When do the TOTALLY BENT Cranson and Kilcoyne, WHO ARE ENTIRELY UP THE A$$ OF STERLING’S BIGGEST SNAKE (more accurately–PUNK-SNAKE), SIMPSON, EVER schedule a 9:30 a.m. Monday morning Select Board meeting? ANSWER: WHEN THEY DON’T WANT THE WORKING, TAXPAYING PUBLIC THERE TO SCRUTINIZE THEM. SO, they did just that concerning their illegal 10 December 2021 actions involving Simpson’s illegal 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application Scam. That meeting is Monday morning, 10 January 2022–
THEREFORE, I propose that ALL of Sterling’s Butterick Building/Municipal Building occupants and denizen go out and get infected by the ‘Omicron Variant,’ thereby contributing to national ‘herd immunity’ and actually minimizing the harm they do to Sterling’s taxpayers and citizens while that building is closed temporarily during their ‘Sick-Out.’
Just a few years ago Sterling’s Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat granted Sterling’s Biggest Snake, Simpson, a “variance” from Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws to build “Cider Hill Estates”– https://www.axisgis.com/Reporting/Reports/SterlingMA_91_53___6799be03-a704-4288-8980-8f3fd525262b.pdf –off Redstone Hill Road. The Zoning Board of Appeals did that despite the fact that there are THREE longstanding abutters’ driveways, not just one, within one hundred fifty (150) feet of the “Cider Hill Estates” access road. That access road violates Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Law Article 4.2.3.(c)(3) BIG TIME. SEEhttps://ecode360.com/11816626 In other words, the Zoning Board of Appeals rolled over for Simpson.
The “Cider Hill Estates” property contains a large wetland with an outflow stream that is a Massachusetts-protected tributary to the protected Wekepeke Brook South Branch, a documented cold-water fishery. SEE 321 CMR 5:00 et seq.– https://www.mass.gov/regulations/321-CMR-500-coldwater-fish-resources
While constructing “Cider Hill Estates” Simpson, for many weeks, mechanically shattered ledge rock on the property, despite nearby abutters’ homes, violating the Massachusetts [Ambient] Noise Regulation– https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/01/31/noise-interpretation.pdf Unsurprisingly, Sterling’s lapdog officials failed to enforce those regulations.
Bear in mind that all Sterling Conservation Commission members, like all Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals members, are appointed by the Sterling Select Board, two of whose members, Cranson and Kilcoyne, are entirely up Simpson’s A$$. Stay tuned, therefore, and expect a whitewash.
UPDATE, 8 February 2022: On 7 February 2022 I received from a Cider Hill Estates neighbor or abutter, who remains anonymous, a letter about the current Conservation Commission proceedings. According to that individual, the Cider Hill Estates Condo Assoc. contracted with a tree service to fell about a dozen trees that Cider Hill Estates ‘townhouse’ owners considered potentially dangerous to some building units there. After several trees were cut neighbors told the tree service that those trees were in a ‘No Touch [Protective] Zone’ imposed by the Sterling ZBA as a condition for the ZBA’s approval to build that multi-family development. The Conservation Commission determined that those felled trees were not on abutting Town-owned land and, so, determined that it has no jurisdiction over the matter. The Cider Hill Estates Condo Assoc. now plans to seek tree-cutting relief, as to the ‘No Touch Zone,’ from the Sterling ZBA a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat. As noted, the Sterling ZBA a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat should never have granted Simpson a ‘Variance’ to build “Cider Hill Estates” in the first place. According to the Sterling Board of Assessors’ ‘property card’– https://www.axisgis.com/Reporting/Reports/SterlingMA_91_53___afcfb497-c04b-4786-8b6d-877209ffb6ad.pdf –Sterling Real Estate Development/Simpson still retains title to 20+ acres there. The Sterling ZBA a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat is entirely appointed by the Sterling Select Board, two of whose three members, Cranson and Kilcoyne, are entirely up Simpson’s A$$. So stay tuned and expect those ZBA lapdogs to roll over in exchange for little doggie treats.
NOTE: When mailing me items please put my P.O. Box Number on the envelope or the U.S. Postal Service may not deliver it.
