[Amended 6-9-2014 ATM; 6-13-2016 ATM]
A.
The removal of earth from land in all zoning districts in the Town of Wrentham (other than earth removal operations specifically exempt from the operation of this article as provided in § 390-14.3) shall be permitted only by special permit granted by the Planning Board, which shall be the special permit granting authority under this article. (Note: The special permit process shall, by law, conform to MGL c. 40A.)
B.
The Planning Board may establish rules and regulations governing
special permit application forms, fees, and other items that may be
necessary to administer this article.
C.
The Planning Board shall have the authority to waive or minimize
the requirements of this article should the Board, in its discretion,
find that compliance with the requirements would not serve to reduce
the impacts of the proposed project to the natural environment.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Includes nonorganic material normally and naturally composing
part of the world's surface, excluding water, but including peat and
any material under water.
The severance of any earth, as defined above, from its natural
location on a site, whether or not such earth is moved from the site
to another location on the same site or off the site.
A special permit shall not be required under this article for:
A.
Excavations incidental to the construction of the foundation of buildings
or of walks, driveways, septic systems or swimming pools, provided
the quantity of material removed shall not exceed that displaced by
the portions of construction below finished grade. (Note: Excavations
and/or earth removal made or done to complete the construction of
ways and the installation of drainage and municipal services pursuant
to a definitive subdivision plan submitted to the Planning Board under
the Subdivision Control Law shall not come under the scope of this
article, provided that the total amount of material to be disturbed
or removed does not exceed four cubic yards per linear foot of road.)
All other earth-moving activities, including individual lot grading,
whether adding or removing earth, require review and approval by the
Planning Board, pursuant to this bylaw, to ensure that proper lot
drainage and site grading issues are addressed.
B.
Excavation in the course of normal and customary agricultural, horticultural
or floricultural use of land. (Note: Excavations made in the building
of farm ponds and those that will result in the lowering of existing
elevations by more than two feet shall not be deemed normal and customary
within the meaning of the foregoing.) Earth removal work shall not
be exempted under this subsection unless the use conforms to the limitations
in MGL c. 40A, § 3, and the affected parcel exceeds five
acres.
C.
Excavation in the normal operation of a cemetery.
D.
Excavation underway at the time of the adoption of this article,
but only to the extent that such operation shall have the status of
a nonconforming use within the meaning of MGL c. 40A, § 6.
E.
Any parcel of land that is a lot in public use which is either above
or under water, provided the amount of material excavated and removed
off the lot does not exceed 250 cubic yards; and the amount of material
removed within the lot from one location to another location within
the lot does not exceed 1,000 cubic yards.
F.
Landscaping purposes in which a building permit is not required and
in which the amount of material removed off the lot does not exceed
50 cubic yards; while the amount of material to be removed within
the lot from one location to another location does not exceed 100
cubic yards. This operation can be done only once within a period
of 12 consecutive months.
A.
Application. The application shall include the following specific
information:
(1)
The location of the property upon which excavation is proposed,
identified by both Assessor's Lot Number and street address, if an
address has been assigned to the property, and identified by the Registry
of Deeds book and page;
(2)
The name and address of the petitioner;
(3)
The name and address of the property owner;
(4)
The name and address of any mortgagees;
(5)
A certified list of the names and addresses of all abutters;
(6)
An estimated number of cubic yards of earth proposed for removal
and an estimate, based on field data, of the number of cubic yards
of loam that will be stripped and stockpiled.
B.
Filing fee. The filing fee shall be established as part of the Planning
Board rules and regulations governing earth removal.
All applications for earth removal shall be accompanied by a site plan in accordance with Article VII of the Town of Wrentham's Zoning Bylaws.
A.
The plan shall be prepared and certified by a registered civil engineer, licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and shall show the following, in addition to the requirements of Article VII:
(1)
All the property where the earth is to be removed, showing boundary
lines in detail and the names of abutters;
(2)
The elevations of abutting land at the lot lines;
(3)
All adjacent roads and structures, public or private, their
elevations and established grades;
(4)
All waterways, brooks, swamps, Watershed Protection, Aquifer
Protection and Floodplain Districts on the locus and their respective
elevations;
(5)
Existing and proposed contours at two-foot intervals, with all
profiles drawn to a scale of one inch equals eight feet;
(6)
A minimum of two vertical control benchmarks (one to be permanent)
must be established and maintained on site on the National Geodetic
Vertical Datum, U.S. Geological Survey base to the closest hundredth
of a foot (0.01 foot) before any excavation starts, with an additional
benchmark similarly provided per each additional four acres or portion
thereof on the site; and
B.
