In what conservation commission leaders are calling the worst violation they have seen in decades, a West Chop homeowner has been cited for dredging a pond and filling a wetland without permission.
The property is owned by Mary Howell of Arlingon, Va., and Vineyard Haven.
On Feb. 11, Tisbury conservation agent Jane Varkonda made a site visit to the property where she saw and took photographs of excavating equipment owned by contractor Steve Handy that had filled wetlands and dredged the Mink Meadows Pond in an apparent effort to eradicate phragmites near the Howell property. Mrs. Varkonda also observed a large pile of excavated fill at the edge of the pond.
The conservation commission issued a cease and desist order on the same day and on Feb. 22 it issued another letter to Ms. Howell requesting remediation and survey work.
“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said conservation commission chairman Tom Robinson this week. “We’ve seen some people fill things in to make their beach bigger but nothing of this scope. It’s really a direct alteration of a pretty critical resource.”
At a meeting Tuesday the conservation commission discussed the violations. The Feb. 22 letter to Ms. Howell orders a siltation barrier to be placed between the pile of excavated fill and the pond in the short term. The commission also requested a comprehensive survey of Ms. Howell’s lot, soundings of the pond, an estimate of the cubic yardage of material removed from the pond and the location of the proposed disposal site.
The commission asked that Mr. Handy, the contractor, be present at Tuesday’s conservation commission meeting. On Tuesday Mr. Handy notified Mrs. Varkonda that he was in Orlando, Fla. Ms. Howell also did not attend the meeting.
At the meeting commission members discussed ways to get the attention of the contractor and landowner.
“Our fining ability is limited,” Mrs. Varkonda said. The conservation commission can fine up to $300 a day for violations but Mrs. Varkonda said the cost of the work to ameliorate the situation will suffice.
“Spending money on a survey or a restoration plan or a bond, is more money than I could ever possibly fine her,” she said.
Commission members were particularly troubled to learn that Ms. Howell had investigated the requirements for dredging beforehand with a consultant and then had gone ahead with the work without obtaining permits.
Mrs. Varkonda said she spoke this week with wetlands consultant Bob Woodruff who, along with Craig Saunders had consulted with Ms. Howell about the necessary permits required to dredge. Mrs. Varkonda said Mr. Woodruff was “very upset” about the situation.
“She had to have known what she was getting herself into,” Mrs. Varkonda said.
In preliminary reviews of town assessors maps, commission members also judged that the dredging work was done on land not owned by Ms. Howell.
“The surveyors still have to stake the lot lines but we don’t think she dredged on her property,” Mrs. Varkonda said.
The commission then turned its attention to Mr. Handy, the contractor.
“He knows exactly what he’s doing,” said commission member Diane Nicholls, an abutter to the Howell property who originally reported the violations. “He is the person who for some years has been doing the dredging of the cut at Mink Meadows,” she added.
“We could fine him; it’s a stretch because he’s not the property owner but I’ve done it before,” offered Mrs. Varkonda.
In the letter to Ms. Howell, the commission underscored Mr. Handy’s role in the violations.
“Prior to commencing a project of that nature the person performing the work has to have the permit issued by this office for the project in hand and on the job site at all times,” the letter reads. “A dredging project would never be permitted to commence without a meeting on site with the commission’s agent to review staging and transport routes.”
Mrs. Varkonda said the commission had the backing of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in addressing the violations.
“They told me they’d be there to help if we come up against any resistance,” she said.
At this point it is unclear what form the restoration of the pond will take.
“That’s what we have to find out,” Mrs. Varkonda said on Tuesday. “She filled wetlands in between her lawn and the pond so that would have to be restored, but she’s going to have to hire someone who has done this type of work and they’re going to have to make a presentation to the commission.”
Mrs. Varkonda reported that in a telephone conversation Ms. Howell had asked her if she could move the excavated pile elsewhere in the meantime.
“I said no. She’s not moving it anywhere,” Mrs. Varkonda said.
Ms. Howell has until March 24 to submit the information requested by the commission. The commission meets again on March 15 and expects Mr. Handy and Ms. Howell to be represented.
This article appears in March 4, 2011.
Good for the property owner! There are too many conservation commissions all across the state who think they are God and Executioner….More prople should do just what Ms. Howell did…
this is a tragedy.
the arrogance of the owner and contractor are appauling.
i wonder what else can be done. i am not the suing kind but how about some serios legal action.
I’ll bet the Howells do whatever they please.
Disband the MVC nothing but a bunch of know-it-alls anyways.
C’mon Fargo, you can’t be serious? What’s next, filling in the Lagoon?
Without Con. Comms. the Island ponds would be filled with fertilizers
Joyce, you are a tragedy. You can’t call the contractor arrogant for doing a job that the owner said she had permits for. There would be no point in suing and it’d result in lost money and time for both parties. Joyce of OB, please have an idea what you’re talking about before you comment.