The inimitable Catturd is onto Fauci-the-Lying-Gnome who, by the way, is listed as having blue eyes BUT IS SO FULL OF SH*T THAT THEY SHOULD BE BROWN. Catturd, alas, has summed up Fauci-the-Lying-Gnome’s Wuhan Flu ‘Omicron Variant’ BULLS*HT scare tactics thus:
Paul Alexander, Ph.D., of the Brownstone Institute, discusses the mild ‘Omicron Variant,’ and the abject failures of the messenger RNA fake ‘vaccines’ (they are gene therapies, NOT vaccines), masking, and lockdowns to halt the Wuhan Flu’s spread (the preceding more deadly versions still having a survival rate of 99.83% for those under age 70, the average fatality age being 82 in a nation where the LIFE EXPECTANCY is 78.3 years!)– https://brownstone.org/articles/are-we-overreacting-to-omicron/
So write a note to Fauci-the-Lying-Gnome and tell him to shove his ‘Covid Home Test Kits’ SIDEWAYS! INDEED, the ‘Omicron Variant’ is so mild that you should make a point of contracting it, thereby gaining lifetime ‘natural immunity’ and contributing to our society’s ‘herd immunity.’
AND, as you gather in church, and with family and friends, this Christmas weekend, REMEMBER to ditch those asinine face rags.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
UPDATE, 31 December 2021: Howie Carr’s New Year’s Eve ‘COVID’ Prediction–
On 15 December 2021 the lawless Simpson cronies constituting the Sterling Select Board/Earth Removal Board conducted an illegal hearing into Simpson’s illegal earth removal permit application and rendered an illegal decision. You can view the entire crony clown show streamed here:
Simpson walked into the hearing WITHOUT a building permit for 68 Heywood Road, so that fact rendered his ‘earth removal’ permit application an application to conduct illegal “Quarrying or Mining” there. The passage of 2021 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 48 now PROHIBITS “Quarrying or Mining” on that parcel zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” My 14 December 2021 letter, emailed to each Select Board/Earth Removal Board member, set forth below, explained their lack of jurisdiction over Simpson’s illegal application–
P.O. Box 1149 Sterling, MA 01564-1149 14 December 2021
Select Board/Earth Removal Board Municipal Building 1 Park Street Sterling, MA 01564
RE: Sterling Select Board/Earth Removal Board Has No Jurisdiction Over Simpson’s 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application Because The Passage Of 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 48 REPEALED Subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4., The Earth Removal ‘Use Variance’ Exception/Loophole To The Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law
Dear Select Board/Earth Removal Board Members,
Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 10 provides in pertinent part that:
“The permit granting authority [Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals] shall have the power after public hearing…to grant…with respect to particular land…a variance from the terms of the applicable zoning ordinance or by-law…where such permit granting authority specifically finds that owing to circumstances relating to soil conditions, shape, or topography of such land…a literal enforcement of the…by-law would involve substantial hardship…to the petitioner…Except where local…by-laws shall expressly permit variances for use, no variance may authorize a use or activity not otherwise permitted in the district in which the land is located…”(emphasis added).
Former Sterling Zoning By-Law subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4. was a use variance exception/ loophole to the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law that authorized the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals, in certain circumstances, to grant earth removal (now “quarrying or mining”) use variances in Sterling areas zoned Rural Residential & Farming and Neighborhood Residential. That subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4. use variance exception/loophole was repealed by Warrant Article 48 which passed during the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting. Article 48 now OUTRIGHT PROHIBITS “Quarrying or Mining” in ALL areas of Sterling zoned Rural Residential & Farming and Neighborhood Residential. That being so, the Sterling Select Board has NO JURISDICTION WHATSOEVER OVER SIMPSON’S 68 HEYWOOD ROAD EARTH REMOVAL PERMIT APPLICATION BECAUSE “QUARRYING OR MINING” AS A “USE” IS NOW OUTRIGHT PROHIBITED IN THE ZONE WHERE THE 68 HEYWOOD ROAD PROPERTY IS LOCATED. SIMPSON’S EARTH REMOVAL PERMIT APPLICATION MUST BE REJECTED AS A MATTER OF LAW.
Sincerely,
James F. Gettens, Esq.
The repealed Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4 read in pertinent part:
“in RR or NR Districts, no soil shall be removed from the premisesexcept to facilitate grading for a proposed building for which a variance or a building permit has been granted…Removal of less than 1000 cubic yards of soil from any premises does not require a variance…Removal of soil in an amount greater than or equal to 1000 cubic yards does require a variance…(emphasis added).
Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 48, passed in June 2021, repealing that subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4. and amending the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law, PROVIDES:
“Quarrying or Mining shall mean earth removal for the purposes of extracting soil, loam, sand, gravel, clay, rocks, minerals, or other earth material, including establishments engaged in operating sand and gravel pits and in washing, screening, or preparing sand and gravel for construction or industrial uses, but excluding grading of a lot in preparation for the construction of a structure or associated appurtenances for which a building permit or other similar permit has been issued by the town” (emphasis original and added).
