[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Cohasset 8-30-1989 (Art. XIV of the 1988 General
Bylaws). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the wetlands, related
water resources, and adjoining land areas in the Town of Cohasset
by controlling activities deemed by the Cohasset Conservation Commission
likely to have a significant or cumulative effect upon wetland values,
including but not limited to the following: public or private water
supply, groundwater, flood control, erosion and sedimentation control,
storm damage prevention, water pollution control, fisheries, wildlife
habitat, recreation, aesthetics and agriculture values (collectively,
the "wetland values" protected by this chapter).
A.
Except as permitted by the Cohasset Conservation Commission or as
provided in this chapter, no person shall remove, fill, dredge, build
upon, or alter the following resource area:
(1)
Within 100 feet of any freshwater wetland, marsh, wet meadow, bog
or swamp;
(2)
Within 100 feet of any bank, lake, river, pond, stream or estuary;
(3)
Any land under any lake, river, pond, stream or estuary;
(4)
Within 100 feet of any land subject to flooding or inundation by
groundwater, surface water or tidal action;
(5)
Within 25 feet of any isolated land subject to flooding and any isolated
vegetated wetland;
[Amended 7-17-2000]
(6)
Within 100 feet of a vernal pool.
[Amended 7-17-2000; 6-28-2005]
B.
Except as permitted by the Cohasset Conservation Commission or as
provided in this chapter, any solid waste landfill shall ensure that
leachate does not discharge into the watershed of any public drinking
water supply, and shall have stormwater controls that reasonably prevent
erosion, prevent discharge of pollutants into said watershed, protect
the physical integrity of the landfill, and ensure that siltation
due to erosion shall not migrate off site into said watershed.
[Amended 3-16-2000]
A.
The permit and application required by this chapter shall not be
required for maintaining, repairing or replacing an existing and lawfully
located structure or facility used in the service of the public to
provide electric, gas, water, telephone, telegraph or other telecommunication
services, provided that:
(1)
The
structure or facility is not substantially changed or enlarged;
(2)
Written
notice has been given to the Conservation Commission prior to commencement
of work;
[Amended 4-30-2018 ATM
by Art. 18]
(3)
The
work conforms to performance standards and design specifications in
regulations adopted by the Commission.
B.
The permit and application required by this chapter shall not apply
to emergency projects necessary for the protection of the health or
safety of the public, provided that:
(1)
The
work is to be performed by or has been ordered to be performed by
an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or a political subdivision
thereof;
(2)
Advance
notice, oral or written, has been given to the Commission or its agent
prior to commencement of work or within 24 hours after commencement;
(3)
The
Commission or its agent certifies the work as an emergency project;
(4)
The
work is performed only for the time and place so certified for the
limited purposes necessary to abate the emergency;
(5)
Within
21 days of commencement of an emergency project a permit application
should be filed with the Conservation Commission for review as provided
in this chapter. Upon failure to meet these requirements and any other
requirements imposed by the Commission pursuant to this chapter the
Commission may, after notice and a public hearing, revoke or modify
an emergency project certification and order restoration and mitigation
measures.
C.
Other than as stated in this section, any exceptions provided in
MGL c. 131, § 40 (the Wetlands Protection Act), shall not
apply under this chapter.
A.
Written application shall be filed with the Conservation Commission to perform regulated activities as deemed in § 260-2. The application shall include such information and plans as are deemed necessary by the Commission to describe proposed activities and their effects on the environment. No activities shall commence without receiving and complying with a permit issued pursuant to this chapter.
B.
In its discretion, the Commission may accept the notice of intent
and plans filed under the Wetlands Protection Act as the application
and plans under this chapter. Any person desiring to know whether
or not a proposed activity or an area is subject to this chapter may
request a determination from the Commission in writing. Such a request
for determination shall contain data and plans specified by the regulations
of the Commission.
C.
At the time of an application or request, the applicant shall pay
a filing fee specified in the regulations of the Commission, the fee
to be in addition to any fee required by the Wetlands Protection Act.
The Commission may establish filing fees in amounts reasonably designed
to recover the cost to the Town of professional services for design
review, site inspection, testing, engineering, or other related consultant
services. The Commission may waive the filing fee for an application
or request filed by a government agency and shall waive all fees,
costs and expenses for a request for determination filed by a person
who is neither the owner nor a person acting on behalf of the owner.
