Except as permitted by the Conservation Commission
or as provided in this chapter, no person shall remove, fill, dredge,
build upon, or alter the following resource areas:
A. Any bordering vegetated wetland, freshwater wetland,
riverine wetland, marsh, wet meadow, bog or swamp, or within 100 feet
of said areas.
B. Any bank or beach, or within 100 feet of said areas.
C. Any lake, river, pond, or stream, whether intermittent
or continuous, natural or man-made, or within 100 feet of said areas.
D. Any land under aforesaid waters.
E. Any land subject to flooding or inundation by groundwater,
surface water, storm flowage, except artificially built detention
areas and drainage channels including streets and gutters which would
not otherwise be subject to jurisdiction under this chapter or 310
CMR, or within 40 feet of said areas subject to flooding or inundation.
F. Seasonal wetlands, isolated wetlands, including kettle
holes, or within 100 feet of said areas.
G. Vernal Pool Resource Area shown in the table below.
(See also definition.)
[Added 10-4-2007; amended 5-3-2018 by Ord. No. 18.064; 3-17-2022 by Ord. No. 21.355; 3-16-2023 by Ord. No. 23.246A]
|
Zoning District and/or Area of City
|
Vernal Pool Resource Area Size
|
---|
|
Central Business Districts, Florence Village
Districts, General Business, Neighborhood Business, Highway Business,
Entranceway Business, General Industrial, Office Industrial, Planned
Village, Medical, Urban Residential-B and Urban Residential-C and
municipal landfill properties
|
Vernal pool and areas within 100 feet of the
vernal pool
|
|
Nonresidential uses only in the Business Park
District
|
Vernal pool and areas within 100 feet of the
vernal pool
|
|
All areas in the Water Supply Protection Zone
|
Vernal pool and areas within 200 feet of the
vernal pool
|
|
All other areas not shown above (residential
uses in the Rural Residential, Suburban Residential, Special Conservancy,
Urban Residential A, Farms, Forests and Recreation)
|
Vernal pool and areas within 200 feet of the
vernal pool
|
|
Notes:
* There is no additional buffer zone around
a Vernal Pool Resource Area.
|
The following definitions shall apply in the
interpretation of this chapter:
AGENT
Any agent or Conservation Commission staff who is appointed
agent by a majority vote of the Conservation Commission at a regularly
scheduled meeting of the Commission.
ALTER
Includes, without limitations, the following activities when
undertaken to, upon, within or affecting resource areas protected
by this chapter:
A.
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand,
gravel, clay, minerals, or aggregate materials of any kind.
B.
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics,
flushing characteristics, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns, or
flood-retention characteristics.
C.
Drainage or other disturbance of water level
or water table.
D.
Dumping, discharging or filling with any material
which may degrade water quality.
E.
Placing of fill, or removal of material, which
would alter elevation.
F.
Driving of piles, erection or repair of buildings,
or structures of any kind.
G.
Placing of obstructions or objects in water.
H.
Destruction of plant life including cutting
of trees.
I.
Changing water temperature, biochemical oxygen
demand, or other physical, chemical or biological characteristics
of surface and ground water.
J.
Any activities, changes or work which may cause
or tend to contribute to pollution of any body of water or groundwater.
BUFFER ZONE
That area of land extending 100 feet horizontally (40 feet for lands subject to flooding) from the boundary of the resource areas defined in §
337-2.
[Amended 10-4-2007]
CERTIFIED VERNAL POOL
All certified vernal pools plotted by the Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Wildlife Natural Heritage and Endangered Species
Program's "Estimated Habitats of Rare Wetlands Wildlife and Certified
Vernal Pools Map." The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program
plots the geographic location of certified vernal pools; however,
applicants are required to delineate the boundary of the certified
vernal pool, which shall be reviewed by the Northampton Conservation
Commission.
[Added 10-4-2007]
COMMISSION
The duly appointed Conservation Commission of the City of
Northampton.
DEGRADED AREA
Areas of existing structures, buildings, fill, pavement,
impervious surface, lack of topsoil, dump sites or releases of hazardous
materials.
[Added 2-17-2011]
ISOLATED WETLANDS and SEASONAL WETLANDS
Freshwater wetlands that do not border on creeks, rivers,
streams, ponds, and lakes; isolated depressions which hold standing
water for extended periods of time, such as kettle holes which are
too small to be called ponds; and isolated depressions or closed basins
which are subject to flooding during periods of high-water table and
high input from spring runoff or snowmelt or heavy precipitation,
and support populations of nontransient macroorganisms (wetland plants
defined in MGL c. 131, § 40, or 310 CMR 10.00 or animals
visible to the naked eye) or serve as breeding habitat for select
species of amphibians which depend on wetlands for breeding habitat.
Isolated and seasonal wetlands include temporary ponds and pools and
vernal ponds and pools.
LANDS SUBJECT TO FLOODING
Depressions or closed basins which serve as ponding areas
for runoff, snowmelt, heavy precipitation, or high groundwater which
has risen above the ground surface, and areas which flood from a rise
in a bordering waterway or water body.