Warrant Article 48 defined “Quarrying or Mining” as a Principal Use and PROHIBITED it in all Sterling areas zoned Rural Residential & Farming and Neighborhood Residential.
NOTE: In passing Warrant Article 48 Sterling’s Townspeople DID NOT APPROVE in areas zoned Rural Residential & Farming and Neighborhood Residential “remov[al]” “of soil…fromthe premises…to facilitate grading for a proposed building” as they had previously when they approved now-repealed Zoning By-Law subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4.
THIS TIME, when it comes to lot grading, it is clear that THE TOWNSPEOPLE ONLY APPROVED “earth removal” WITHIN AND ON THE LOT ITSELF for “grading of a lot in preparation for the construction of a structure or associated appurtenances for which a building permit or other similar permit has been issued by the town.”
Warrant Article 48 DOES NOT provide for the removal of soil “from the premises…to facilitate grading for a proposed building.”
Since Simpson did not possess a building permit on 15 December 2021 the Select Board/Earth Removal Board had absolutely no jurisdiction or authority to entertain Simpson’s earth removal permit application. Further, given Article 48’s language in comparison with the language of now-repealed subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4., the Select Board/Earth Removal Board acted illegally in agreeing to issue Simpson an earth removal permit, with conditions, to remove sand or sand & gravel from the 68 Heywood Road lot itself.
In view of the foregoing, the 68 Heywood Road abutters should pool their resources, hire a good trial lawyer, AND SUE THE ROGUE SELECT BOARD’S/EARTH REMOVAL BOARD’S MEMBERS’ ASSES OFF IN THE WORCESTER SUPERIOR COURT. ESTABLISHING A “GO FUND ME” LITIGATION FUND FOR THAT PURPOSE WOULD BE A BOON. I WOULD DONATE TO SUCH A LITIGATION FUND IN A HEARTBEAT, AND OTHER STERLING CITIZENS WOULD DONATE TOO.
UPDATE, 17 DECEMBER 2021: The following is someone else’s view of what Simpson, STERLING’S BIGGEST SNAKE (MORE ACCURATELY–“PUNK-SNAKE”) will get away with, and what the long-term consequences of what his Select Board/Earth Removal Board cronies’ (Cranson and Kilcoyne are entirely up “PUNK-SNAKE” Simpson’s A$$) actions will be following their 15 December 2021 abominations. I decided to share this with you even though my my legal analysis, set forth above, does not parallel this writer’s and the writer left out some important distinctions and prerequisites, such as a developer needing to obtain a building permit–probably a sham in the end– in order to claim the need for massive ‘grading’ of a lot in an RR or NR zone. This was emailed to me and, so, I put it within quotation marks. I do not know the writer’s name but assuredly share his or her outrage–
“Last night, the select board granted tentative approval on an earth removal project under the new bylaw adopted at the 2021 ATM. Voters at the ATM also approved the elimination of a variance protection from the town’s protective bylaws. No longer does anyone need to go before the ZBA to remove more than 1000 yd.³ of soil from a site. It is solely under the purview of the select board. Based on the tentative decision, and according to a permit to be issued by the select board, 19,000 yd.³, including the first 1,000 yd.³ that have already been removed, can be removed from an excavation site of about 1.2 acres (according to the application). By way of example, 18,000 yd.³ is enough to cover a football field 10 feet deep, or all the way up to the crossbar of the field goal. The select board said that it does not set precedent, but it does. Imagine extrapolating this permit to a larger site. A 5 acre site could remove up to 100,000 yd.³. A 20 acre site could remove up to 400,000 yd.³. We are going to end up with a number of short term commercial mining operations throughout town as a result of these changes, because Sterling sits on a lot of sand and gravel that is valuable to developers, to be mined and sold in the open market. These operations can take place anywhere in residential zones. This decision eviscerates the zoning bylaw that says that mining operations cannot take place in residential zones. Whether a commercial mining operation is short term or long term doesn’t matter. Developers will have the ability to level large tracts of land all the way down to street level before building houses.”
When it comes to integrity and gumption I suppose that we really shouldn’t expect much from the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals (Z.B.A.) because all its members are appointed by the Select Board whose two co-conspirators, Cranson and Kilcoyne, are up the A$$ of Sterling’s BIGGEST SNAKE, Simpson, who filed an illegal Earth Removal Permit Application to mine 18,000 cubic yards of sand/sand & gravel from the property at 68 Heywood Road, zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.”
