builds upon,
or alters an area subject to protection under this bylaw.
The date an order of conditions, a determination, or a certificate
of compliance is mailed, as evidenced by a postmark, or the date it
is hand-delivered.
The date of delivery to an office, home, or usual place of
business by mail or hand delivery.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP).
A written finding by the Commission as to whether a site
or the activity proposed thereon is subject to the jurisdiction of
this bylaw.
A written finding by the Commission, after a public hearing, that the area on which the proposed work is to be done, or which the proposed work will alter, is significant to one or more of the values and interests identified in § 95-2 of these regulations.
Any means of vehicle access to a parcel of land. Driveways
can occur as gravel, crushed stone, dirt, impervious materials such
as cement or bituminous concrete, or any other suitable material.
The prevention or reduction of the detachment or movement
of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice, and/or gravity or by
the action of a person or machine.
The wetland values (collectively, the "interests protected by this bylaw") specified in § 95-1 of this bylaw.
An isolated depression or closed basin without an inlet or
outlet. It is an area which at least once a year confines standing
water to a volume of at least 1/8 acre-feet and to an average depth
of at least six inches.
The written application filed by any person intending to
remove, fill, dredge, or alter an area subject to protection under
the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40,
and the Town of Millville Wetlands Bylaw.
An order of conditions, superseding order or final order,
whichever is applicable, issued pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40,
and/or the Town of Millville Wetlands Protection Bylaw.
The document issued by the Conservation Commission containing
conditions which regulate or prohibit an activity under MGL c. 131,
§ 40, and/or the Town of Millville Wetlands Protection Bylaw.
Includes any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject
to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation
or body, this municipality, and any other legal entity, its legal
representatives, agents, or assigns.
Such data, maps, engineering drawings, calculations, specifications,
schedules and other materials, if any, deemed necessary by the Conservation
Commission to describe the site and the activity, to determine the
applicability of this bylaw or to determine the impact of the proposal
upon the interests identified in this bylaw.
Any open body of fresh water with a surface area observed or
recorded within the last 10 years of at least 5,000 square feet. Ponds
may be either naturally occurring or man-made by impoundment, excavation,
or otherwise. Ponds shall contain standing water except for periods
of extended drought. For purposes of this definition, "extended drought"
shall mean any period of four or more months during which the average
rainfall for each month is 50% or less of the ten-year average for
that same month.
Notwithstanding the above, the following man-made bodies of
open water shall not be considered ponds:
Includes the protection of the ability of any resource area
to provide food, wildlife corridors, breeding habitat, overwintering,
or escape cover for wildlife.
Includes, without limitation, all vertebrate and invertebrate
animal and plant species listed as endangered, threatened, or of special
concern by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, regardless
of whether the site in which they occur has been previously identified
by the Division.
To take away any type of material, thereby changing an elevation,
either temporarily or permanently. "Remove" also means the removal
of vegetation, either alive or dead.
A written request made by any person to the Commission for
a determination as to whether a site or the proposed activity thereon
is subject to this bylaw.
Synonymous with "area subject to protection under this bylaw," each one of which is listed in § 95-2 of these regulations.
The prevention or reduction of the collection or concentrations
of sand, soil, or rock fragments by the action of water, wind, ice,
gravity, person or machine.
A body of running water, including brooks and creeks, which
moves in a definite channel in or under the ground due to hydraulic
gradient. A portion of a stream may flow through a culvert or beneath
a bridge. A stream may be intermittent (i.e., does not flow throughout
the year) or perennial. The classification of a stream may be made
based upon reference to USGS topographical maps, USGS StreamStats,
or any other reliable evidence available to the Commission. A stream
may also be man-made.
Any building, shed, deck, driveway, road, septic component,
dock, pier, bulkhead, revetment, groin, float, pipeline, fence, guardrail,
pool, tennis court or other playing surface, drainage component, storage
tank, etc.