PERSON
Includes any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the commonwealth or political subdivisions thereof to the extent subject
to City ordinance, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation
or body, this municipality, and any other legal entity, its legal
representatives, agents or assigns.
[Amended 2-1-2007]
PRESUMED VERNAL POOL
All confined basin depressions which, at least in most years, hold water for a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer, and are free of adult fish populations, and are at least 1,000 square feet in area. A presumed vernal pool shall no longer be considered as a presumed vernal pool if rebutted under §
337-10.
[Added 10-4-2007]
PROTECTED ZONE
The area of land between the edge of a resource area and a parallel line located 50 feet away, measured horizontally, except as provided in §
337-10.
[Added 2-17-2011]
RESOURCE AREA
The primary resource being protected by this chapter, which is the areas of jurisdiction defined in §
337-2 excluding the one-hundred-foot buffer (40 feet for lands subject to flooding).
SEASONAL WETLANDS
Includes all confined basin depressions which, at least in
most years, hold water for a minimum of two continuous months during
the spring and/or summer, and are free of adult fish populations,
and are less than 1,000 square feet in area, but larger than 30 square
feet in area. Except as permitted by the Conservation Commission or
as provided in this chapter, no person shall remove, fill, dredge,
build upon, or alter seasonal wetlands or within 100 feet of seasonal
wetlands.
[Added 10-4-2007]
VERNAL POOL RESOURCE AREA
Includes the certified vernal pool, presumed vernal pool and an area, as described in the table in §
337-2, extending laterally from the mean annual high water line defining the depression, but shall not include existing lawns, gardens, and landscaped or developed areas. There is no additional buffer zone around a vernal pool resource area. Presumed vernal pools shall be protected as a vernal pool resource area until and unless the presumption is rebutted under §
337-10.
[Added 10-4-2007]
[Amended 9-20-1990]
Any person desiring to know whether or not a
proposed activity or an area is subject to this chapter must request
in writing a determination from the Commission. Such a request shall
contain at least two copies of all data, forms, and plans specified
by this chapter and the Commission and must include permission for
the Commission and its agents to enter the property for the purpose
of evaluating the request.
A. The Commission in an appropriate case may accept as
the request under this chapter the request for determination of applicability
filed under the Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40.
B. Written permit application shall be filed with the
Commission to perform activities regulated by this chapter affecting
resource areas protected by this chapter. The application shall include
at least two copies of all plans, forms, and such information as is
deemed necessary by the Commission to describe proposed activities
and their effects on the environment and must include permission for
the Commission and its agents to enter the property for the purpose
of evaluating the request and monitoring the project. When applications
include drainage calculations or the design of any facility that will
be dedicated to the City of Northampton, one copy of the application
shall be delivered to the Director of Public Works or his/her designee.
No activities shall commence without receiving and complying with
a permit issued pursuant to this chapter.
[Amended 12-4-2014]
C. The Commission in an appropriate case may accept as
the application and plans under this chapter the notice of intent
and plans filed under the Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40.
D. At the time of an application or request, the applicant
shall pay a filing fee in addition to the fee paid under the Wetlands
Protection Act and 310 CMR, unless the applicant is a public agency
or board of the City of Northampton. Fees shall be placed in the Wetlands
Fees Account established as required under state law to hold fees
from the Wetlands Protection Act. The required permit fees are as
set forth in Chapter 174, Fees.
[Amended 6-1-2000; 6-7-2001; 2-1-2007]
E. In addition, the Commission is authorized to require
the applicant to pay all the costs and expenses of any expert consultant
deemed necessary by the Commission to review the application or resource
area.
[Amended 9-20-1990; 10-4-2007]
A. An application for any wetland permit (notice of intent,
request for determination of applicability, or abbreviated notice
of resource area delineation) shall be hand delivered or sent by certified
mail, return receipt, or certificate of mailing to the Conservation
Commission, care of the Northampton Office of Planning and Development.
Said applicant shall give written notice to the owner if other than
the applicant and, with the exception of a request for determination
of applicability, to all abutters at their mailing addresses shown
on the most recent applicable tax list of the assessors, including
owners of land directly opposite on any public or private street or
way, and other property owners within 100 feet of the property line
of the applicant, including any in another municipality or across
a body of water. The notice to abutters shall state where copies of
the application or request may be examined and obtained by abutters
and shall state where information on the date and time of the public
hearing may be obtained. An affidavit of the person providing such
notice, with a copy of the notice mailed or delivered, shall be filed
with the Commission as part of the application.
B. After the application/request is received, the applicant
shall place a public notice sign provided by the Conservation Commission,
facing a public right-of-way and visible from the right-of-way at
the edge of the property upon which the permit or request is being
made.
[Amended 10-21-2010]
(1) Said sign shall notify the public that an application
or request is pending on the property.
(2) Said sign shall be posted at least five working days
before the first public hearing on the application or request.
(3) A signed statement of the person posting said sign
stating that the required sign was provided shall be filed with the
Commission prior to the public hearing.