Cranson and Kilcoyne thought that they were being REALLY CUTE when they proposed 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 48– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2021_atm_final_warrant_june_7_2021_003_0.pdf — on behalf of their local developer cronies. It passed. They inserted in that Article, by way of explanation– inaccurate, as a matter of fact– this: “Article 6, Administration and Procedures, Section 6.2, [Zoning] Board of Appeals, by deleting subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4. in its entirety, thereby deleting the current requirement to obtain a use variance from the Board of Appeals for earth removal in the RR and NR zoning districts, shown in strikethrough: …” (emphasis added). Cranson and Kilcoyne THOUGHT that they were thereby favoring Simpson and other crony developers in Town.
HOWEVER, since Cranson and Kilcoyne aren’t very bright their ploy backfired. In truth and in fact, by eliminating the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Law “subsection 6.2.2.2.a.4.” “use variance” provision– invoked speciously as a loophole by Sterling’s crony developers over the years — Cranson and Kilcoyne OUTRIGHT PROHIBITED “Quarrying or Mining” in ALL areas of Sterling zoned “Rural Residential & Farming,” there being NO remaining “Quarrying or Mining” expressed “use variance” provision in the now-amended Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws applicable to areas zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” The legal result is that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board has NO JURISDICTION over Simpson’s BOGUS 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application.
As a matter of law, Simpson’s intended 68 Heywood Road mining operation remains a ZONING MATTER and Simpson knows damned well that he cannot prove “hardship” or other elements required for the issuance of a valid zoning “variance” under Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 10. SEE:https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlevii/chapter40a/section10
Massachusetts courts have held, always, that one cannot create his own “hardship” in order to obtain a zoning “variance” and that any “hardship” must be inherent in the property. What Simpson anticipated getting from his 68 Heywood Road property is some impermissible gravy. Being denied impermissible gravy is not a “hardship” under Massachusetts Zoning Law.
BEFORE NOW, had the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals any integrity or interest in upholding Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws and the Rule of Law, its members would have rebuked, publicly, the Select Board’s/Earth Removal Board’s entertaining of Simpson’s illegal 68 Heywood Road Earth Removal Permit Application. HOWEVER, from the Sterling Z.B.A. what we’ve heard so far is…CRICKETS. Let us see whether, collectively, Sterling Z.B.A. members GROW A PAIR in time for the 15 December 2021 Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing.
We know that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing on the illegal Earth Removal Permit Application, violating Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws as amended by Warrant Article 48 passed at the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting, submitted by Simpson, STERLING’S BIGGEST SNAKE, up whose A$$ Cranson and Kilcoyne are firmly lodged, seeking succor and security while degrading the Town of Sterling, is scheduled for 15 December 2021, BUT what about this “Approve Earth Removal Application” listed on the Select Board’s 8 December 2021 Amended Agenda– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_12_8_amended_agenda.pdf ??? Is this a stealth operation to approve someone’s Earth Removal Permit, or is the Select Board/Earth Removal Board merely accepting the filing of an Earth Removal Permit Application??? We don’t know, and that means that you have to watch these clowns VERY closely.
NOTE: There are MANY ‘approval’ items on that 8 December 2021 Amended Agenda, including “Borrowing” and the hiring of “VHB” to complete Sterling’s new BOONDOGGLE ‘Master Plan.’ Is THIS the “VHB” —https://www.vhb.com/watertown/ —they want to hire? If so, why now? If so, why is hiring “VHB” at this extremely delayed and late stage ‘necessary’ to complete this Select Board-orchestrated BOONDOGGLE? How much will “VHB” cost Sterling’s long-suffering taxpayers for this ‘Master Plan’ BOONDOGGLE perpetrated and overseen by the Select Board itself???
Simpson is Sterling’s BIGGEST SNAKE and Select Board/Earth Removal Board members Cranson and Kilcoyne are entirely UP HIS A$$. If you don’t believe me then check out this photo–
You can observe this phenomenon for yourselves by watching the 15 December 2021 Select Board/Earth Removal Board hearing on Simpson’s flagrantly illegal application to remove 18,000 cubic yards of sand/sand & gravel from the 68 Heywood Road property that is zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” Article 48 passed at the 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting. It made “Quarrying or Mining” a “Principal Use” under Sterling’s Protective (Zoning) By-Laws and prohibited “Quarrying or Mining” in all areas of Sterling zoned “Rural Residential & Farming.” Go to Article 48 here– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2021_atm_final_warrant_june_7_2021_003_0.pdf –and read it for yourselves. Article 48’s passage means that the Select Board/Earth Removal Board lacks jurisdiction over Simpson’s illegal Earth Removal application and that Simpson’s Earth Removal application should never have been accepted for filing by the Select Board/Earth Removal Board in the first place. Simpson, Cranson, and Kilcoyne know it, too.Note that the hearing Notice posted on the Town of Sterling website refers only to Article 63 of the Town’s General By-Laws, NOT to the Sterling Protective (Zoning) By-Laws as amended by the passage of Article 48. Cute.
