By Mike Donovan
MONTGOMERY– The Zoning Board of Appeals fielded a rough draft last week of conditions that might be included in a special permit allowing reactivation of a Carrington Road gravel operation. The panel is treading a narrow dividing line between financial impacts on the owner of the gravel pit, Charlie Peckham, and environmental and quality of life impacts on abuttors and the general public.
Peckham has operated the gravel pit for some 20 years, but last January the selectboard issued a cease and desist order due to the lack of a special permit.
ZBA Chairman Joe Fontaine emphasized that the list of proposed conditions was only a first draft for discussion should the board “go in the direction of issuing a special permit.”
Among proposed conditions for reopening the gravel pit is preparation of a site plan indicating what is to be done and where.
“We’ll need to be there so we can understand the outlines of the site,” he said, and suggested that excavation should be done on one section of the site at a time. The site would have to be restored before the board would issue a permit for the next section.
Other restrictions might include hours of operation, probably 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with operations suspended during holidays.
Board member Peter Wilcox suggested being more specific about which holidays to include, noting that some are not celebrated universally. Fontaine agreed and said the rule would apply only to state holidays. Wilcox also said a proposed limit of 20 trucks a day needed to specify the weight and size of the trucks.
Other conditions would require the removal of access roads during the restoration process, which would consist of restoring the topsoil and planting grass to prevent erosion.
According to Peckham, all of the original topsoil remains on site, although a contractor dumped a large quantity over an embankment and Peckham does not have the kind of equipment needed to restore it to its original location.
Fontaine noted that if the permit is granted Peckham will be able to remove two large piles of gravel that were about to be shipped when the board of selectmen served him with the cease and desist order. Peckham said that when the selectboard shut him down, he had approval to supply the gravel for two large construction projects–one at the Westfield Home Depot and another at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
If a permit is issued, Fontaine suggested it be limited to a section of the site for a period of two years. Once the section was restored Peckham could apply for a permit for the next site.
An opponent of the gravel pit, David Berndt, objected that the proposed conditions did not require a bond to guarantee restoration of the site once the operation is finished. Municipalities routinely require such performance bonds to pay for restoration of a site if the developer or operator abandons it. Fontaine noted that the permit would require completion of one section of the site before starting a new section. He also again noted that the list was a draft and could be modified.
“The bond isn’t in there yet,” he said. He also said there would be more meetings before the board decides whether to issue the special permit and if it does, to determine the conditions to be imposed.
On Monday of this week the ZBA again met and continued working out conditions that would be imposed if the permit were issued. According to Peckham, his lawyer, Michael Callan, objected on legal grounds to some of the proposed restrictions, such as a limit on the number of trucks and requirements on dust control, which were deleted.
Peckham said he expects the ZBA to finalize the list of conditions and issue a decision on the permit at its next meeting, scheduled for this coming Tuesday, December 6 at 7 p.m. in the town hall.
