Dear Supporters,
There is important news to share. The brief outline below shows how we have reached this point. Without the tireless efforts of volunteer members and scientists in our group this work would not have been possible.
The NEMT SBC (Northeast Metro Tech School Building Committee) made the worst possible decision in siting the school in the hilltop forest. Everyone who has ever passed the guard gate, including Senator Jason Lewis, has looked at acres of fields that would have been a better and safer site for the new school. The NEMT forest was one of the rarest in the state, essentially unchanged since the glaciers melted. It never should have been at risk.
The Wakefield Conservation Commission (WCC) held public meetings for months, reviewed thousands of pages of construction plans and sought expert reviews on the wetland and stormwater impacts on the environment.
June 6 - The WCC unanimously denied the permit and sent the decision to MassDEP (“DEP”).
https://tinyurl.com/WCCNEMTFinalDecision
June 16 - An attorney representing the NEMT SBC (the “applicant”) appealed the WCC decision requesting DEP overrule the WCC (the document looks long but the WCC decision is included and there are many forms). https://tinyurl.com/ApplicantPrinceLobelAppealWCC
June 16 - We appealed and asked DEP to affirm the WCC decision.
https://tinyurl.com/CitizensRequestToAffirmWCC
June 25 - DEP visited the site as required with an appeal. We participated in the visit and provided information to DEP.
Aug 10 - We filed for an injunction to protect the forest while DEP considered the applicant’s appeal.
Aug 21 - Our Stormwater expert submitted an affidavit in support of our injunction to DEP.
Aug 28 - Judge Tabit of the Superior Court ruled against us.
Aug 30 - The applicants began cutting down the forest. Within a couple of days acres were cleared of trees and all vegetation. Later, they grubbed out 18+ inches of topsoil created over millennia.
In October we filed a lawsuit on Count 1 of the injunction (all injunctions must have an underlying lawsuit). The applicant’s attorney filed a Motion to Dismiss. When speaking to our attorney the applicant’s attorney threatened a lawsuit against us if we proceeded with summary judgment on count 1. We abandoned our lawsuit because we would be buried in legal costs.
Oct 16 - The applicant's attorney sent an email to DEP to say that DEP is not required to consider information they have not requested and they are not required to wait for opponents to comment on plans, encouraging DEP to ignore the critically important science-based evidence submitted by the ten citizens who are official parties in this process.
The applicant submitted modified stormwater plans to DEP. Those changes were not significant but were not known to us until almost two weeks later.
Oct 18 - Our expert stormwater consultant submitted a report to DEP via our attorney. https://tinyurl.com/JCStormwaterRev1Oct18
Nov 2 - Our stormwater consultant submitted a new report to DEP commenting on the revised stormwater plans from the applicant. Much of it is the same as the first report because the project's changes did not appreciably improve the stormwater management or address the flaws that were pointed out. https://tinyurl.com/JCStormwaterRev2Nov1
Nov 2 - DEP overruled the WCC and approved the project. The DEP SOC decision (Superseding Order of Conditions) did not acknowledge or address any information submitted by our scientists or expert consultants. The ruling can be found in our appeal, exhibit D, starting on page 16 at the link below.
Nov 15 - With our member scientists leading, we appealed the DEP SOC decision. Our appeal was sent to the Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution (OADR). It will be part of the public record. https://tinyurl.com/CitizensAppealDEPSOCDecision
The grounds for appeal are on pages 3 - 14. There is a nice summary worth reading about how we lost this forest starting on page 100. (The other pages are the documents linked above).
The OADR appeal is a process. We will follow the required steps which may include expert witness testimony. Though our group of volunteers has subject matter experts, they are not given the same weight as the proponent’s experts. We believe it is important to save the remaining wetlands from destruction.
Please consider making a contribution of any amount. All of the money donated by our supporters has been used for legal fees and expert analyses. That includes the important stormwater reports by John Chessia detailing the failures of the project’s stormwater compliance with MA wetland regulations. If you have the time, please read his Nov 1 report. Again, DEP addressed none of the issues in that report.
Please share this email with those who might care. Local officials, project managers, developers and our politicians give nature a value of zero. We need greater awareness of the failure to protect our remaining forests, wetlands and wildlife.
Hundreds of you signed the DEP letter!
Thank you all for your continuing support over these many month
Save the Forest Coalition
100% of donations are applied to our legal expenses.
Donations can be sent via GoFundme or by check.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-save-the-forest-and-build-the-voke
Checks can be sent to Save the Forest, PO Box 2013, Wakefield, MA 01880
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Save the Forest Coalition
PO Box 2013, Wakefield, MA 01880