Conservation Commission Meeting - May 12, 2026

Good evening everyone. This is the Dartmouth Conservation Commission and this is our meeting for Tuesday, May 12, 2026.

We do have a quorum of commissioners present. Um, so we have a commission of seven and we have at the moment 1, two, three, four, five of us. So we have a quorum. Uh an affirmative vote this evening will require uh four affirmative votes of commissioners. Uh we're conducting this meeting remotely because back in March March 28, 2025, Governor Healey signed a further extension of the

hybrid remote option for municipalities and that extended the option until June 30 2027.

Our meetings do allow for public input with the um chat. There's a raise your hand feature and then if all else fails, wave your hand and you will be recognized. Um please, if you're not speaking, I would ask that you keep your microphone muted.

That way there won't be any extraneous noises or conversations that interfere with presentations.

Um, this meeting has been duly posted and noticed accordance with Massachusetts law as well as town of Dartmouth bylaws. Our first order of business is administrative and that's to approve the minutes for March 24, 2026.

May I have a motion to that effect, please?

So moved.

Second, please.

Second.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, you're muted, but if you unmute and want to say yes, that's fine.

Um my vote is yes. So, that motion passes unanimously.

I think Richard's still getting set up there. There he is.

Can you hear me?

Can hear you now, my friend.

Sorry I was late. Traffic, no problem at all. You're here. That's all that counts. Our our second item on business is the field trip reports. We have one. It's a wetland site inspection uh determination of applicability approval. It's a minor project uh for 28 EMTT Avenue, 649 Horsene Neck Road, 119 White Oak Run, and 541 Highland Avenue. As you may recall, this was something that was discussed by uh

Mark Garrett as a new process that was approved by um town council in our uh new regulations. Okay. So we can by one vote take care of all of these properties. Eduardo, again on the field trip report, staff's comments.

Um so staff went out to do some site inspections uh on these four properties.

Uh two of which uh showed no wetlands on the site. Uh those being 28 Emtt Avenue and 640 Neck Horsene Neck Road. uh 119 white oak white oak run uh appeared to have a bordering vegetated wetland over towards the rear of the property. And so we hung four flags to kind of uh delineate the uh edge of that BBW over at the rear of that property. Uh and 541 Highland Avenue was uh several wetland lines that

were blocked by a Steven Shme which we went out to confirm. Uh so we're requesting the commission to either approve or uh deny those uh wetland site inspections.

Well, I'll entertain a motion to approve the staff's recommendations as articulated by Eduardo, 428 EMTT Avenue, 649 Horsene Neck Road, 119 White Oak Run, and 541 Highland Avenue.

So moved.

Second.

We have a second motion on the floor.

Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes. Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That passes unanimously.

We're now moving on to our public hearings, and we do have three.

The first is a continued public hearing, D File 15-28-21, NOI 2611. It's an after-the-act notice of intent from Ronin Drury for proposing to install new updated central vacuum stalls, payment kiosks, sight paving and buffer zone restoration work within the 200 ft riverfront area, the 100 ft buffer zone to an inland bank, and the regulations involved are 310 CMR 10.02, 02 10.54 10.58 as well as section 360-2

of the town of Dartmouth bylaws. The land is described as map 167 lot 101.

It's otherwise known as 271 State Road.

I'll entertain a motion to wave the reading.

So moved.

Second.

We have a seconded motion on the floor.

Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes. Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously.

Is the uh engineer here this evening?

There was an engineer representing the applicant the last time I heard this matter.

Eduardo, did anybody contact you indicating they would not show up on this matter?

Uh, no. The only the last contact I've had with the engineer was last Wednesday when we went out to the site and discussed what we were looking for in terms of the planting plan and the site overall going forward. Um, but that's the last I've heard of them. But as far as I know, um, they were going to be here during the meeting. Um, so I'm not sure why they're not. Maybe

they're running late, but again, I don't know.

