Freetown Conservation Commission reaches agreement on Janice Marie Way wetland violations

FREETOWN — December 11, 2023 — Freetown Conservation Commission reaches informal agreement on wetland violations at a multi-hundred-acre Janice Marie Way farm. At the December 11 meeting, commissioners told the property owner they had observed fill piles within 100 feet of a replicated wetland area on the northwest corner of the property during a site inspection the previous Saturday. The owner, who said he has operated the farm for decades and previously served 17 years on the Conservation Commission himself, acknowledged the piles "come and go" and agreed to install erosion controls along the northwest wetland line and relocate material piles further east. No formal enforcement order was issued. The board also voted unanimously to pursue proper no-hunting signage at the Betty Taber Wildlife Sanctuary, approved a three-year extension for a solar project at 3 Quarry Drive owned by Bryant Hill Farms, and continued public hearings for 30 Island Road Extension and 90 South Main Street to January 8 pending responses to state agency comments. A $25,000 professional and technical consulting line, carried for the third consecutive fiscal year without a hire, dominated the budget discussion, with the commission administrator estimating a per-diem field consultant might cost roughly $50 an hour, or approximately $1,000 a month.