To: Conservation Commission

From: Citizens Conservation Coalition

Re: A Request for a Collaborative Review of Commission Rules & Regulations

We are writing to you as individuals and organizations concerned with protecting Plymouth’s natural resources.  Since you have volunteered to give your time and effort to address the protection of our wetlands as Commissioners, we are hoping you will see this letter as an offer of assistance and an opportunity to highlight the positive effects Wetland Regulations can have on the community. 

Let’s be blunt: the dramatic change in the composition of the Commission and the suggestion that regulations that took four years to develop, review and ratify might be jettisoned wholesale concern us, and appear to be at odds with the growing awareness of the critical part our natural resources play in the long-term health and vitality of the community.

In the past year the Select Board has declared a climate emergency in Plymouth, a Climate Resiliency Planner has been hired in the Town Manager’s office, a two-year Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant was awarded by the Commonwealth, and a variety of other grants and initiatives aimed at protecting the species, habitat and biodiversity of this globally rare ecoregion have begun.

As those forward steps have been taken however, development pressures have only increased, cyanobacteria blooms are becoming commonplace, our coastal banks and beaches are threatened by increasingly destructive storms and even the availability of water from our ancient aquifer has come into question, making it even more important that there are regulations to protect these resources and that they are enforced.

At the same time, we acknowledge that many of the newly appointed Commissioners have other concerns including concerns with fairness, process and efficiency and, an overall sensitivity to the property owners who are subject to the regulations now under scrutiny.

We firmly believe that, though our focuses are different, we share a desire to maintain the quality of life that Plymouth offers all of its residents, and that our priorities can be attained without abandoning our principles.

Now that the wider community is becoming aware of the importance of the Wetland Regulations and the role of the Conservation Commission, we are asking for the opportunity to have an open and extended discussion of those priorities, and how they can exist side by side for the benefit of the community.

In that spirit we request that the Commission commit to a three-month review of the existing regulations, beginning August 16 or at any other date thereafter, during which representatives from the Commission and our ad hoc committee can meet to review and refine the existing regulations.

Let’s surprise the cynics by finding common ground. 

Respectfully,