A few weeks ago, ChrisCo went and cut down every blessed tree over on the Doeskin II (D2) site. This was done despite promises that were made to the Planning Board. The Planning Board immediately issued a cease & desist order which was done for the purpose of securing a drainage proposal that would now handle the newly denuded mountain. The submitted proposal was rejected and a new one was subsequently accepted based on the criticisms of the Planning Board.
Last week, Gerald Harting observed something interesting: Because he knew exactly where his lot lines were, he knew that none of his trees had been cut. However, it was obvious to him that a lot of trees *had* been cut which were not part of the D2 property. Eventually Jean Havel and the Sigels from Kevin Circle both decided to have their lots surveyed. Prior to the survey, the so-called developer decided to go door-to-door to express mea culpas on the off chance that he *might* have made a mistake by cutting a *few* trees that were over the line. He even went so far as to present Jean Havel with a letter to that effect. Today, the survey was done. It took the entire day to complete, but the results showed the following result: * He had gone over the boundary in excess of 60 feet and cleared all trees in that portion of the abutters property. * Most of the logs had been removed, but there are some trunks left lying on the ground. Thankfully, all of the stumps are still there. * Siltation control fences which ran along the real property boundaries had been run over to get to the trees that got cut. * The trees that were cut blocked the view from the top so that by removing them, the presumed value of his lots would realize property value increases well into six figures. It is extremely clear that the removal of these trees was completely deliberate. This, along with all of the other incidents on Wayside Circle represent a pattern of willful and deliberate behavior. Tonight the Planning Board met to decide on releasing a $160K bond of his that had nothing to do with the tree cutting. The neighbors used this opportunity to express their views on what should happen. The Planning Board felt (not unanimously) that there was nothing that they could legally do, though it urged the people who had been harmed to pursue the matter in the Courts. The Planning Board asked for (no demanding because there are no enforcement powers) the developer to have the entire boundary of the property surveyed. In addition, they asked that the developer report on additional properties where trees had been illegally cut so that all of the abutters who are affected can be properly informed. If you think that you might have lost some of your trees, please contact the Planning Board to let them know that you might be affected. You will have to decide if the survey done by the developer's engineer is going to be adequate. In addition, I urge all abutters to get proper documentation on the state of your property. This documentation may not be limited to photographs. If you know people who are abutters who are not on this list, please let them know about this issue. As for the (latest) parties who were damaged, we all wish them the best at pursuing this matter, both civilly and criminally, but we also wish that they weren't forced to in the first place. Clearly it's time for the Planning Board to be empowered with the ability to enforce the rules of the developers that come to them for approval. I'd be happy with a ticketing power for the Planning Board called the Chris Kotsiopoulis Memorial Enforcement Article. In the entire history of Framingham, there have been both good and bad developers. But this is the first time that the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission both had to take extraordinary measures to acquire the needed ticketing powers. The Conservation Commission completed the acquisition of their ticketing powers last year. Hopefully we'll have the Planning Board ticketing powers squared away at the next Town Meeting. -- Some people are born with physical defects like a missing limb or a defective heart. Some are born without a conscience. We call these people sociopaths. [ To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=unsubscribe Archives available at http://www.mail-archive.com/ For help send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web interface at http://frambors.syslang.net]
