Weiss Farm accused of wetlands violation
Published on December 7th, 2005
The town's Conservation Commission refused last Thursday to initiate a formal investigation against the owners of Weiss Farm for allegedly filling wetlands with concrete, loam, and contaminated snow and yard waste.
Convening a meeting to discuss the operations of the Franklin Street farm land, the Conservation Commission heard multiple accusations of wetlands, health, and zoning violations at the property from area residents.
However, with both Weiss Farm owner Donna Weiss and her Boston lawyer absent from the meeting - Weiss' attorney requested the meeting be continued to a later date - Robert Conway, the Chairman of the local board, urged his counterparts to allow the property owner the opportunity to defend herself.
"I think it's only fair that the person being accused here has the right to respond to the complaints," Conway argued. "And [her attorney] needs time to prepare, like we all do when we're accused of something."
An extension of an on-going dispute between the farm owners and Martin Wantman, an abutting neighbor seeking to build a five-lot subdivision at 20 Gerard Road, last week's Conservation Commission meeting was called as a larger investigation is being launched by the state's Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA).
According to correspondence from the state agency, Wantman, who filed a formal complaint last March with the Department of Agriculture alleging that Weiss Farm falsified an application for a composting license, had urged the state office to "influence the Department of Agricultural Resources to, without further delay, suspend or revoke the fraudulently obtained... license."
However, in a letter dated November 16, 2005 from EOEA Chief of Staff E. Joseph O'Keefe, no credible or incriminating evidence has been found to date to support Wantman's claims.
Listing off a number of the Gerard Road resident's accusations, which included that the farm owners fraudulently described a chain-fence as a gate, and were in violation of health codes based on odor complaints from 2001, O'Keefe concluded it as unreasonable to suspend the license until a proper investigation had been conducted into the more serious purported wetlands violations.
"I am assured the Department can indeed revoke the Weiss' agricultural composing registration if it is warranted, but they will not do so lightly or without incontrovertible evidence of a substantial nature," the EOEA Chief of Staff concluded.
Although Weiss declined to comment on the allegations due to legal issues, Richard P. Bennett, the lifelong Stoneham resident's Boston-attorney, charged that Wantman initiated the investigation in an attempt to strong-arm the farm owner into selling part of her property.
According to the Bernkopf and Goodman lawyer, Wantman had no problem with the drainage, wetlands, and operations of the farm until Weiss declined to sell a portion of her property to benefit Wantman's proposed subdivision on Gerard Road.
As to the EOEA investigation and the on-going conversations with the Conservation Commission, Bennett vowed that his client would cooperate and assist in any manner requested.
"Donna was and is a very good citizen and her orders to me were that if there's anything the Conservation Commission wants that would enhance the water or air quality at Weiss Farms, she would absolutely entertain that," said Bennett.
"Mr. Wantman has dropped the dime to every local and state regulator out there and we've always said, 'Come on out and take a look'. I'm always confident that Weiss Farms has operated above the restraints of any appropriate regulations or bylaws."
"But I won't respond to wild allegations from a failed developer who's trying to force Weiss Farm to sell land," the attorney furthered.
According to Stoneham Building Department files and official minutes from Conservation Commission meetings concerning the Gerard Road subdivision, Bennett's claims that Wantman filed numerous complaints with local and state agencies only after failed land negotiations appears to be verified through public records.
In a letter reportedly sent to Weiss from Wantman on Jan. 17, 2004, the Gerard Road resident requested permission to obtain approximately 3,000 square feet of farmland to facilitate drainage flow from his proposed development onto Weiss' abutting property.
In exchange, Wantman proposed swapping a separate 3000 square foot parcel of land near his planned subdivision that he considered suitable for farming activity.
"Richard Bennett expressed that the primary impasse to the deal was your concern that the current zoning status of the farm could be jeopardized were you to allow me the right to lower the elevation of approximately 3,000 SF of farm land to accumulate water," Wantman purportedly wrote.
"Should you agree that this is a logical and mutually beneficial resolution, the farm would have additional land and access. I would have a plan for a quality five-lot subdivision that would more likely pass town scrutiny," the correspondence continued.
After multiple residents raised flooding concerns with Wantman's proposed subdivision at subsequent Conservation Commission meetings, the property owner claimed that Weiss Farm was responsible for current flooding on his property because of wetlands violations that altered the water level and drainage characteristics of his land.
The Gerard Road resident filed his current EOEA complaint against Weiss in March of 2005.
Yet despite Bennett's claims about Wantman's motivation behind the complaints, a number of other residents from the Ellen Road and Franklin Street area also attested to seeing snow, yard waste, fill, and even plastic being pushed into the wetlands on the farm.
In addition, numerous residents complained of violations outside of the Conservation Commission's jurisdiction, such as potential health hazards stemming from compost piles on the land.
Referring such odor and health concerns to the Board of Health, Conway responded that he could do nothing about any unlawful or illegal activity that didn't occur on wetlands.
According to Board of Health Agent Bob Bracey, he couldn't recall receiving an abundance of complaints about the compost-pile in the past six-months. However, Bracey has recently cited Weiss Farm for having trucks idling on the property for more than five-minutes, an issue he now considers adequately addressed.
As to other potential complaints or violations received by the Board of Health recently, Bracey declined comment.
"The Board of health is working with Town Council in conjunction with addressing other complaints at Weiss Farm. And as far as that goes, the Board of Health currently has no comment," Bracey said.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!