THE 2018 AD HOC EARTH REMOVAL BY-LAW STUDY GROUP
In 2018 a small group of Sterling Board and Committee members formed an ad hoc group to study and propose changes to the existing Town of Sterling Earth Removal By-Law. After months of meetings they formulated their proposed draft new Earth Removal By-Law. Evidently at least one local developer opposed their draft and got then-Select Board Chair Richard Lane, an avowed pro-development hack, to disband that ad hoc group. Their work product was shelved.
2019–PRO-DEVELOPMENT HACK/THEN-SELECT BOARD CHAIR RICHARD LANE FORMS AND CHAIRS HIS OWN “EARTH REMOVAL BY-LAW REVIEW COMMITTEE”
In January 2019 then-Select Board Chair and avowed pro-development hack Richard Lane, THIS GUY– https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20050920/News/309209915 –after unilaterally disbanding the independent ad hoc 2018 Earth Removal By-Law study group, set up his own “Earth Removal By-Law Review Committee” which he chaired. His hand-picked group of ‘All Stars’ included property developer Carl Corrinne, THIS GUY– http://www.cdcorrinnebuilders.com/ –, civil engineer Shaun Francis (presumably paid by developers), Sterling Building ‘Commissioner’ Sarah Culgin, Sterling Conservation Commission Agent Matthew Marro, and Board of Health Inspector David “Nowhere Man” Favreau (See previous post, this Blog). As Town of Sterling payroll patriots Culgin, Marro, and Favreau were all directly under Lane’s thumb. Marro and Culgin were and are not even Sterling residents. According to Town records, Lane’s Committee met only five (5) times, the last time on 14 February 2019–almost three months before the 6 May 2019 Sterling Annual Town Meeting. SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/minutes/2019_2_14_earth_removal_bylaw_committee_minutes_.pdf
So one has to wonder who really wrote—and when–the the 2019 proposed, revised Earth Removal By-Law placed on the 6 May 2019 Annual Town Meeting Warrant as a surprise package???
THE 2019 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING–VOTERS SMELLED THE RAT
Voters attending the 6 May 2019 Sterling Annual Town Meeting smelled the rat and voted to “table” the revised Earth Removal By-Law submitted by the Select Board then. In a fascinating twist, Sterling developer-lawyer Brian Foley moved to reconsider that vote but was outside the one-hour period permitted for reconsideration. That was a good break for the rest of us. His move was proof that the revised Earth Removal By-Law was developer-promoted and crony-crafted. Mr. Foley’s operation, for months, mechanically shattered solid Oak Hill granite alongside Clinton Road to eke out two duplex platforms. The incessant noise generated by that process was often audible almost one mile away. Existing homes are and were directly adjacent and directly across the road. Then-Sterling Building ‘Commissioner’ Sarah Culgin failed to enforce the Massachusetts Noise Control Regulation, 310 Code of Massachusetts Regulations 7.10 ( http://airandnoise.com/MA310CMR710.html ), just as she failed to enforce it previously when developer James Simpson, for weeks, mechanically shattered ledge rock while constructing Cider Hill Estates off Redstone Hill Road.
Mr. Foley, would you care to comment on your relationships with former Selectman Richard Lane, current Select Board member(s), and present and former member(s) of the two Earth Removal By-Law Review Committees?
NOTE: Gary Menin, THE honest, honorable, highly qualified Board of Health member is the only one who voted NOT to allow septic systems to be installed over Foley’s granite bedrock alongside Clinton Road. He was outvoted 2-1 by the other BOH members and, so, the duplex septic systems went in. Let’s see how long they function! Board of Health Inspector David “Nowhere Man” Favreau and THE STERLING CRONY CABAL don’t like Mr. Menin BECAUSE he is a straight-shooter. They have a candidate running against him this election cycle. MAKE SURE YOU VOTE IN THE JUNE 2021 TOWN ELECTION TO RE-ELECT GARY MENIN TO THE BOARD OF HEALTH.