Thank you. Um, given the fact we have two other public hearings, I would entertain a motion at this juncture. Um, to push this on to number three, our third public hearing. So, we'll postpone it for the next two.

So moved. Second.

We have a seconded motion on the floor.

We'll call vote. Hagen, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously. The second public hearing is public hearing D file 15-2633, AOC 26-3.

It's the request to amend an order of conditions from Jeffrey and Amy Tvars.

They're new property owners, uh, Carov Cab Engineering Solutions. The applicant seeks to construct a smaller home than was previously proposed and it's within the 100 ft buffer zone to a bordering vegetated wetland. The regulations involved are 310 CMR, 10.02, 02 10.55 as well as section 360-2 of the town of Dartmouth bylaw. Uh the land is described as map 25, lot one_10 Ledgemont Lane. I'll entertain a motion

to wave the reading. So move.

Second.

We have a seconded motion. Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard.

Yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously. I see Peter Cruz is here.

Peter, are you here on behalf of the applicant on this matter?

Uh good evening. Uh Mr. Chair and members of the commission. Uh for the record, uh my name is Peter Cruz, president of CAB Engineering Solutions and we're located at 25 Elm Street, Sweet 202, New Beford, Mass 02740.

Um, can I share my screen so I can pull up the plan?

Uh, yes. DCTV, please let Mr. Cruz share his screen.

Just please let me know if you can see it.

Not yet, but we'll let you know.

can see it.

All right. Awesome. Um, so like like uh the chairman said, I'm here representing uh my client Jeffrey and Amy Tavas who are the owner of Ledgemont Lane 251 uh-10. Uh we're here tonight seeking approval for an amended order of conditions for the project.

the uh town of Donas Conservation Commission uh did issue an order of conditions uh which was uh master DP permit number uh 0152633 back in September 28 uh 2022 uh and was recorded at the registry of deed under the book uh 14,530 page 167. Uh the original approval site plan was dated September 6, 2022, which was developed by uh Peru Engineering LLC for the construction of a five- bedroomedroom two garage pool

and associated utility and site approvals, which I just pulled up on the uh screen. This was the existing um plan that was done uh by uh Peru Engineering uh which depicts the five-bedroom home, the garage and the pool uh towards the rear of the of the southernly portion of the lot. Um uh so that was what uh Peru Engineering had pulled together. Uh during that time, the town of Dartmouth's conservation officer did

perform a wetland um P1 site inspection on December 28th uh 20 2021.

Uh moving on to our revised plan uh for tonight's hearing. Um in front of you is the revised plan that Mr. and Mrs. Dvas are wishing to build in place of the five- bedroomedroom home. Our revised site plan uh is to construct a four bedroomedroom residential home with a threecar garage uh with um a pool and a pool deck with a pool house in the rear.

that uh what's what's depicted on the screen now uh has a total lot coverage area of roughly 9,9 uh 391 square ft which includes the the house, the garage, the pool, the pool house, the driveway, the patio and all the other hardcape depicted on the plan.

Um the total lot coverage does increase very slightly by 75% from the previous plan. Uh the the new home the the new home the garages the pool the pool house uh will be constructed outside of the 50oot buffer zone which is depicted in the cyan color on the screen. Uh the the yellow highlighted is the 100 foot buffer. Uh the uh the 100 foot buffer uh alteration is roughly 2,00 38 square ft within the

100 foot buffer which is actually a decrease of 40% from the previous.

Um the total al alteration within the 100 foot buffer which includes the the house the uh driveway uh all the hardscape the pool the pool house that actually comes in roughly at 17,141 square ft which is slightly it which slightly increased from the previous plan by 5.6%.

And the reason for the increase was the additional sight grading uh that was needed to sort of uh eliminate the sort of this this sort of bend in the driveway uh that was proposed before which was sort of taking uh into consideration the natural grading out there. But uh it was sort of sneaking between you know between two detention uh two drain manholes. It was more on the uh drainage

easement that's on site. So uh my client decided to sort of would like a more straighter driveway to go through which uh entailed needing some additional grading and that was why the 5.6% 6% uh increase within the 100 foot buffer uh was needed for the alteration. Um uh we did uh the the septic design is unchanged. It's the same that was uh approved by the uh the board of health.