So mark that 15 December 2021 hearing on your calendars. During the hearing you may have difficulty seeing Simpson, Simpson’s mouthpiece (lawyer), Cranson, and Kilcoyne because they will all be blowing smoke, but you’ll still be able to hear them.
It’s official– the arrogant, grandstanding, Sterling taxpayer-abusing Select Board, after hijacking the ‘Master Plan’ process from the Planning Board where it belongs by law, wants to hire yet another ‘Town Planner’/Select Board’Gofer’ at Sterling taxpayer expense– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2021_11_22_amended_agenda.pdf This follows the recent, merciful departure of the Select Board’s failed three (3)-year ‘Town Planner’/’Gofer,’ Domenica Tatasciore. She was hired by the Select Board in October 2018 following the 2018 Sterling Annual Town Meeting during which voters authorized the hiring of a ‘Town Planner’ for the sole purpose of producing a new Sterling ‘Master Plan.’ Were Ms. Tatasciore a competent ‘Town Planner’ one would expect that, by now, only the finishing touches would be needed to complete Sterling’s new ‘Master Plan’ since the ‘Master Plan’ process should take only nine (9) months to two (2) years. Two other Massachusetts towns–one right here in Worcester County–completed their Master Plans recently, one town taking only twelve (12) months to do so and the other only fifteen (15) months. We may infer, therefore, that Ms. Tatasciore was an incompetent ‘Town Planner’ hired by an similarly incompetent Select Board.
The Select Board, of course, violated the scope of the 2018 Town Meeting authorization by using Ms. Tatasciore as their all-purpose ‘Gofer,’ too. The Select Board, therefore, has demonstrated lawlessness on two counts in the ‘Master Plan’ process.
Sidebar: The 22 November 2021 Select Board agenda–link above–also says that the Select Board will discuss searching for a new ‘Town Administrator.’ I guess we all missed the Select Board’s press release announcing Kellie Hebert’s definitive canning after merely ten (10) months on the job. Yeah, that’s more evidence of this Select Board’s incompetence in hiring, and incompetence in general.
SUGGESTION: Before we clean out this noxious Select Board over the next three election cycles, the Select Board should try hiring people who live in Sterling and care about our Town, rather than outside payroll patriots/grifters.
CLEANING HOUSE: As noted, we need to clean out this noxious Select Board one by one over the next three election cycles. So, honorable and competent candidates, please come forward!
In case you didn’t know it, by law, in Massachusetts towns, Planning Boards, NOT Select Boards, are responsible for preparing Master Plans– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/planning-board In Sterling, however, the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board hijacked the Master Plan process more than three (3) years ago and hired the straphangers known as Barrett Planning Group LLC to guide the process– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/master_plan_mtg_6.21.18.pdf Yeah, so how has that worked out for us???
Back then the Sterling Planning Board should have told the Select Board to go suck swamp water. Had the Planning Board stood on its legal prerogatives we’d have a completed new Master Plan by now. The entire process is supposed to take nine (9) months to two (2) years, NOT three (3)+ years and counting. SEEhttp://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CPTC_Ralph-Willmer_How-to-Create-a-Master-Plan_2015.pdf And, yeah, had the Planning Board retained rightful control and hired Ralph Willmer, Domenica Tatasciore and the straphangers at Barrett Planning Group LLC would never have fed from the Sterling-taxpayer-funded public trough supervised by the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board.
Of course, following the 2018 Sterling Annual Town Meeting, during which an article passed authorizing the open-ended hiring of a ‘Town Planner’ for the sole purpose of producing a new Master Plan, the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board really stuck it to Sterling taxpayers by hiring failed ‘Town Planner’/Select Board ‘Gofer’ Domenica Tatasciore (she left recently in an act of mercy for Sterling taxpayers) who, over her three (3) years of grifting, cost Sterling taxpayers $225,000 in pay alone–her other employment benefits costing us much more, of course–without presenting us a completed Master Plan.
Now check out the Sterling Planning Board’s 18 November 2021 Agenda that includes “Discuss financial support of Master Plan (Revolving Account)” — https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/pb_agenda_stamped_-_november_18_2021.pdf SO, what’s going on here??? Are the unaccountable grandstanding stiffs constituting the Select Board, after hijacking the process, trying to tap the Planning Board’s revolving account to pay for their exorbitant Master Plan boondoggle??? If so the Planning Board, now,at least, should tell the Select Board to go suck swamp water.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 