The applicant shall provide the Board with a .pdf version of the
plan and other application submittals and reports by email, compact
disc or thumb drive.
The applicant for the special permit must introduce evidence
establishing, and the Planning Board must make specific findings of
fact, that each of the following general requirements will be met:
A.
That the earth removal may be accomplished without unreasonable danger
to the health, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants of the
Town in general nor to that of those in the immediate vicinity;
B.
That the earth removal will not produce unreasonable noise, dust,
or other effects observable as detrimental to the normal use of adjacent
land;
C.
That the earth removal and change in topography may be accomplished
without adverse effect to abutting land by reason of surface water
drainage nor to the recharge of the water table nor to the pumping
rate of any nearby Town well site;
D.
That the earth removal will not have a material adverse effect on
the health or safety of persons living in the neighborhood or on the
use or amenities of adjacent land.
All work performed under a special permit granted under this
article shall be done in accordance with the following specifications,
which shall be deemed to be incorporated therein by reference:
A.
All trees are to be cut, not bulldozed. All trees and brush are to
be chipped on site unless removed for commercial purposes. Stumps
may be buried in a disposal area designated on the site plan at a
depth which will provide a six-foot cover at finished grade. A plan
designating the disposal area shall be recorded with the special permit
at the Registry of Deeds. The applicant shall dispose of any wood
wastes in accordance with DEP Wood Waste Policy and the Massachusetts
Solid Waste Regulations for the disposal of less than and greater
than 200 cubic yards.
B.
All loam and topsoil must be scraped and stockpiled on the site for
use in later landscaping. No loam or topsoil may be removed from the
site.
C.
Excavation to the property line is not permitted. The site plan shall
designate a minimum fifty-foot buffer strip along the property lines
where the earth and vegetation shall remain undisturbed. The Planning
Board may reduce the requirement for a buffer zone if the affected
abutters petition in writing for a reduction in the buffer zone or
if in the Planning Board's discretion the need for a buffer zone is
not in the Town's best interests. The Planning Board may consider
any comments made during the public hearing in making its decision.
D.
Earth must be removed to contours set forth in the approved site
plan. Boulders must be buried at a depth which will provide a six-foot
cover at finished grade. Ledge shall not be left exposed under normal
circumstances. If ledge is encountered, the permittee must either
remove it or submit a revised site plan for approval, which must be
approved before work is continued. The use of ledge or rock outcroppings
as part of the finished landscaping may be incorporated into a natural
or designated environment landscape plan for consideration by the
Planning Board. A plan showing the location of any on-site disposal
areas of excessive boulders (ledge) that exceed 30 square feet shall
be recorded with the special permit at the Registry of Deeds.
E.
Slopes shall not exceed a 3:1 ratio and a 4:1 ratio is preferred
where practical. A 4:1 slope may be required in areas determined to
be sensitive by the special permit granting authority.
F.
Earth removal shall be carried out in four-acre grids and not over the entire site at one time. After each such grid has been excavated, the land shall be brought to rough finish grade and loam spread to a depth of not less than six inches to bring the land to finished grade before proceeding to the next excavation area. This regraded area must then be seeded with an acceptable perennial grass at the rate of not less than 200 pounds per acre and the area maintained until the grass heights have reached the two-inch minimum. In appropriate cases, the permit granting authority may modify this requirement in the light of special requirements of site work to allow regrading at the end of the removal operation upon making specific findings of fact as to why such modification is required and subject to particular conditions set forth pursuant to § 390-14.8.
G.
The regrading and seeding of each grid of disturbed area shall be
completed, according to specification, within 30 days of the completion
of excavation of the grid, expiration of the special permit or upon
cessation of operations, whichever occurs first.
H.
Finished grades shall be as indicated on the approved site plan.