We did do a resubmission to the board of health which was which we uh we got approval today uh this afternoon from Ariel saying uh it was approved. Um and uh the we're we're well beyond uh we're keeping a buffer of roughly 39 ft with the uh the erosion the erosion control barriers that we're proposing for the project. Um and I think that's all I have. If anybody from the board has any

questions and answer them at this time.

Real quick question. What's the date on the revised plan? Peter uh revised plan is uh 428 26.

Thank you Eduardo. I'd like to hear staff's comments.

Um as Mr. uh Mr. Cruz mentioned uh based off the previous plan that was approved, uh this new one uh sees the pool and the house uh significantly pushed back from uh the buffer zones over to the west there. Uh the house itself has been decreased to reduce any buffer zone impacts. Um based off of that, um we're recommending uh issu an issuance of an amended order of conditions consistent with the

original approval for the same project per the plan dated April 28th, 2026, which included special condition 42. A fence line with the appropriate conservation p property boundary signage shall be constructed and maintained throughout alongside the on-site edge of the conservation easement by the owners, their successors or assignees.

Thank you, Eduardo.

Um, if you wouldn't mind, Peter, if you could discontinue the screen share so I can see the rest of the folks in the room. Thank you. Um, does any commissioner have any questions of either uh Eduardo or Peter?

Is there anyone in the audience this evening that wants to be heard on this application?

I don't see any commissioners asking any questions or having any questions, nor do I see anyone in the audience that wants to be heard. So, at this point, I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

So, move.

Second.

We have a seconded motion on the floor.

Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously.

Commissioners, I'll now entertain a motion to allow the amended uh order of conditions on as requested by the applicant on DP file 15-2633 pursuant to the plan filed and dated April 28 2026 uh in accordance with also the conditions as articulated by our agent Eduardo as well as the conditions that were imposed on the original order of conditions.

Second.

We have a seconded motion on the floor.

We'll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Megan, I've already said Megan. I'm sorry. Sorry. Liz, yes.

Richard, yes. And my vote is yes. You don't get two votes, Megan. Just one. So, that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you so much. Have a good evening.

Uh we're now moving to the third public hearing and it's a public hearing a local file number DWP 000011 NOI 2614 from Michael Vase Carob Jamie Besonette for the construction of a residential dwelling with associated utilities grading and tree removal within the 100 foot buffer to a freshwater wetland. That's section 360-2 of our town bylaws. It's on land described as map 24, lots two and 10.

It's on Gaffne Road. I'll entertain a motion to wave the reading. So move.

Second.

Seconded motion on the floor. Roll call vote. Megan, now you get to vote.

Yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

And my vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously and I see that Mr. Besonette is here. So, uh, you have the floor on behalf of the applicants.

Uh, good evening. Jamie Beset with Zenith Consulting Engineers for the record. Uh, can I have access to share my screen?

Uh, DCTV, please let Mr. Besonette share his screen.

You should have access if you like.

Great.

Thank you. All right. So tonight we have a filing under the local ordinance. Um going to zoom in just a little bit. Uh a short time ago an approval not required plan was filed with the uh Dartmouth Planning Board which separated uh this lot uh known as lot two from the uh adjacent parcel that it was combined with previously. Um what we're looking to do now is construct a single family

home. uh with associated well and septic system on the lot. Uh the site itself has a depression which is uh is is a wetland under the local ordinance in the back here. Uh we've kept work outside of the 25 foot uh to that depression itself and tried to minimize any work within the 50 and 100 foot. Unfortunately, due to the location, um, we were kind of pressed to keep everything to the far

left of the lot on Gaffne Road, which you can see we're keeping the house extremely close to the side setback and front setback. Uh, perk tests were done in the front so that we could keep the septic system greater than 100 ft to that uh, wetland resource. And the well itself was also proposed just outside of the 100 foot uh, also allowing for the 100 foot radius uh, to the septic system

itself. Um, we've tried to minimize uh earth disturbance on site and tree clearing activity and we're showing a uh erosion control barrier at the limit of clearing uh along the down gradient side here near the resource. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you have.

