These are two aerial photographs taken by the state that show the changes made at 159 Berkshire Ave. by its owner over 17 years. The photo on the left is from 2006, and the photo on the right is from 2023.
Reminder Publishing photo by MASSGIS
SOUTHWICK — When the Southwick Planning Board approved the minor modification of a stormwater permit for the property at 159 Berkshire Ave., the board chair hoped the years-long dispute between the town and property owner was over.
It’s not.
“I’ve been in conversation with Dick Grannells about this, and we talked about filing a [Request for Determination of Applicability] because we need to get something on paper,” Conservation Commissioner Dennis Clark said during the Conservation Commission’s meeting on April 6.
Clark was referring to Richard Grannells, the chair of the Lake Management Committee, who has been trying for years, with the support of the committee, to have Joseph Baldarelli, the owner of the 10 acres on Berkshire Avenue, restore a portion of the property he cleared, which led to a discharge into the Middle Pond in December 2018 after a heavy rainstorm.
Clark said that when Baldarelli began the clearing operation in the early 2000s, he should have asked the Conservation Commission for an RDA because there was an intermittent stream on the property, which was lost during the clearing.
An RDA is typically requested by a property owner to the commission when there are questions that disturbing the property would violate the Wetlands Protection Act.
If the commission hands down a negative determination and finds that the WPA does not apply, then the work can go forward. A positive determination would mean that the WPA does apply, and the property owner would need to take additional steps to begin the work.
“[This] is what should have been done originally, before they did anything out there,” Clark said.
He said he thought that only a property owner could file for an RDA, but learned from Conservation Commission Coordinator Sabrina Pooler that someone other than the owner can apply for one.
However, Clark said, the commission can’t file for it, but the LMC can.
“So, we’re gonna do that,” Clark said, referring to the LMC.
He said that he and Grannells would be working with a private consultant to help with the filing.
The issue was on the commission’s agenda after LMC requested it, and because Pooler had taken photos of the property in its current condition to show what it looks like now.
When Baldarelli purchased the property in 1997, according to Southwick GIS property records and historic statewide aerial maps, more than half of it was forested.
However, as the years marched by, Baldarelli began clearing it, so that by 2023, between 15% and 25% of the property still had trees, which were visible in aerial photographs taken each year by the state.
On Baldarelli’s property the intermittent stream was on its western side and during heavy rains, stormwater from Edgewood Country Club and properties along Sheep Pasture Road is channeled by a culvert under the rail trail, travels down the stream into a culvert under Berkshire Avenue, toward the town-owned old town beach where a stone weir was installed to slow and settle the stormwater before it reaches the Middle Pond.
As Pooler was showing the photographs, Commissioner Jerry Patria asked if Baldarelli had “created their own wetland.”
“They destroyed a wetland. There was a wetland. They dug a ditch to drain it,” Clark responded.
There is allegedly an earthen dam built on the property to slow any stormwater runoff from the golf course and Sheep Pasture Road.
He also said he had a “feeling” that after the commission hands down a decision on the RDA, “it will need a Notice of Intent and probably more permits on top of that if there is a dam.”
If the commission hands down a positive determination, a Notice of Intent is required for permits to be issued.
On Oct. 5, 2021, Derek Hale, a professional engineer, submitted an application to the Planning Board requesting a stormwater management permit, and public hearings were scheduled.
However, Baldarelli asked for and was granted continuances by the board until Nov. 7, 2023, which was when it approved the permit.
The permit ordered Baldarelli to regrade, stabilize, and loam and seed the disturbed land.
It also allowed a retention pond that Baldarelli had already built to remain, as well as the dam.
However, there was no indication that the work required by the permit was being done, which the LMC has discussed at nearly every meeting since June about having Baldarelli provide a schedule that it was being completed.
Last July, Hale, on behalf of Baldarelli, requested that the Planning Board allow a minor modification of the stormwater permit.
Essentially, Baldarelli wanted to change the stone that would be used to replace the earthen dam that had been built years earlier.
After working with the DPW’s stormwater coordinator, an agreement was reached on the stone size and placement, which the Planning Board approved.
