[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of Medfield as Art. IX of the
1926 Bylaws. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this Bylaw is to protect the wetlands of the
Town of Medfield 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 control, wildlife
habitat, recreation, and aesthetics (collectively, the "interests
protected by this Bylaw").
A.
No person shall remove, fill, dredge, build upon or alter the following
resource areas: any freshwater wetland, bordering vegetated wetland,
certifiable vernal pools, marsh, wet meadow, bog or swamp; any bank,
beach, lake, river, pond, stream or any land under said waters; any
land subject to flooding or inundation by groundwater, surface water
or storm flowage; or any riverfront area; or any 50-foot buffer zone
without receiving a permit issued pursuant to this Bylaw. Any proposed
work which falls within 100 feet of any freshwater wetland, bordering
vegetated wetland, vernal pool, marsh, wet meadow, bog or swamp; any
bank, beach, lake, river, pond, stream or any land under said waters,
within 100 feet of any land subject to flooding or inundation, or
within 100 feet of the 100-year storm line must be permitted by the
Conservation Commission.
[ATM 4-26-1999]
B.
The application for a permit shall be a written application and shall
include plans that fully describe such removal, filling, dredging,
altering, and building and its effect on the environment. No such
activity shall commence until after receiving and complying with the
permit issued pursuant to this Bylaw.
C.
Such application may be identical in form to a notice of intent filed
pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40, shall be sent by certified
mail to the Medfield Conservation Commission (the "Commission") and
shall be accompanied by a filing fee payable to the Town of Medfield.
The amount of the filing fee shall be set by the Commission and published
in its rules and regulations. No filing fee is required when the Town
of Medfield files an application for a permit. The application may
be filed before other permits, variances and approvals required by
the Zoning Bylaw,[1] the Subdivision Control Law[2] or any other Bylaw or regulation have been obtained. Copies
of the application shall be sent at the same time, by certified mail,
to the Board of Selectmen, the Planning Board and the Board of Health.
D.
Pursuant to MGL c. 44, § 53G, and regulations promulgated
by the Commission, the Commission may impose reasonable fees upon
applicants for the purpose of securing outside consultants, including
engineers, wetlands scientists, wildlife biologists or other experts,
in order to aid in the review of proposed projects. Such funds shall
be deposited with the Town Treasurer, who shall create an account
specifically for this purpose. Additional consultant fees may be requested
where the requisite review is more expensive than originally calculated
or where new information requires additional consultant services.
(1)
Only costs relating to consultant work done in connection with a
project for which a consultant fee has been collected shall be paid
from this account, and expenditures may be made at the sole discretion
of the Commission.
(2)
Any consultant hired under this provision shall be selected by, and
report exclusively to, the Commission. The Commission shall provide
applicants with written notice of the selection of a consultant, identifying
the consultant, the amount of the fee to be charged to the applicant
and a request for payment of that fee. Notice shall be deemed to have
been given on the date it is mailed or delivered. The applicant may
withdraw the application or request within five business days of the
date notice is given without incurring any costs or expenses.
(3)
The entire fee must be received before the initiation of consulting
services. Failure by the applicant to pay the requested consultant
fee within 10 business days of the request for payment shall be cause
for the Commission to declare the application administratively incomplete
and deny the permit without prejudice, except in the case of an appeal.
The Commission shall inform the applicant and Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Protection of such a decision in writing.
(4)
The applicant may appeal the selection of an outside consultant to
the Board of Selectmen, who may disqualify the consultant only on
the grounds that the consultant has a conflict of interest or is not
properly qualified. The minimum qualifications shall consist of either
an educational degree or three or more years of practice in the field
at issue, or a related field. The applicant shall make such an appeal
in writing, which must be received within 10 business days of the
date that the request for consultant fees was made by the Commission.
Such appeal shall extend the applicable time limits for action upon
the application.
A.
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.
B.
The provisions of this Section shall not apply to work performed
for normal maintenance or improvement of land in agricultural use
nor to work performed 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
telecommunications services.
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 Medfield 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.
