Town
of Holderness
Conservation
Commission
Holderness,
NH 03245
Mr. Thomas S. Burack,
Commissioner Is this the right
person? Or is it Michael Nolin?
DES Wetlands Bureau
PO Box 95
29 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH
03302
Dear Mr. Burack,
The Holderness Conservation Commission respectfully requests
a Reconsideration of a Permit issued by the DES Wetlands Bureau on July 11, 2007. The permit number is 2006-02635-Rolliln and
Paula Reynolds – Tax Map 221-006.
This application was received by NH DES Wetlands Bureau on October 04, 2006 and the Conservation
Commission was notified to that effect on October 16, 2006.
The area being impacted is largely steep slopes and important
wildlife habitat. The Conservation Commission
sent a letter dated November 1 citing reasons the DES should refuse to issue a
permit. (In retrospect, the DES file
number on the letter was incorrect and the tax map number was used) An acknowledgement of the receipt of the
November 1 letter was sent from DES to the Holderness Conservation Commission
on November 16. A follow-up letter
clarifying the location of an existing driveway on Lot 1
of the subdivision plan once used to access the land currently in question, and
adjacent to the proposed wetlands filling site, was dated November 26, 2006.
The request for more information from the Reynolds dated December 27, 2006 was received by
the Conservation Commission. According
to this letter, if the requested information was not received by April 26, 2007, the permit would have
been denied.
From that time (December
29, 2006) until the second week of June the Commission heard
nothing about the permit application.
Members of the Conservation Commission as well as the Planning Board, by
then, considered the application a dead issue.
A letter from A&D Klumb Environmental, LLC dated June 13, 2007 referenced the DES
letter of December 2006 and was “in direct response to that letter –“. The letter described changes that would make
the project a minor project rather than a major, changes in location of the
crossing of Owl Brook and changes in location of wetland areas near Perch
Pond Road.
A statement that no vernal pools were found on the property in the month
of May 2007 was also included.
Based on this letter, a permit was issued by DES on July 11, 2007.
On July 27, two members of the Conservation Commission, Anne
Packard and Jacque Jewell looked through the DES file of the
Reynolds’ Application. There was a
letter from Klumb Environmental, LLC dated May 15, 2007 requesting an extension of
the application to June 15 because the vernal pools had not yet ‘opened
up’. The Conservation Commission had not
been notified of this extension, or of the fact that DES considered the application
still open. Coincidentally, wood frogs and
peepers had been very audible in the vicinity of the proposed subdivision in
the month of April.
The Holderness Conservation Commission requests that the NH
DES Wetlands Board reconsider the issuing of this permit. At the very least the application should be
resubmitted in its current form so that Holderness Conservation Commission can
have input. The Commission would also
request that DES respond to the comment that a driveway access to the upland
property does, indeed, exist.
If there are any questions about this request please
contact:
Anne T. Packard
166 Seven Pines Road
Holderness, NH 03245
603-536-8245