Article 31: To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Select Board to lease or convey an easement in certain portions of land located at Parcel 9-18, for the sole purpose of conducting wetland remediation on the property, said remediation to assist in facilitating the development of 10 Converse Place, and, further, to authorize the Select Board to take any other actions to facilitate such lease or conveyance for the stated purpose.
Article 31 was supposed to be a placeholder to see if the Town boards (PB, SB, and ConCom) could agree on a plan to mitigate the required amount of riverfront area to satisfy MA DEP in the months since the prospective buyers of 10 Converse first approached the Select Board in February. But nothing has changed in the past three months. At least nothing has changed that the public is aware of. The Planning Board has not yet voted regarded whether the 2025 plan is different enough from the 2022 permitted plan to warrant additional review (including starting over). ConCom's denial based on the Town's wetlands bylaw still stands. ConCom's denial under the state wetlands law also still stands and I believe the only way MA DEP issues a superseding Order of Conditions is if the Select Board and then Town Meeting votes to undercut ConCom's denial. Why would Town Meeting vote for this? Essentially Article 31 asks Town Meeting for a blank check. Town Meeting is being asked to approve a mitigation plan that it has not yet seen for public land that is really important to the community. What would the terms of the easement be? And this land is also under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission. I truly cannot understand why the SB would bring this to Town Meeting at this point.