Thank you, Jamie. Uh Eduardo, I would be interested in staff's comments.

Uh yes. So the the depression over on the southern part of the lot there uh is too small to be considered um under state guidelines under um land subject to flooding or isol isolated land subject to flooding. Uh so I believe it fits the 500 square ft uh criteria under the freshwater wetland under the Dartmouth wetland bylaw. Uh and so this is why that's why we're we have this under the local filing. Um

haven't been up to the site having flagged uh the depression a few months ago. Um, I see no major concerns here with the um the house where it is. Um, so we're recommending the commission order uh issue a standard order of conditions uh per the plan dated April 10th, 2026.

Thank you very much. Any commissioners have any questions?

Does anyone in the audience that wishes to be heard? And uh Jamie, if you would please just discontinue the sharing.

Thank you. Anyone in the audience wishes to be heard.

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

So moved.

Megan.

Seconded motion on the floor. Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously. Commissioners, I'll now entertain a motion uh to issue a complete order of conditions on local file DWPB000011 uh in accordance with the plan dated April 10, 2026.

So move second.

We have a seconded motion on the floor.

Roll call vote. Megan, yes. James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Now, we'll go back up to the first public hearing, which postponed.

Um, I don't see anybody new that has arrived.

Um, I I guess we could pick the can down the road and and postpone it until after our items for discussion, but there aren't that many.

So, um, Mr. Chair, did anyone receive a telephone call or cell call? I I'd asked Eduardo the first time and he said no.

He had been out on site and met with the engineer and they were talking about the plantings that were going to be made for restoration, but he has had no contact with him since. Isn't that correct?

Yes, that's correct. the the last update we've had from them was right around noon uh last Thursday when they submitted the uh revised uh planting plan which I think I forwarded to you all. I believe you did at least to me. So um that was one of the things that we had requested. Did they comply with the other every other request in terms of fixing up their plan?

Yes. Uh they included um they added in the 100 foot buffer from the inland bank on the plans.

They've increased um the plantings to include uh a portion of the northern side of the property which wasn't included which also had some disturbance uh within that um buffer zone area. Uh and they've also added in some more plants uh over on the south eastern portion which uh seemed pretty bare uh according to after having a conversation with Mark uh we both agreed that that portion of the land

we don't want to go into too far into the weeds because I have to reopen this matter. Right. Yeah. Just wanted to know if they they've done the things that you said you wanted if those have been filed in a timely fashion.

They they did. Yes.

All right. So, uh, commissioners, I'm going to reopen item number one. So, I'm going to reread it and then again ask for um a motion to wave the reading and then we can discuss whether we want to take this up tonight even though the applicant isn't present and hear what Eduardo has to say or we can decide to continue it till the next public hearing given the applicant an opportunity to be

present which is quite frankly my preference um particularly if there are going to be conditions that are going to be recommended. I don't want those to come as a surprise.

Um, so with that being said, this is a continued public hearing, D file 15-28-21, NOI26-11.

It's an after-the-act notice of intent from Ronan Drury for proposing to install new updated central vacuum stalls, payment kiosks, sight paving, and buffer zone restoration work within the 200 ft riverfront area and the 100 ft buffer zone to an inland bank. The regulations involved are 310 CMR 10.02, 102 10.54 10.58 and section 360-2 of the town of Dartmouth bylaws. The land is described as map 167 lot 101. It's

otherwise known as 271 State Road.

Undertain a motion to wave the reading.

Some moved.

Second.

