Readers of this Blog know that I have long stressed the importance of creating additional Sterling downtown parking capacity as a REAL driver of economic development while Sterling’s so-called ‘Economic Development Committee’ wastes time, effort, and taxpayer money dicking around and scheming ways to lavish taxpayer money on Main Street’s private property owners–at least one of whom also owns commercial property elsewhere in Massachusetts–from the Brick Restaurant down to Appletown Market in order to prettify their building facades. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a prime example of stressing ‘form over substance’ and yet more evidence that the Town of Sterling is run by grifters, self-dealers, double-dealers, self-promoters, and morons unable to discern, comprehend or address real pressing needs and shortcomings.

SEE  2023_5_22_edc_agenda.docx (live.com)

SEE  2023_05_24_edc_subcom_agenda.pdf (sterling-ma.gov)

In order to address Sterling’s downtown parking shortcomings a new group has formed called LAMBs–“LOCAL AREA & MAINSTREET BUSINESSES” (Sterling’s mascot is Mary Sawyer’s “little lamb,” get it?) and has created this Facebook page– Downtown Sterling MA Community Parking Solutions | Facebook   Please join to be engaged and in the loop.

I am informed that none other than Richard Maki of Sterling’s so-called ‘Economic Development Committee’ attended and monitored that group’s recent meeting, remaining silent with, doubtless, his thumbs stuck up his ass throughout. I suspect that he was disappointed that this new group is actually addressing a key driver of public safety and economic development while his so-called ‘Economic Development Committee’ focuses on superficialities such as Main Street building facades and graffiti sprayed on Interstate 190 bridge abutments.

Stay tuned.

J.G.

When the scumbags constituting the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a “The Developers’ Doormat” told those assembled at the 11 April 2023 hearing into the 100 Clinton Road multi-family development proposed by two-faced weasel Carl Corrinne, the developer who is in a total conflict of interest as Chair of the Sterling Planning Board, that they had gotten an ‘opinion’ from Town Counsel concerning the matter, I knew that ‘opinion’ was shoehorned to cover the ZBA members’ crooked asses. The fix was already in to subvert/pervert Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws, screw the abutters to that parcel, and play footsie with Corrinne. Sterling ZBA members have conducted their dishonest campaign of kissing developer ass, perverting/subverting Sterling’s Zoning By-Laws, and screwing multitudes of abutters to various development projects for years.

When it comes to local developers the Sterling ZBA are a collection of prostitutes who spend all their time on their backs.

A copy of that so-called ‘legal opinion’ was emailed to me in response to my Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Section 10 public records request. The name of the KP Law, P.C. lawyer who typed out and emailed that shoddy piece of crap– I had to screenshot it in ‘landscape’ orientation that I am unable to ‘rotate’ to ‘portrait’ orientation–is blacked out, of course. If I authored that utter piece of crap I’d want my name blacked out too. To read it easily just print this page and orient it properly. You may need a magnifier.

My response letter is reprinted below it (apologies for spacing irregularities that I am unable to correct in this medium. All text had to be ‘justified’ to the left margin in this medium).

 P.O. Box 1149

 Sterling, MA 01564-1149

 20 April 2023

Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals

Municipal Building

1 Park Street

Sterling, MA 01564

RE: Corrinne’s Proposed 100 Clinton Road Multi-Family Development Bogus “Open Space” Claim

Dear Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals Members,

Today, in response to my Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Sec. 10 public records request, I received the enclosed ‘legal opinion’ email, dated April 9, 2023, rendered by Town Counsel at KP Law, P.C., concerning Corrinne’s bogus claim of “Open Space” required for his proposed Multi-Family Development at 100 Clinton Road, Sterling. The name of the lawyer who authored it was blacked out. If I authored such a worthless opinion I’d want my name blacked out too.

If you want to be defendants in a potential lawsuit to be brought by abutters, then, by all means, please follow that bogus opinion.

Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law Article 301-4.2.3.4, governing Multi-Family Developments, provides:

Open space.

a.   At least 60% of the parcel shall be maintained as open space, and at least 40% of the parcel shall be contiguous open space, excluding required yards and buffer areas.

b.  The required open space shall be used for conservation, recreation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or for a combination of these uses, and shall be served by suitable access for such purpose[s].

c.   Underground utilities to serve the development may be located within the required open space (emphasis added).