I’m sadly struck by the enormous gulph between 2 articles this week. On the one hand, the Vineyard has lost a true gentleman, a lover and conservator of the land, with the death of Edwin Woods. On the other hand, it would appear that we’re left with at least one seemingly selfish land owner who must believe the island is here for her to do with as she pleases, giving no regard to the need to preserve and protect the beauty and uniqueness of this place. Her actions risk destroying, for everyone, what we all should value and treat with great care and respect, just as Mr. Woods did.
pr I don’t care if they fill all these stagnant water ponds. It’s
her land not yours or the MVC’s. Your not suppose to house illegals but people here do it every day. Where’s the law suits? Hi – not that I give a hoot but a good contractor would have made sure the right permits were in hand to avoid these problems. Personally I support Ms. Howell.
Who cares…no where in this article is the MVC mentioned. This is not a project that would come before them. You should try to understand the subject before commenting upon it. Otherwise “who cares” what you have to say!
Thinker this happened in Vineyard Haven. It shouldn’t be any concern of yours or anyone else but hers and abutting neighbors. It’s her property let her make the improvements she wants. There’s to many restriction on this island anyway. I’ll stand corrected on assuming it was the MVC, even though they think their always right.
The “dig now, worry later” syndrome is well documented on the island. Sometimes it’s a case of the property owner making a “mistake”. Other times, as here, it is intentional, selfish, and a sense of entitlement to break the law.
The Wetlands Protection Act is federal and state law, for those who “don’t care” about ecological degradation and what it means to all of us.
My question is, how did Ms. Varkonda know to make a site visit?
Some people just have too much money. It’s time to change the tax code and make it simple. 2 percent of the people have 90 percent of the money in this country… or some such ratio. The tax code used to be you could earn up to half a million dollars and no tax and after that amount the tax was 95 percent. Let’s go back to that. The gap between rich and poor is appalling and the middle class are soon to join the poor. Things like this sort of arrogant disregard for nature and people in the community should be a great example of why we should change the tax code back to the way it used to be.
Hi – in response to your message, I do know what I am talking about. I am familiar with this situation.
The point is that she was getting rid of Phragmites, an invasive grass that kills bird habitat. That’s what the contractor was hired for. he was not instructed to fill at all, just get rid of the invasive weed. She was trying to improve Mink Meadows Pond, not ruin it. Mink Meadows Pond has been dredged before for Phragmites, and a solution to the Phragmites problem should be the outcome of this. This has nothing to do with ruining the pond, she was improving the pond! She was not adding to her property she was trying to establish bird habitat and natural species. Trying to paint this as a land grab is wrong.
What is the ConCom thinking, and why bother having fines if they don’t use them for something as egregious as this? The concept that it’s not “necessary” is beside the point.
The town, frankly speaking, could use the money. The fine exists to punish just this sort of behavior. They should start fining immediately.
Too Much Money – all wealthy people are arrogant and selfish and all middle class and poor are sainted? To make the statement that this happened BECAUSE the owner is wealthy is preposterous. Every socio-economic strata participates in thoughtless, ignorant behavior. This action is sad and terrible, but all type of people do thoughtless, stupid things. Wealth and behavior are neither correlated nor causal. That’s a pretty sweeping generalization. In addition you’d be well advised to take some classes in economics before you start suggesting things like an income cap and a 95% tax rate. That’s a pretty good way to destroy investment, innovation, economic growth, and incentive for hard work and risk taking. Also, asset values would be destroyed. If you think unemployement is bad now, it pales in comparison to what would occur by introducing that type of friction into the economy. The “Soak the rich” argument is the current darling of the Vox Populi, but is horrifically ignorant of the practical impact of such a policy. It’s no more valid than “poor people are lazy” or “if you want to make more money than work harder and be smarter”.
Scott:
Just where did you take your economic courses? Please excuse the technical term for your comments on economics: baloney. During the 1950s and early 1960s when the United States was enjoying the greatest peacetime expansion in its history, the highest tax bracket was 87 per cent (sometimes 91 per cent) of earned income. And that percentage was taken out of all earned income over $400,000.
These figures come the National Taxpayers Union which advocates lower income taxes
Scott :
Boston. College business school for one.
Laisser-Faire economics ala Adam Smith is presumably what you are referring to.
In reality that system was undermined long ago by the introduction of lobbyists who have completely taken over the natural and reasonable systems that should have worked.
The ratios of super abundant wealth to poverty are extreme. And protection of citizens’ rights are simultaneously being eroded.
You are dead wrong.
“concerned” is completely correct. This whole project was to improve the pond, all you ignorant people who believe it’s for land expansion and what-not are absolutely wrong. Go ahead and criticize all you want, but i believe you’re all being stuck up and are trying to sound “politically correct”. So Joyce, I still believe you don’t know what you’re talking about.
This appears to be a willful violaton of the law. Perhaps Mr. Howell could have convinced the conservation commission of the wisdom of her project. However, according to the article, Ms. Howell had investigated the requirements for dredging beforehand with a consultant and then had gone ahead with the work without obtaining permits. If that turns out to be accurate, I hope they throw the book at her. She was probably hoping she would not get caught. Not a good plan, in my opinion.