The Planning Board has developed an erosion control bylaw for consideration at Town Meeting on Oct. 16 that follows an action item under the 2016 Master Plan to “adopt an erosion control bylaw.” The board believes this much-needed bylaw is easy to understand, protects land from the effects of erosion, but does not interfere with routine property maintenance.
Currently, Harvard’s zoning bylaw contains no legal requirements for erosion control. Land clearing without following best management practices for erosion control—whether it is for landscaping or a construction project—has resulted in soil washouts on roadways, causing damage to infrastructure and wetlands. This change is often irreversible and costs the town more than had it enacted preventive measures. The goal of the proposed bylaw is to introduce preventive measures that protect roadways, wetlands, and groundwater across the town: This erosion control bylaw will do that, and with minimal effect on the current permitting process. It can also protect residents’ investments in their own home improvement projects by adding an extra layer of protection.
For instance, suppose you are building a garage, something that already requires a permit. After the erosion control bylaw is enacted, your site plan review may—depending upon how many square feet of soil are excavated—incorporate simple anti-erosion measures, such as fiber matting or barriers, to prevent soil from washing down your driveway, into the garage’s foundation hole, or into your gardens in a heavy rainstorm.
The addition of an erosion control bylaw has been proposed twice and failed each time. The first was presented at the 2016 Annual Town Meeting by the Conservation Commission. It failed to pass on the grounds that it should have been presented by the Planning Board, the board that typically proposes bylaw additions and revisions. Additional concerns were raised about possible overreach by the town when individual owners need to clear trees or brush for routine property maintenance. With the bylaw’s failure, Harvard remained unprotected, with no state or local requirements for erosion control that were enforceable by the town.
When a bylaw fails at Town Meeting, two years must pass before it can be brought back for another vote. Because of this, the Planning Board had to wait until 2019 to bring this important bylaw back to Town Meeting again for voter review and approval, where it was debated at length and narrowly defeated by concerns about agricultural use and confusion over the state’s stormwater requirements. Again, after the defeat land clearing continued with no state or local requirements for erosion control, and Harvard had to wait until 2021 to try again to enact this important protective tool.
The proposed bylaw has been improved to clarify the requirements of what does or does not require an erosion control permit. Exemptions are clearly listed upfront and include backyard gardening, construction of most fencing, emergency repair to utilities, driveway or walkway repair, and more. The bylaw addresses the concerns with agricultural parcels by using the same definition of agriculture as the Wetland Protection Act Regulations, 310 CMR 10.04. Agricultural properties that are already required to comply with 310 CMR 10.04 will be exempt from this bylaw. The board has addressed all the concerns of the previous two editions of this bylaw and believes the current text is the clearest and most effective way to protect our soils and wetlands without restricting property owners from doing normal routine property maintenance.
Without the passage of our own erosion control bylaw, there is no way for the town to prevent potentially harmful land clearing. State regulations in the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook require compliance for development greater than four housing units, but anything under that size is not required to comply. Additionally, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) does not apply to Harvard. As a rural community, Harvard has received an exemption from the requirements of MS4 and is unprotected until it adopts its own local regulations.
Land clearing of a size that falls under the proposed bylaw will require consultation with the Planning Board for an erosion control permit. Either a minor or major permit will be assigned depending on the scope of the project. Smaller projects that fall under the minor permit merely require a simple sketch and project narrative. More involved projects falling under the major permit will require full engineering drawings and a detailed erosion and sediment control plan. These two processes intend to address the broad range of possible projects with an appropriate level of site review. In addition, a number of provisions for exemptions and waivers have been included.
The text of the proposed erosion control bylaw (125-58) can be found here: www.harvard-ma.gov/planning-board/pages/amendments-protective-bylaw-fall-2021.
The public hearings for review and comment on this bylaw and several others that the Planning Board will bring to Fall Town Meeting opened on Aug. 16 and will continue until Town Meeting on Oct. 16. The Planning Board will be meeting with the Agricultural Commission, the Board of Health, the Conservation Commission, the Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee, the Harvard Conservation Trust, the Climate Resiliency Working Group, and other town organizations to gain their support for this important effort. We hope you see the long-term benefits of this bylaw and support its addition to our town’s protective bylaw this fall.
Stacia Donahue is vice chair of the Planning Board.