Town counsel ignored the fact that sub-section b. requires that the designated open space be used for conservation, recreation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or for a combination of these uses. Corrinne cannot require or guaranty such usage because New England Power Company/National Grid, the power line easement holder, has the right to restrict the type of vegetation grown on the property and to post “No Trespassing” signs upon it now or in the future. Whether or not that power line easement land is now posted “No Trespassing” is irrelevant. Corrinne cannot guaranty “suitable access” to the land within the power line easement now or in the future. Moreover, that power company may place additional structures on its easement land for increased electrical transmission capacity, covering more of Corrinne’s alleged “open space.” SEE Town of Framingham vs. Department of Public Utilities, 355 Mass. 138 (1969).

In addition, Town Counsel ignored the fact that the electrical transmission lines themselves, within the easement, constitute above-ground “utilities” NOT permitted “within the required open space.”  Electrical transmission lines are “utility lines.” SEE Town of Sudbury vs. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 485 Mass. 774 (2020); Lane vs. Zoning Board of Appeals of Falmouth, 65 Mass.App.Ct. 434 (2006); Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Inc. vs. Russell Management, Inc., 380 Mass. 212 (1980); Lyman vs. Planning Board of Winchester, 352 Mass. 209 (1967).

In view of the foregoing, Corrinne’s 100 Clinton Road multi-family development proposal fails the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws “Open Space” requirement and must be rejected by the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals. 

It remains to be seen just how unethical and intellectually dishonest you are.

Sincerely,

James F. Gettens, Esq.

Enc.

cc:

Abutters

Sterling Select Board

The Item Newspaper

I erred as to the ‘opinion’ date–it was 9 March. Oops.

All Sterling ZBA members are appointed by the Sterling Select Board. The Select Board, the ZBA, and Corrinne are scumbags. This episode just constitutes another layer of guano proof.

J.G.

During the 11 April 2023 initial hearing on Sterling Planning Board Chair and Weasel’s Weasel Carl Corrinne’s proposed multi-family development on the parcel known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts, Corrinne’s Hack Buddies on the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a ‘The Developers’ Doormat,’ when asked point-blank by one in attendance if Corrinne was on any Town of Sterling Board or Committee, pretended not to know and never answered the question. The ZBA Hacks know well that Corrinne is Chair of the Sterling Planning Board and Chair of the 1835 Town Hall Committee and is in a total conflict of interest. The ZBA Hacks are playing footsie with Corrinne and attempted to deceive the public. As you can tell, they aren’t very bright but think that we are all stupid and uninformed. Following an abutter’s telephone call to me on 12 April 2023, reporting on that hearing, I typed and mailed out the two following letters that are self-explanatory (all text is ‘justified’ to the left margin for this medium in hopes that this thing works. Apologies for the spacing gaps here that I am unable to correct).

 P.O. Box 1149

Sterling, MA 01564-1149

12 April 2023

Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals

Municipal Building

1 Park Street

Sterling, MA 01564

RE:   Proposed Multi-Family Development at 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts

Dear Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals Members,

This day I received a telephone call from an abutter about the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals hearing conducted 11 April 2023 on CD Corrinne Builders’ petition to construct a multi-family development on the property known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts. The caller reported that, in response to a direct question from one in attendance as to whether Carl Corrinne d/b/a CD Corrinne Builders was on any Town of Sterling Boards or Committees, you all refused to answer.

Of course, as you well know, Carl Corrinne is the two-faced little weasel who just happens to be Chair of the Sterling Planning Board and Chair of the 1835 Town Hall Committee with whom you are playing footsie at the expense of the Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws and the property owners abutting 100 Clinton Road. Corrinne is in a total conflict of interest and you all know it. I am sure Corrinne was seated in the crowd during your 11 April 2023 hearing, while his hired mouthpiece spoke, but lacked the honesty and integrity to speak up and acknowledge his two Town Committee chairmanships.