THE CURRENT SELECT BOARD’S ‘NEW’ JULY 2019 “EARTH REMOVAL BY-LAW REVIEW COMMITTEE” OF RETREADS
After that May 2019 Annual Town Meeting debacle the Select Board, as now constituted, in July 2019 decided to try again and formed its “Earth Removal By-Law Review Committee” of retreads. Once again property developer Carl Corrinne, civil engineer Shaun Francis, Conservation Commission Agent Matthew Marro, and the noted MIA Building ‘Commissioner’ Sarah Culgin (she has since moved on to become a Town of Ashburnham payroll patriot–good riddance!) were emplaced. Added was a third Town of Sterling payroll patriot also directly under the Select Board’s thumb, purported ‘Town Planner’ but really $75,000/year Select Board ‘Gofer’ Domenica Tatasciore (See first post, this Blog). Marro, Culgin, and Tatasciore did not and do not reside in Sterling. Favreau dropped out. Another appointee moved out of Sterling later.
THE PROPOSED, REVISED, PRO-DEVELOPER 2021 EARTH REMOVAL BY-LAW UP FOR ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTE THIS JUNE IS A SMELLIER RAT THAN THE 2019 RAT
The Retread Earth Removal By-Law Review Committee mostly regurgitated the very bad 2019 Earth Removal By-Law version but made it even more pro-developer (this– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/proposed_earth_removal_bylaw.pdf ) by deleting previously mandatory document filing provisions in order to hide project plans from abutters and the general public. Under this year’s gutted version, earth removal permit applicants are not required to file earth removal plans prepared by a “Professional Engineer and Professional Land Surveyor;” are not required to file documents detailing the “location of proposed earth removal site or sites, type of earth material to be removed, depth of excavation, …duration of earth removal operations, phasing schedule and amount of material…to be removed, …and estimated depth of normal high water;” and are not required to file a “traffic study,” among other deletions.
All other known Massachusetts municipal earth removal by-laws–you can find many online–set forth numerous definitions to minimize vagueness, ambiguities, and loopholes. The proposed 2021 Sterling version has only three definitions: “Earth,” “Permit Granting Authority” (now to be the craven, sell-out Select Board ), and “Quarrying or Mining.” The latter definition has a developer carve-out as follows: “‘Quarrying or mining’ shall exclude grading of a lot in preparation for construction of a structure or associated appurtenances for which….a permit has been issued by the town.” So developers can keep buying up cheap bedrock, continue to shatter it mechanically while the Town fails to enforce the Massachusetts Noise Control Regulation, and put more houses and septic systems atop rock.
The 2021 By-Law version contains even more developer concessions. “Exemptions from Permit Requirements” include these: “earth removal from one parcel…to a contiguous parcel…held in common ownership…[including] a group of parcels…contiguous to each other…”(developers can play ‘musical chairs’ with excavated rock and soil); “Earth removal from any parcel…in a definitive subdivision…approved by the Planning Board;” and “Earth removal…for [sic] a certain parcel…subject to Site Plan Review…approved by the Planning Board.” Developer Carl Corrinne, reappointed to the retread Earth Removal By-Law Review Committee, JUST HAPPENS to be Chair the Planning Board, too. SO, how many Sterling chicken coops can one fox raid?
PROPOSED, RELATED AMENDMENT TO THE STERLING PROTECTIVE (ZONING) BY-LAW
In a related, proposed Warrant Article, the Select Board seeks to benefit local ‘Crony Capitalists’ by substituting the definition of “Quarrying or Mining” for “Earth Removal” in the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law and so prevent Sterling property owners in the vast areas zoned “Rural Residential” from applying to the Zoning Board of Appeals for “Variances” to extract valuable sand & gravel or rock from deposits located on their properties. That would protect from competition existing quarry and sand & gravel pit operators who already have Sterling’s few areas zoned “Light Industrial” locked up. Ironically, most of those existing operations lie atop north Sterling’s extremely large “Aquifer Protection Zone.” They include Simpson’s near Bartlet’s Pond, two operations on the northwesterly side of Oak Hill. and another off Pratt’s Junction Road. Of course, Sterling’s best-known quarry is very near the Town’s Route 12 well field.
THE 14 JUNE 2021 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
So Sterling property owners, come out to the 14 June Annual Town Meeting and vote down these abominations, thereby protecting yourselves and the Town’s character.
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 