In general, finished grades may not be designed to be below the level
of any abutting public way unless the special permit granting authority
determines, based upon satisfactory engineering data, that a finished
grade below the elevation of an abutting way is advantageous to the
plan for future use of the property.
I.
Topsoil must be spread to a depth of not less than six inches over
disturbed areas and seeded and maintained as stated previously.
J.
Fingerling fir, white pine or other approved tree cover shall be
planted over the entire disturbed area at five feet to six feet on
center.
K.
No excavation shall be made at less than 10 feet above annual high
water table as established from test pits and soil borings. A minimum
of three observation wells shall be monitored for one year to establish
the high water table ground plane elevation. Additional wells may
be necessary on sites exceeding 10 acres. This data shall be shown
on the site plan submitted to the Planning Board for approval and
on a permanent monument placed on the property and shown on the site
plan. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the permittee from the
construction of approved ponds, wetlands or the like. Said construction
may also require approval under the provisions of MGL c. 131 and/or
Town of Wrentham Wetland Protection Bylaws.[1]
L.
All access roads leading to public ways shall be treated to minimize
dust and mud for a distance of not less than 200 feet back from the
public way. Any spillage on public ways shall be cleaned by the applicant
on a twice-daily basis, one time being following the normal working
hours.
M.
Unless the site conditions expressly require alteration of drainage
patterns, the land shall be left so that natural storm drainage shall
leave the property at the original natural drainage points; and so
that the total discharge at peak flow, and the area of drainage to
any one point, is not increased; and so that the hydrography of any
post-development stream is the same as that of the pre-development
stream.
N.
Any earth removal in the vicinity or within wetland areas governed
by MGL c. 131 or other wetlands-related laws shall also be subject
to orders of conditions from the Conservation Commission. Whether
such proposed earth removal projects fall within the jurisdiction
of the Conservation Commission shall be determined by the Conservation
Commission and the applicable Town, state and federal laws.
The permit granting authority may, in approving an application,
impose reasonable particular conditions deemed necessary in the light
of special conditions. Special conditions may include, but without
limitation, the proximity of residential or commercial uses that might
be affected by dust, blasting with respect to ledge removal, drainage
matters, lateral support of abutting property and the like. The permit
granting authority shall set forth particular hours of operation for
each individual operation as a particular condition.
An environmental impact assessment shall be filed with an application involving the proposed removal of more than 1,500 cubic yards of earth. The environmental assessment shall be prepared in accordance with Article VIII of the Town Zoning Bylaws.
The applicant shall be responsible for monitoring the amount
of earth removed from the site. A biweekly report, prepared and certified
by a registered civil engineer, licensed to practice in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, shall be forwarded to the permit granting authority
for the duration of the earth removal project. The report shall include,
as a minimum, a daily account, on an hourly basis, of the number of
truckloads of earth removed from the site, the number of cubic yards
of earth contained in each truckload, daily and weekly totals of the
number of cubic yards of earth removed from the site and a cumulative
total, from project inception to date, of the number of cubic yards
of earth removed from the site.
Prior to the start of any work under a special permit granted
hereunder, a surety company bond or deposit of money (which may take
the form of an assignment of a bank account assented to by the depository
bank) of not less than $5,000 per acre shall be delivered to the permit
granting authority to ensure compliance with this bylaw and of the
particular conditions, if any, imposed in granting the permit. The
bond shall have a term of not less than two years beyond the estimated
completion date of the earth removal project. If the permit granting
authority finds that extraordinary conditions require additional surety,
a bond in excess of $5,000 per acre may be required. In establishing
such a sum, the permit granting authority shall specifically enumerate
the special conditions which it deems to require such additional sum
as it may set. Such bond or other security shall be held by the Town
Treasurer until the permit holder submits an "as built" plan, prepared
and certified by a registered civil engineer licensed to practice
in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, showing that all excavation
has been to grades approved on the site plan, and that all restoration
work has been completed.
A violation of this article shall be punishable by a fine of
not less than the maximum permissible limit set forth by MGL c. 40A,
§ 7, as amended. Each truckload of earth removed from the
site in violation of this article shall constitute a separate offense.
Each late delivery of the biweekly monitoring report shall also constitute
a separate offense, with the late delivery defined as being postmarked
five days beyond the scheduled delivery date.