C. The Commission shall conduct a public hearing on any
application, notice of intent, abbreviated notice of resource area
delineation (ANRAD), or request for determination of applicability.
Notice of said hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general
circulation in the City at least five working days prior to said hearing
at the expense of the applicant. The published notice, which shall
be prepared by the Commission, shall contain the following information:
the date, time, and place of the hearing; the location of the property
affected; the name of the applicant; and the action requested from
the Commission. The Commission shall deliver the notice to the newspaper.
[Amended 10-21-2010]
(1) The Commission shall commence the public hearing within
28 days from receipt of a completed application (one which shows all
the information, based on a staff determination, necessary to make
a decision), unless the applicant extends the time period by a written
waiver.
(2) The Commission shall have authority to continue the
hearing to a date and time announced at the hearing for reasons stated
at the hearing, which may include the receipt of additional information
offered by the applicant or others, information and plans required
of the applicant, deemed necessary by the Commission, or comments
and recommendations of other boards and officials of the City of Northampton.
In the event the applicant objects to a continuance or postponement,
the hearing shall be closed and the Commission shall take action on
such information as is available.
(3) In addition, when there is snow on the ground and/or
the ground is frozen, the Commission may continue a hearing until
the snow melts and/or the ground thaws if it determines that an accurate
wetland delineation is not possible otherwise.
D. The Commission shall issue its permit, permit denial,
or determination in writing within 21 days of the close of the public
hearing, unless an extension is authorized in writing or at the public
hearing by the applicant.
E. The Commission shall combine its hearing under this
chapter with the hearing conducted under the Wetlands Protection Act,
MGL c. 131, § 40, and regulations, 310 CMR 10.00, in instances
of concurrent jurisdiction.
[Amended 9-20-1990; 12-4-2014]
The Commission shall provide copies of its agenda
to the Planning Department, Director of Public Works or his/her designee
and Building Inspector. The Commission shall not take final action
until five working days after such officials have received their notice
of the application. The Commission shall consider recommendations
from those officials and any other City boards and officials but they
shall not be binding on the Commission.
After public notice and public hearing, the
Commission shall promulgate required forms and submittal requirements
to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. The Commission may amend
its required forms and submittal requirements after public notice
and public hearing. Failure by the Commission to promulgate such forms
and submittal requirements or a legal declaration of their invalidity
by a court of law shall not act to suspend or invalidate the effect
of this chapter.
As part of a permit issued under this chapter,
except for permits issued for work being performed or contracted by
any department or agency of the City of Northampton, and in addition
to any security required by any other municipal or state board or
agency, the Commission may require that the performance and observance
of the conditions imposed hereunder be secured wholly or in part by
one or more of the methods described below:
A. A financial guarantee, such as a proper bond or deposit
of money or negotiable securities or other undertaking of financial
responsibility sufficient in the opinion of the Commission. Surety
performance bonds, cash escrows, and standby letters of credit are
the usual forms of financial guarantees that will be accepted. Property
escrows will not be accepted. Permittees shall submit their estimates
of what the required improvements will cost, preferably with contractors'
bids to perform the work
(1) The term of any financial guarantees must be at least
nine months longer than the time a permittee has to complete a project.
The Commission, at its discretion, may allow partial or complete release
of guaranteed funds as sections of a project are completed. The Commission
has the right not to release part of the guaranteed funds until after
the project is finished and a certificate of compliance is issued.
(2) The Commission has the right to reject the terms of
a proposed financial guarantee, including the financial institution
holding guaranteed funds if it is not a local bank, and to determine
the amount of funds that must be guaranteed. The Commission's only
duty to secure release of guaranteed funds is to certify that required
improvements or conditions have not been completed on time or to a
satisfactory standard, as defined by the Commission.
(3) At the discretion of the Commission, a joint financial
guarantee may be used to comply with Commission requirements and that
of other agencies, boards, and commissions in the City of Northampton;
provided, however, that all relevant parties agree on the terms and
the principal and that the guarantee is structured so that all relevant
parties agree before any funds are released.
B. A conservation restriction, easement, or other covenant
enforceable in a court of law, executed and duly recorded by the owner
of record, running with the land to the benefit of this municipality
and observed before any lot may be conveyed other than by mortgage
deed.
The applicant for a permit shall have the burden
of proving by a preponderance of the credible evidence that the work
proposed in the application will not have, in the opinion of the Conservation
Commission, unacceptable significant or cumulative effect upon the
wetland values protected by this chapter. Failure to provide adequate
evidence to the Commission supporting this burden shall be sufficient
cause for the Commission to deny a permit or grant a permit with conditions.
[Added 10-21-2010]
A decision of the Commission shall be reviewable in the Superior
Court in accordance with MGL c. 249, § 4. Appeals shall
be made within 10 business days of the date of the decision by the
Commission, or the date of the signing and/or notarization of said
decision, whichever is the later. Notice of said appeal and a copy
of the complaint shall be sent, certified mail, or hand-delivered,
to the Conservation Commission so as to be received within said 10
days.