If, after the public hearing, the Commission determines that
the area which is the subject of the application is significant to
the interests 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. If the Commission determines that the area
which is the subject of the application is not significant to the
interests protected by this Bylaw, or that the proposed activity does
not require the imposition of conditions, it shall issue a permit
without conditions within 21 days of the public hearing. Permits shall
expire one year from the date of issuance, unless renewed prior to
expiration, and all work shall be completed prior to expiration. Copies
of the permit shall be sent to the Board of Selectmen, the Planning
Board and the Board of Health. A copy shall also be sent to the Registry
of Deeds to be recorded with the deed.
The Commission shall not impose additional or more stringent
conditions pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40, than it imposes
pursuant to this Bylaw, nor shall it require a notice of intention
pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40, to provide materials
or data in addition to those required pursuant to this Bylaw.
This Bylaw shall not apply to any emergency project as defined
in MGL 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
Bylaw 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 the date of acquisition
of the real estate by such person.
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. Changes in the rules
and regulations may be made at any time, after due notice and a public
hearing on the changes.
The applicant shall have the burden of showing by a preponderance
of 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 interests 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.
A.
ALTER
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
BANKS
IMPROVEMENT OF LAND IN AGRICULTURAL USE
LAND IN AGRICULTURAL USE
NORMAL MAINTENANCE OR IMPROVEMENT OF LAND IN AGRICULTURAL USE
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
PERSON
QUALIFYING WETLAND
VERNAL POOL
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and implementation
of this Bylaw:
Shall include, without limitation, the following actions
when undertaken in areas subject to this Bylaw:
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand, gravel or aggregate
material of any kind;
Changing drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics,
salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns and flood
retention characteristics;
Drainage or other disturbance of water level or water table;
Dumping, discharging or filling with any material which may
degrade water quality;
Driving of piles, erection of buildings or structures of any
kind;
Placing of obstructions, whether or not they interfere with
the flow of water;
Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees;
Changing of water temperature, or biochemical characteristics
of water which confines the water.
That part of land adjoining any body of water which confines
the water.
Includes more extensive practices such as the building of
ponds, dams, structures for water control, water and sediment basins,
and related activities, but only where a plan for such activity approved
by the Conservation District of the Soil Conservation Service is furnished
to the Commission prior to the commencement of work. All such activity
shall subsequently be carried out in accord with said plan. In the
event that the work is not carried out in accordance with the required
plan, the Commission may place a stop order on said work and have
recourse to such measures as if the plan were a permit.
Any qualifying wetland within a farm which is qualified or
eligible to be qualified under the Farmland Assessment Act, MGL c. 61A,
§§ 1 through 5.
Only:
Tilling practices customarily employed in the raising of crops;
Pasturing of animals, including such fences and protective structures
as may be required;
Use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and similar materials
subject to state and federal regulations covering their use;
Constructing, grading, or restoring of field ditches, subsurface
drains, grass waterways, culverts, access roads, and similar practices
to improve drainage, prevent erosion, provide more effective use of
rainfall, and improve equipment operation and efficiency, in order
to improve conditions for the growing of crops.
Shall include any individuals, association, partnership,
corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate, the Commonwealth
or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject to Town Bylaws,
administrative agencies, public or quasi-public corporations or bodies,
the Town of Medfield, and any other legal entity, its legal representatives,
agents or assigns.
Only inland freshwater areas which are seasonally flooded
basins or flats or inland fresh meadows.
Shall include, in addition to scientific definitions found
in the regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act, 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 which actually
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.
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 proper bond, deposit of money or negotiable securities under
a written third-party escrow arrangement, or other undertaking of
financial responsibility sufficient in the opinion of the Commission,
said security to be released in whole or in part upon issuance of
a certificate of compliance for work performed pursuant to the permit.
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).
A.
The Commission, its agents, officers and employees may enter upon
privately owned land for the purpose of performing their duties under
this Bylaw.
B.
Any person who violated any provision of this Bylaw or any condition
of a permit issued pursuant to it shall be punished by the maximum
allowable fine. Each day or portion thereof during which a violation
continues shall constitute a separate offense. This Bylaw may be enforced
by a Medfield police officer or Conservation Agent. Upon request of
the Commission, the Board of Selectmen shall take such legal action
as they deem necessary and proper to enforce this Bylaw and permits
issued pursuant to it.
C.
Fines: up to $300 per offense (Medfield police officer or Conservation
Agent).
[ATM 4-26-1994; ATM 4-30-2007]