Seconded motion on the floor. Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes. Richard.

Yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously.

Commissioners, um we have two options here. We can either go forward and vote um after listening to what Eduardo may tell us as staff's comments or we can vote to continue till our next public hearing giving applicant an opportunity to be present or have his engineer present. Um, the choice is ours. Uh, but yeah, I I will go by the majority. So, uh, I'll take a motion for either one.

Either Well, we don't need a motion to go forward and vote, but we do need a motion for continuance. So, if somebody wants that and wants that voted upon, I'll entertain that motion now. And the and the next public hearing would be uh two weeks from tonight. So May 26, 2026 at 7 p.m.

So move.

Second.

We have a seconded motion. Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously and item number one is continued until May 26, 2026 at 7 p.m.

Eduardo, could you please notify the applicants engineer?

They'll have an opportunity to be present and if they're not present, we'll vote without them that the next meeting.

Yeah, I can certainly let them know.

Okay. And I'm not trying to cut you off on staff comments, but the next meeting we're going to ask you for staff comments.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I understand.

Yeah. you know, um, just wanted to let you know because once we get staff comments and everything else is put in, I may as well may as well vote. Okay, so now we're moving on to the items for discussion. Um, floor is yours, Eduardo.

Um, so first item for discussion, we have the water quality committee. Um, as you may remember, um, the select board is looking for a representative from the conservation commission to represent the conservation commission uh, at the water quality committee. I know Liz had mentioned at least doing the first meeting just to see um when the dates were, what the dates and times and all

the details were uh going to be uh as we currently don't know that. Um, so the commission needs to, I suppose, vote on whether or not Liz um can at least do that first info informational meeting.

Generous offer, Liz. Um, and you know, if I may, Mr. Chair, um, I did have a conversation with, uh, select board member Shawn McDonald. This was probably about a week ago.

Uh I had reached out to him to express my interest in being reappointed as a conservation commission member, which is going to happen. Uh but then I had also mentioned interest in the water quality committee.

Evidently, at their most recent select board meeting, there were 16, I guess, citizens of the town who were interested in joining this water quality meeting. I don't know if they're town meeting members or other board members, but uh a motion was made to appoint them all and it was approved.

So he basically said to me it's not certain at this time whether they even need someone from conservation commission. Um however I'm still um interested to throw my hat in. So if you hear if this changes um let me know. But yeah I mean if if if the appropriate action would be to vote now to move forward in that regard by all means.

Yeah, I I got to tell you, I um I had gone to a meeting early on and it was um certain department heads, representatives of the um select board, the admin of the town, as well as um select board member Heidi Brooks. Um, I was the only person there who wasn't really a town employee or a select person.

So, I'm not sure if they needed us like they do, for instance, on the soil commission. They have to have um and the community preservation, they have to have a conservation person on their commission. Um, so I would recommend that we vote tonight to appoint Liz as our conservation commission representative. And if it turns out they don't need a conservation commission representative and you you know your

your job would be one meeting, right?

Um, but if they do say they need it, then you need to find out when they're going to meet and make sure you can fit that into your schedule. But I think we may as well this evening vote to have you appointed as the conservation commission uh representative to the wall water quality control committee. It's going to be a big committee if they appointed 16 people in one fell swoop

and everybody that would that was at the a meeting I attend attends and that was DPW that was um Mark was there on behalf as as the as the uh then um environmental affairs coordinator. We had um Chris Misho from board of health and like I said uh I forgot his name, Mr. Carrero from town treasurer and Cody Hadad and Heidi um Silva Brooks. We had all these people

who were there and 16 more is going to make it kind of like almost a mini town meeting. But good luck, right?

Well, I'll throw my hat in and we can uh play the wait and see game. You might want to reach out.