You also told those in attendance that Town Counsel opined that the land within the power line easement constitutes “Open Space” required for the project even though under the Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws it does not qualify as “Open Space” for multiple reasons. Since you possess zero credibility I have sent you a separate written request, in accordance with Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Sec. 10, with a copy to the Town Clerk, for any such written opinion rendered by Sterling Town Counsel.

The Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals has perverted and subverted the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws, in favor of developers, for years. You all and Corrinne are cowards and are so crooked that when you die you won’t be buried—you’ll be screwed into the ground instead.

And since you are all so crooked I have advised abutters to this proposed development to retain competent legal counsel and prepare for litigation.

Sincerely, 

James F. Gettens, Esq.   

cc:  

State Ethics Commission

Clerk, Town of Sterling 

Carl Corrinne, Chair, Sterling Planning Board

Town Planner, Sterling

Select Board, Sterling

Abutters

The Item Newspaper

______________________________________________________________________________

P.O. Box 114

Sterling, MA 01564-1149

12 April 2023

Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals

Municipal Building

1 Park Street

Sterling, MA 01564

RE:  Public Records Request in Accordance With Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Sec. 10

Dear Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals Members,

In accordance with Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 66, Sec.10, request is hereby made for complete copies of the following public records:

I.  Any and all written opinions sent or provided to the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals by Sterling Town Counsel concerning or related to open space within the proposed multi-family development on the property known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts.

Please advise me of the cost for producing and mailing to me the requested document copies.

Failure to respond to this request in a timely manner may result in a Superior Court enforcement action.

I thank you for your anticipated cooperation. 

Sincerely, 

James F. Gettens, Esq.   

cc:  

Clerk, Town of Sterling    

    

MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT— THIS IS TOTAL CRONYISM AND THESE PERNICIOUS ACTORS ARE TOTAL ASSHOLES. And as you can tell, my fuse is lit.

The Hacks constituting the Sterling ZBA a/k/a ‘The Developers Doormat’ continued the hearing on this matter to 9 May 2023. Show up and make them look like the TOTAL ASSHOLES they truly are.

J.G.

MEMO TO STERLING’S PREENING SO-CALLED ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE’:  Main Street storefront beautification/aesthetic improvement HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR STATED MISSION OF BRINGING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO STERLING.

So where do you get off scheming to bestow taxpayer-funded LARGESSE on Main Street private property owners to improve the appearance of their storefronts when they can do it themselves at their own expense??? You are playing favorites with OUR money– 2023_03_23_edc_subcom_agenda.pdf (sterling-ma.gov)

Suggest you spend your time much more wisely by scheming to increase the number of downtown parking spaces whose increase will actually foster economic activity along Main Street.

To check out the private property owners on Main Street between ‘The Brick’ restaurant and Leominster Credit Union use the Sterling GIS mapping platform and zoom in on those properties– Sterling, MA (axisgis.com)  Note that Hands Star, LLC owns 27 Main Street with the longest exposure of storefronts along that stretch of Main Street. Hands Star, LLC is managed by one Hung C. Tran.

SEE   MA Corporations Search Entity Summary (state.ma.us)  Gee, Hung C. Tran just happens to manage the Hands Family Trust, LLC with a business address in Raynham, Massachusetts, too. SEE   MA Corporations Search Entity Summary (state.ma.us)  The Tran family, obviously, are not poor, but that hasn’t deterred the witless Sterling Economic Development Committee from scheming to bestow upon the Tran family’s ‘Hands LLCs’ OUR hard-earned tax dollars. What dopes.

This unjust funding matter will, doubtless, be presented at a future Sterling Annual Town Meeting during which the voters-taxpayers should shoot it down in flames.

J.G.

Any property developer who becomes Chair of the Sterling Planning Board is, by definition, a self-serving, self-dealing Weasel’s Weasel, and Carl Corrinne is IT. He’s a smoke-blowing walking Conflict of Interest. Sterling developers are accustomed to getting unwarranted Special Permits and Variances, undermining the letter and intent of the Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws, from their pro-developer buddy hacks on the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat, so Corrinne decided that he may as well feed, figurately speaking, at that slop chute too.