A.
The Commission shall conduct a public hearing on any application
or request for determination, with written notice given, at the expense
of the applicant, in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town
at least five working days prior to the hearing.
[Amended 6-10-1994]
B.
An applicant in any manner requiring a public hearing shall also
give written notice of the hearing to all abutters, as that term may
be defined by the Commission, also at least five working days prior
to the hearing. Such notice shall be given in the form and manner
that the Commission shall prescribe.
C.
The Commission shall commence the public hearing within 21 days from
the receipt of a complete application or request for determination
and shall issue its permit, denial or determination in writing within
21 days of the close of said public hearing. In its discretion the
Commission may combine its hearing under this chapter with a hearing
conducted under the Wetlands Protection Act.
D.
The Commission shall have the authority to continue any hearing to
a date certain announced at the hearing, for reasons stated at the
hearing, which may include receipt of additional information offered
by the applicant or others, information and plans required of the
applicant deemed necessary by the Commission in its discretion, or
comments and recommendations of other Town boards and officials. If
the applicant objects to a continuance or postponement, the hearing
shall be closed and the Commission shall take action on the information
then available to it.
A.
If, after a public hearing, the Conservation Commission determines
that the activities which are the subject of the application are not
likely to have a significant or cumulative effect upon the wetland
values protected by this chapter, the Commission shall, within 21
days of the close of the hearing, issue a permit for the activities
requested. Such permit shall be without conditions. If, after a public
hearing, the Conservation Commission determines that the activities
which are the subject of the application are likely to have a significant
or cumulative effect upon any or all of the wetland values protected
by this chapter, the Commission shall, within 21 days of the close
of the hearing:
(1)
Issue a permit for the activities requested, in which case the Commission
shall impose conditions which it deems necessary or desirable to protect
those values, and all activities shall be done in accordance with
those conditions; or
(2)
Deny a permit. The Commission may deny a permit for the following
reasons:
(a)
Failure to meet the requirements of this chapter;
(b)
Failure to submit necessary information and/or plans requested
by the Commission;
(c)
Failure to meet the design specifications, performance standards
and other requirements in regulations of the Commission;
(d)
Failure to avoid or prevent unacceptable significant or cumulative
effects upon any or all of the wetland values protected by this chapter.
B.
A permit shall expire three years from the date of issue. Any permit
may be renewed once for an additional period, up to three years, provided
that a written request for renewal is received by the Commission prior
to expiration, and that the Commission may grant such extension as
it finds necessary to allow completion of the permitted work.
C.
A permit issued under this chapter may be revoked or modified by
the Commission after public notice and notice to the holder of the
permit and a public hearing thereon, upon a finding of the existence
of circumstances which would justify the denial of, or imposition
of conditions on, a permit.
D.
In its discretion, the Commission may combine the permit or other
action on an application issued under this chapter with the order
of conditions issued under the Wetlands Protection Act.
After public notice and public hearing, the Conservation Commission
shall promulgate rules and regulations to achieve the purposes of
this chapter. Failure by the Commission to promulgate such rules and
regulations or a legal declaration of their invalidity by a court
of law shall not act to suspend or invalidate the effect of this chapter.
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
and implementation of this chapter:
Includes, without limitation, the following activities when
undertaken to, upon, within or affecting resource areas protected
by this chapter:
[Amended 7-17-2000]
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand, loam, peat, gravel
or aggregate materials of any kind;
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics, salinity distribution,
sedimentation patterns, flow patterns or flood retention characteristics;
Drainage or other disturbance of water level or water table;
Dumping, discharging or filling with any material which may
degrade water quality;
Placing of fill or removal of material which would alter elevation;
Driving of piles, erection, alteration or repair of buildings
or structures of any kind;
Placing of obstructions or objects in water;
Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees;
Changing water temperature, biochemical oxygen demand or other
physical or chemical characteristics of water;
Any activities, changes or work which may cause or tend to contribute
to pollution of any body of water or groundwater.
Includes any ponding area within a depression that provides
a temporary storage area of standing water, with no minimum size criteria.
Includes any vegetated wetland area containing greater than
50% wetland vegetation, hydric soils, and seasonal high groundwater
conditions. Isolated vegetated wetland does not have to border a water
body or flowing stream.