Includes a confined basin depression which, at least in most
years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months during the
spring and/or summer, and which is free of adult fish populations,
as well as the area within 100 feet of the mean annual boundary of
such a depression, regardless of whether the site has been certified
by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Vernal pools
shall include those mapped and certified by the Massachusetts Natural
Heritage and Endangered Species Program as well as those areas identified
in the field as eligible for certification by a professional wetlands
biologist or other expert.
Areas having plant community composition and structure, hydrologic
regime, or other characteristics sufficient to provide shelter, nutrients,
growing conditions, or nesting or breeding sites conducive to the
propagation and preservation of wildlife. Migratory and overwintering
areas shall also be included as wildlife habitat.
B.
Consistency
with Wetlands Protection Act. Except as otherwise more stringently
provided in this bylaw or in regulations of the Commission, the definitions
of terms in this bylaw shall be as set forth in the Wetlands Protection
Act (MGL c. 131, § 40) and regulations (310 CMR 10.00).
As part of a permit issued under this bylaw, in addition to
any security required by any other municipal or state board, agency,
or official, the Commission may require that the performance and observance
of the conditions imposed thereunder (including conditions requiring
mitigation work) be secured wholly or in part by one or more of the
methods described below:
A.
By a proper bond or deposit of money or negotiable securities or
other undertaking of financial responsibility sufficient, in the opinion
of the Commission, to be released in whole or in part upon issuance
of a certificate of compliance for work performed pursuant to the
permit.
B.
By accepting a conservation restriction, easement, or other covenant
enforceable in a court of law, executed and duly recorded by the owner
of record, running with the land to the benefit of the Town whereby
the permit conditions shall be performed and observed before any lot
may be conveyed other than by mortgage deed. This method shall be
used only with the consent of the applicant.
A.
Prohibition. No person shall remove, fill, dredge, build upon, degrade,
or otherwise alter resource areas protected by this bylaw, or cause,
suffer, or allow such activity, or leave in place unauthorized fill,
or otherwise fail to restore illegally altered land to its original
condition, or fail to comply with a permit or an enforcement order
issued pursuant to this bylaw.
B.
Entry on property. The Commission, its agents, officers, and employees
shall have authority to enter upon privately owned land for the purpose
of performing their duties under this bylaw and may make or cause
to be made such examinations, surveys, or sampling as the Commission
deems necessary, subject to the Constitutions and laws of the United
States and the commonwealth.
C.
Enforcement alternatives.
(1)
The Commission shall have authority to enforce this bylaw, its regulations, and permits issued thereunder by violation notices, enforcement orders, under the Town's noncriminal disposition section of its general bylaws, pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 21D, as set forth in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article I, § 1-3, of the Town Code, and civil and criminal court actions.
(2)
Any police officer or the Conservation Agent shall have authority
to enforce this bylaw. Any person who violates provisions of this
bylaw may be ordered to restore the property to its original conditions
and take other action deemed necessary to remedy such violations,
or may be fined, or both.
D.
Fine. Any person who violates any provision of this bylaw, or regulations,
permits, or administrative orders issued thereunder, shall be punished
by a fine of $300. Each day or portion thereof during which a violation
continues, or unauthorized fill or other alteration remains in place,
shall constitute a separate offense, and each provision of this bylaw,
regulations, permits, or administrative orders violated shall constitute
a separate offense.
The applicant for a permit shall have the burden of proving
by a preponderance of the credible evidence that the work proposed
in the permit application will not have unacceptable significant or
cumulative effect upon the resource area values protected by this
bylaw. Failure to provide adequate evidence to the Commission supporting
this burden shall be sufficient cause for the Commission to deny a
permit or grant a permit with conditions.
A decision of the Commission shall be reviewable in the Superior
Court in accordance with MGL c. 249, § 4.
This bylaw is adopted under the Home Rule Amendment of the Massachusetts
Constitution and the Home Rule statutes, independent of the Wetlands
Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40) and regulations (310 CMR
10.00) thereunder.
The invalidity of any section or provision of this bylaw shall
not invalidate any other section or provision thereof.