Over the last two years or so Corrinne contributed to drafting and/or getting passed at Annual Town Meetings the atrocious new pro-developer Earth Removal/Mining general by-law, and pro-developer Zoning By-Law amendments shrinking the North Sterling Wekepeke Aquifer Wellhead Protection Zone; loosening restrictions on ‘accessory dwelling unit’ construction; and determining not to re-authorize limits on building permits issued annually, all of that despite Sterling’s chronic municipal well-water shortages/limitations. He’s beneath contempt.

So it should surprise no one that Corrinne filed recently a Petition for a Special Permit (to, in essence, subvert certain Sterling Zoning By-Laws restrictions), with the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat, in order to build a Multi-Family Development consisting of 19 duplexes (38 dwelling units) on the parcel known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling.  You can check out that parcel using Sterling GIS– https://www.axisgis.com/SterlingMA/   Use various “layers” to examine land features. Zoom in on that parcel to see the New England Power Company/National Grid transmission line easement.

Corrinne’s engineering site plan for that proposed development JUST HAPPENED to leave out ALL the high voltage line transmission towers, so I signed and mailed out the letter dated 4 March 2023 reproduced below (all text is justified to the left margin so this thing works–somewhat):

P.O. Box 1149, Sterling, MA 01564-1149

3 March 2023

Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals, Municipal Building, 1 Park Street, Sterling, MA 01564

RE:  100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts– Corrinne’s Petition for a Special Permit to Build a Multi-Family Development

Dear Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals Members,

CD Corrinne Builders, Inc.’s Petition for a Special Permit to build a Multi-Family Development on the parcel known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts, is defective as a matter of fact and controlling law (the Town of Sterling Protective By-Laws) and must be rejected in its entirety.

CLAIMED “OPEN SPACE” — MISREPRESENTATION BY OMISSION

The engineering design plan submitted by Corrinne with his Petition for a Special Permit, prepared by Haley Ward Engineers, Leominster, Massachusetts, shows only “Overhead Wires” within the New England Power Company/National Grid easement that runs through almost the entire length of that 100 Clinton Road parcel. Corrinne is claiming that easement as “Open Space” to satisfy the “Open Space” requirements set forth in Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws Section 301- 4.2.3.4. as follows:

“a.  At least sixty percent (60%) of the parcel shall be maintained as open space, and at least forty percent (40%) of the parcel shall be contiguous open space, excluding required yards and buffer areas.

b.  The required open space shall be used for conservation, recreation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or a combination of these uses, and shall be served by suitable access for such purpose.

c.  Underground utilities to serve the development may be located within the required open space (emphasis added).”

The Haley Ward plan indicates that the New England Power Company/National Grid “Overhead Wires” within its easement traverse the length of Corrinne’s property by “Immaculate Suspension”— without supporting towers. We can assume that Haley Ward’s failure to show the location of any tower within that easement was deliberate and constitutes misrepresentation by omission because Corrinne had a motive to leave out the towers.

As a matter of fact, there are three (3) parallel sets of high voltage lines traversing that easement supported by three (3) parallel sets of towers, amounting to MULTIPLE TOWERS within that easement. Those towers take the ENTIRE power line easement outside the definition of “Open Space” set forth in the Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws, in pertinent part, as follows:

“Open Space shall mean ground space other than that occupied by structures, walkways, drives, parking or other surfaces.”

The Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws define structure in pertinent part as follows:

“Structure shall mean a combination of materials to form a construction including among others…platforms, stagings, observation towers…play tower…trestles…flagpoles, masts for radio antenna….”

It is clear then that the multitude of high voltage transmission towers within that New England Power Company/National Grid easement take the easement completely outside the definition of “Open Space” set forth in those Protective By-Laws. This fact is bolstered by sub-section 4.2.3.4.c., set forth above, that allows “underground utilities…within the required open space” but not above-ground utilities.

Moreover, Corrinne cannot satisfy the sub-section 4.2.3.4.b. requirement that that power line easement “be used for conservation, recreation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or a combination of these uses” because Corrinne does not have exclusive control over uses permitted on that power line easement. On the contrary, New England Power Company/National Grid has the legal right to prohibit uses of that property interfering with its easement and has the right to construct additional towers or other appropriate electrical transmission infrastructure on that easement now or in the future.