Includes any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or political subdivision thereof
to the extent subject to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public
or quasi-public corporation or body, the Town of Cohasset and any
other legal entity, its legal representatives, agents or assigns.
That area of land within 200 feet of a river or stream, with
the two-hundred-foot riverfront zone being measured from the annual
mean high-water line as defined in the Act of the subject river or
stream. The two-hundred-foot riverfront zone shall include a one-hundred
foot inner zone and a one-hundred-foot outer zone. There is no buffer
zone for the riverfront area.
[Amended 12-12-2022 STM by Art. 10]
Includes confined basin or depression not occurring in existing
lawns, gardens, landscaped areas, or driveways which, at least in
most years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months between
December and June, is free of adult predatory fish, and provides essential
breeding and rearing habitat functions for amphibian, reptile, or
vernal pool community species, regardless of whether the wetland site
has been certified as a vernal pool by the Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Wildlife and Fisheries. The presumption of essential
vernal pool habitat value may be overcome by the presentation of credible
evidence which in the judgment of the Commission demonstrates that
the basin or depression does not provide the habitat functions as
specified in the bylaw regulations. The buffer zone for vernal pools
shall extend 100 feet from the mean annual high-water line defining
the depression and the buffer zone for vernal pools shall be defined
as a no disturbance area.
[Amended 12-12-2022 STM by Art. 10]
As part of a permit issued under this chapter, in addition to
any security required by any other Town or state board, agency or
official, the Conservation Commission may require that the performance
and observance of any conditions imposed hereunder be secured wholly
or in part by one or more of the methods described below:
A.
By a proper bond or deposit of money or negotiable securities or
other undertaking of financial responsibility in an amount sufficient
in the opinion of the Commission;
B.
By 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 the Town of Cohasset requiring
the permit conditions to be performed before any interest may be conveyed
other than a mortgage interest.
A.
The Conservation Commission, its agents, officers and employees shall
have authority to enter upon privately owned land for the purpose
of performing their duties under this chapter and make or cause to
be made such examinations, surveys or sampling as the Commission deems
necessary.
B.
The Commission shall have authority to enforce this chapter, its
regulations and permits issued thereunder by violation notices, administrative
orders, enforcement orders and civil and criminal court actions.
[Amended 11-28-2016 STM
by Art. 9]
C.
Upon instruction from the Board of Selectmen at the request of the
Commission, the Town Counsel shall take legal action for enforcement
of civil law. Upon request of the Commission, the Chief of Police
shall take legal action for enforcement under criminal law.
D.
Town boards and officers, including any police officer or other officer
having police powers, shall have authority to assist the Commission
in enforcement.
E.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter, regulations
thereunder, or permits issued thereunder shall be punished by a fine
of not more than $300. Each day or portion thereof during which a
violation continues shall constitute a separate offense, and each
provision of the bylaw, regulations or permit violated shall constitute
a separate offense.
F.
In the alternative to criminal prosecution, the Commission may elect to utilize the noncriminal disposition procedure set forth in MGL c. 40, § 21D, and § 1-7 of the Town's General Bylaws. The penalty for each violation shall be $300. Each day or part thereof that a violation occurs shall constitute a separate offense.
[Amended 11-28-2016 STM
by Art. 9]
G.
Any person or entity to whom an enforcement order under state law
or this bylaw has been issued by or on behalf of the Conservation
Commission shall comply with the enforcement order. Any person or
entity who fails to comply with the terms of an enforcement order
issued by or on behalf of the Conservation Commission by the date
specified within the enforcement order, or immediately if no date
is specified, shall be in violation of this bylaw and shall be subject
to a fine of $300 per day for each violation. The noncriminal disposition
penalty for violation of an enforcement order shall be $300. Each
day or part thereof of noncompliance shall constitute a separate violation.
Fines and penalties imposed may be assessed in accordance with the
noncriminal violations section of the Town's bylaw or by complaint
in the appropriate court.
[Added 11-28-2016 STM
by Art. 9]
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 unacceptable significant or cumulative
effect upon the wetland values protected by this chapter.
This chapter is adopted under the Home Rule Amendment of the
Massachusetts Constitution and the home rule statutes, independent
of the Wetlands Protection Act and regulations thereunder.
The invalidity of any section or provision of this chapter shall
not invalidate any other section or provision thereof, nor shall it
invalidate any permit or determination which previously has been issued.
