Conservation Commission 2004 Annual Report

REPORT OF THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION

The Conservation Commission submits its Annual Report as follows.

The Commission is a volunteer board appointed by the Board of Selectmen,
consisting of seven voting members, mandated under M.G.L. Chapter 131,
Section 40, and Abington Town By-Laws, Chapter 171, for the purposes of
administration and implementation of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection
Act.

Our meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month and
are open to the public. In the year 2004, the Conservation Commission
received twenty-one Notices of Intent, eleven Requests for Determination,
issued eight Certificates of Compliance, four Enforcement Orders, two
Extensions, amended four Orders of Condition and held many informal
meetings. The filing of a Notice of Intent or a Request for Determination often
requires several continuations before a hearing is closed, as well as a site
walk. The Commission turned in $12,710.00 received in filing fees.

The Board is involved in the actual visiting of the sites where work will be
done in the buffer zone or the wetlands area. The Board also responds to
wetlands violations reported by citizens, involving site walks and frequent
communications with the Department of Environmental Protection.

The members of the Commission are required to attend workshops
sponsored by the state's Department of Environmental Protection in various
locations. Several members of the Commission attended a MACC (Mass.
Association of Conservation Commissioners) workshop this year. The
Commission has initiated having wetland markers installed on certain
properties under the Order of Conditions that is issued to a project at the
completion of a Notice of Intent hearing, indicating the lot is under the
jurisdiction of the Wetlands Protection Act.

Respectfully submitted,

Alex Bezanson, Chairman
Hal Norton, Vice Chairman
James Connolly
John Curley
Nathan Elliott
Christine Yardley
Richard Yardley
Frank Mackiewicz, Associate Member
Todd Murray, Associate Member