The meeting I went to was extraordinarily preliminary and there were they were discussing things that they wanted to do and during the meeting it came to realize some of the things they said they want to do they had already done. So that's how preliminary it was. Um, but I do think it's a worthwhile committee and I think it's an important committee for town future development and the safety of the

residents currently in the town and I will point out to you and you could bring this up because it was brought up to me um, Bill Keading's office, Congressman Keading's office is somewhat surprised urprised that Dartmouth hasn't asked for any money federally on water quality because they've been giving it to all the other towns.

Good information.

Okay. And I can give you information that you could spread along. Andrew Nelson, he's my stepson.

Okay. But he's worked just finished working with Westport and they got federal money to install uh wells at various farms so they could then fence off or prelude their animals from going to the river. So that gets them out of the river and the federal government pays for the wells.

But he says all the other towns have asked for money and gotten it. Why hasn't Dartmouth? And I said I don't know. It's a good question.

I wonder if they even know that the resource is available to them. That seems odd though that they wouldn't.

I don't know the answer to that. I I just don't know. I mean, I know we have somebody in the town hall that's job it is to get grants and to do all that kind of stuff, but and maybe Eduardo with our our new environmental affairs coordinator, one of the things that uh Miss Miller is proficient in is getting money, grant making, you writing rather, not making. Um, so maybe that's

something she can help work on too. Um, but I I just thought it was sort of surprising to hear that we're one of the few towns in the region that hasn't really tapped into the government's pockets.

I would agree with that.

Thank you for that information.

So anyway, I'll entertain a motion to appoint Liz as our uh representative for on the water quality. We We didn't vote on that. I just said it right.

Or did we vote? I don't think we did.

We did not vote.

Yeah, I didn't think so either. So to appoint Liz as the representative on behalf of Conservation Commission to the Water Quality Control Committee.

So move.

Second.

We have seconded. Roll call vote. Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

You have to recuse yourself, Liz.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously. Yeah. So if you have a any if you want to reach out to them. I mean Andrew would be very happy to hear from us.

Absolutely. I'll uh ping you on the side for the contact information.

There you go.

Anything else, Eduardo?

Um well, we have uh one other discussion item. Uh so um 1190 Russell Mills Road. Uh so we got so we got a letter in or rather it was an older letter um but we had an Andrew Spawnberg come in um in in the office. I think I was out that day. Um, and so Mark took the took his name and took his information and stuff like that. Uh, and so he had a complaint about

um 1190 Russell Mills Road. He lives across the the pond uh so to speak. Uh, and so he had a complaint about um his neighbor cutting some vegetation uh which would have been some buffer zone work uh from the riverbank. Um we contacted the um homeowner and did a site visit. uh did not find any sort of evidence of any site work or cutings or anything like that, but uh Mr. Spawnberg requested that this item

be on the agenda. Um and so Mark uh years ago, Mark had had the same complaint by Mr. Swamberg uh and went out and I I believe um there were some some trimmings that were done over by the riverfront area. Um and so there were some pictures back then a couple years back. And so I compared those pictures with the new pictures that Mr. Bombberg um gave to us and nothing has really changed

since then um in terms of uh vegetation wise. I didn't see any different tree the same trees were there as there were three or four years ago or however long it was. Uh so we did not see any evidence of any wrongdoing so to speak.

And you didn't see any evidence of any fresh cutings either, I take it.

No, no, nothing of that sort.

So, he just requested this be put on the agenda. I just wanted to update the commission on that.

Well, I'm glad you went out and we do respond to all complaints, investigate them, and you did that. Um, sometimes the complainant won't be happy with the conclusion, but that's that's a different issue. And certainly we responded and we responded promptly to a complaint.

Mhm.

And now you reported it to the commission. So it is a matter of public record.

Thank you.

Yep. Anyone else have anything to add to tonight's meeting?

I don't. So, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Second, was seconded motion. Roll call vote.

Megan, yes.

James, yes.

Donald, yes.

Liz, yes.

Richard, yes.

My vote is yes. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you everyone. I appreciate your attendance and um have a good evening. Good evening. See y'all.