Dear friends,

As of today, our petition has over 100 signatures!  Thank you for your support. We hope to send this petition on to the Select Board soon.

The Select Board meets tonight at 5:30 p.m. It is a hybrid meeting—in person at Town Hall and by Zoom. At the beginning of the meeting, there is a public comment period. Written comments can be sent to selectboard@shutesbury.org.

Updates:

8/21/24: The Board of Health met with a representative from the Subduing Knotweed Coalition. At the end of the meeting, no decisions were made. The Board of Health requested a more fully developed Knotweed Management Plan before considering it. We appreciated the Board’s thoughtful approach to this question. During the discussion, we learned that the Knotweed group hoped to begin spraying knotweed this fall, although that seems unlikely. Some confusing and contradictory information was shared about the effectiveness of different methods of knotweed management as well as the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission. A tentative list of treatment sites was shared, several of which are clearly in areas subject to the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission. It was acknowledged that abutters to these sites had not been contacted for input.

We are calling upon the Town to submit a Notice of Intent for a permit to remove knotweed in Protected Resource Areas, including freshwater wetlands, Riverfront Area, and the 100-foot Adjacent Upland Resource Area (AURA) to wetlands. We are asking the Conservation Commission to require that the Town justify any methods and demonstrate that it uses the most conservative, least-harmful-to-wetlands approach. We are also asking the Conservation Commission to hire a consultant to work for the Commission and advise it on best practices for knotweed control.  In response to the questions and confusion about the Conservation Commission’s jurisdiction and regulations, a letter was sent to the Conservation Commission, which is meeting tonight (Thursday, 8/22) at 7 pm via Zoom (see shutesbury.org/calendars for the Zoom link).

Copies of the letters sent to the Board of Health and Conservation Commission can be downloaded at https://www.shutesburyrightsofwetlands.org/about-6