CONCLUSION

Other particulars concerning Corrinne’s Petition for a Special Permit to construct a Multi-Family Development on the parcel known as 100 Clinton Road, Sterling, Massachusetts, need not be addressed at this time because it is clear that Corrinne’s Petition is defective and must be rejected in its entirety since his proposed project does not include sufficient “Open Space.”

So do your duty by the letter and intent of the Town of Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws –for a change– and reject Corrinne’s Petition.

Sincerely,

 James F. Gettens, Esq.

cc:

Clerk, Town of Sterling

Town Planner, Town of Sterling

Conservation Commission, Town of Sterling

Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, 1000 Washington Street, Suite 710, Boston, MA 02118

The Item, Newspaper

After doing that I mused about potential conflicts of interest involving Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat’s Vice Chair, Joseph Curtin, who just happens to be the registered professional engineer employed by Sterling’s Pandolf-Perkins Quarry/Crushed Stone business– http://www.ehperkins.com/plant_locations.html

You gotta wonder how many local developers maintain crushed stone purchasing accounts with Pandolf-Perkins, thereby remunerating, directly or indirectly, good ol’ Joe Curtin himself. Here is the COMPLETE Massachusetts Conflict of Interest Statute– https://www.mass.gov/info-details/gl-c-268a-the-conflict-of-interest-law-as-amended-by-c-194-acts-of-2011

What odds are you layin’ that Corrinne has a contractor’s crushed stone purchasing account with Pandolf-Perkins, Sterling?

Oh well, another day, another fat conflict of interest target or two in Sterling, Massachusetts. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel…except that the fish keep proliferating.

J.G.

Unbeknownst to almost everyone in Sterling, the Sterling Board of Health slid through, recently, a completely arbitrary and capricious septic system “Deep Observation Hole” evaluation regulation for real estate transfers involving subject properties that have not had a septic system “Deep Observation Hole” evaluation performed any time after April 1995. So, for all practical purposes, every home or business in Sterling constructed before April 1995, intended to be sold or otherwise transferred, is subject to this uncalled-for, asinine local regulation.

Scroll down to Part V., sub-section d., “SYSTEM INSPECTIONS AT TIME OF TRANSFER”– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2022-12-08_boh_sds_regs_attested_copy.pdf

This specious new local regulation is in outright derogation of 310 CMR 15.101, 102 and 310 CMR 15.301, 302. In other words it is Ultra Vires, promulgated by the Sterling Board of Health without legal authority and contrary to applicable state regulations.

SEE https://www.mass.gov/doc/310-cmr-15000-title-5-of-the-state-environmental-code/download

For an applicable definition of “derogation” in the legal sphere see:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/legal/derogation

The Sterling Board of Health’s December 2022 Meeting Minutes have this entry: “Discuss revisions to Local Subsurface Disposal Regulation.” There are a few similar entries in the Board of Health’s Meeting Minutes going back through 2022 BUT NOT ONE REFERS TO ANY NEW “DEEP OBSERVATION HOLE” evaluation requirement OR MENTIONS WHO PROPOSED THAT NEW REGULATION. WHY? Because the BOH are slippery cowards.

SEE  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/node/2376/agenda/2022

SO, who stands to PROFIT from the new Sterling Board of Health’s “Deep Observation Hole” evaluation regulation? Well, none other than the Sterling Board of Health’s ‘full-time’ [wink, wink] Agent, David “Nowhere Man” Favreau himself!

“Nowhere Man” runs “David Favreau Construction & Septic Services” right here in Sterling– https://www.favreausepticservices.com/

He can be hired and paid by Sterling homeowners and businesses to dig those newly-required “Deep Observation Hole[s]” and have the Sterling Board of Health’s “alternate Inspector,” Robert Moore, certify the results, or bring in a neighboring Town’s Board of Health Agent or Inspector to do it.

Yet another Sterling Board of Health/“Nowhere Man” conflict of interest. How convenient! What a potential racket!

J.G.