Just two comments - 1) asphalt is and has been acceptable fill (according
to MA DEP) if the pieces are 6 to 8 inches or less. This went into affect
about two maybe three years ago.
2) Ann can be the point "person" or "woman" but not the point "man".
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven W. Orr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "framingham neighbors" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "town meeting members"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [tmm] update on "the wall"
> On Tue, 18 Feb 2003, Kathy Vassar wrote:
>
> =>apparently chris kotsiopoulus was in court recently and fined a whole
$1000.
> =>he was ordered to submit plans, apparently.
> =>
> =>as i understand it, what he has submitted is a request for a building
permit
> =>with a site plan that shows the wall still there. what i was told by
the
> =>building dept was that the ONLY part of the wall that had previously
been
> =>ordered removed was a small section in the sideyard setback! (not any
part
> =>near the Swartzes that many of us have seen) that was news to the
Swartzes
> =>after having been told THE WALL had been ordered removed.
> =>
> =>Steve Orr has talked to town engineering and has described the new plans
as
> =>nibbling away at the edges of the wall but it sounds to me as though the
new
> =>plans still include THE WALL. Steve, can you fill us in?
>
> I'll tell you what I have, but we have lots of questions outstanding.
>
> When this whole thing exploded, a number of officials went over to the
> Swartz's place and were all uniformly distressed at what had happened. The
> upshot was that ChrisKo was issued a cease&desist order as well as orders
> to submit engineering plans on how he was going to take the wall down.
>
> Last night, I got a call from Micheal and Betsy Swartz letting me know
> that they had gotten word that the wall is in fact *not* coming down. What
> Chris had submitted were engineering plans on how he was going to make the
> wall conform to regulations. Apparently, based on my conversation with
> Town Engineer John Bertorelli this morning, conformance means that only
> that part of the wall that is improperly intruding into setback areas is
> going to be "nipped back". In other words, when asked to produce plans on
> how the wall was to be removed, he instead submitted plans on how he was
> going to make the existing wall conform to regs. Note that there are
> issues that are being completely skirted:
>
> * He was found to have brought up contaminated fill. Somewhere along the
> line, someone started taking speech lessons from Bill Clinton, because
> what used to be "contaminated fill" is now "improper fill". Order
> magnitude 1500 or 1600 truckloads full. (I forget the exact number of
> truckloads that were involved.) The fill is loaded with blocks of
> asphalt, which is not allowed because it is a petroleum product and will
> leach into the environment. One of my concerns is that only the large
> visible blocks of asphalt will (if any) end up getting removed. The
> smaller, and probably the majority mass, of the asphalt will get left
> behind so we can all slowly drink and bathe in it.
>
> * The height of the wall that was originally approved was not to exceed
> five feet. This wall is exceeding IMNSHO 20 to 25 feet in certain parts.
> While John did say that somewhere between 30 to 40 feet will be removed
> from each side, nothing in the new plans talks about reducing the height
> of what's left. And without removing the height, we have no way of
> seeing how the contaminated fill will be removed. To date, I see no
> order from any Department to have the fill removed. I have no clue why.
>
> I spoke with Ann Welles from the Planning Board and she is taking the
> initiative to act as point man to assess what is happening and what should
> be happening and what is not happening.
>
> I am *very* concerned that that Town is going to be sued by the abutters
> for not enforcing, or more appropriately, abdicating all responsibility,
> in exchange for ChrisKo proceeding. It seems to be a lot like the Saudis
> paying Al Quaeda for not bombing them.
>
> I was not able to talk with Joe Mikielian in the Building Department
> today. He's busy shoveling snow. I'll be talking with more people, as will
> Ann and we'll pass along more information as it becomes available. Please
> feel free to make your own inquiries.
>
> And one last thing: If you respond to this message, *please* reduce the
> size of the text that you are quoting.
>
> Thanks to all for listening.
>
> --
> -Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things
have -
> -happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say
Organ
> -Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are
all-
> -individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
> steveo at syslang.net
