Sawmill permit granted, despite split planning vote in Westhampton

By CAITLIN ASHWORTH

@kate_ashworth

Published: 05-24-2017 1:07 AM

WESTHAMPTON — Noise from truck jake brakes hauling tree stumps up and down residential roads could drive some neighbors out of town who say they moved to the area because of its peace and quiet.

When Lauryn and Cregg Miller bought their home off Northwest Road in 2015, they didn’t know it was just a few hundred feet away from a controversial wood-chipping operation. And now that a court case has been settled, under which the neighboring business will be issued a sawmill special permit, the Millers say they may have to move.

Since 2013, David Cotton, owner of Dodge Maple Grove Farm and operator of Cotton Tree Service, has sought a sawmill special permit to continue his business grinding tree stumps into wood chips. Cotton could not be reached for comment.

But Building Inspector Charles Miller said residents complained that the commercial business was operating in a residential area and issued a cease and desist order on the property in 2012.

Timothy Fondakowski said his mailboxes were run over twice by Cotton’s trucks and he claims he caught them dumping oil into the swamp.

The town held numerous public forums throughout 2014. And Richard Tracy, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said site visits were offered to residents and town officials.

But when the Planning Board denied the permit with a 2-2 vote in 2015, Cotton took the town to court.

After two years, and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, according to Select Board member Philip Dowling, both parties came to an agreement in Hampshire Superior Court, settling on permit conditions and requiring the board to vote on the permit at a public hearing. If the town didn’t issue the permit, the agreement stated, the court would.

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The Planning Board held the hearing Tuesday at Town Hall and denied the permit with a 2-2 vote.

While the decision was split, the permit will still be issued to Cotton, according to court documents.

“Failure of the Planning Board to hold a public hearing and affirmatively vote to approve the Special Permit decision within 60 days shall result in the court directly issuing the special permit in the form agreed upon by the parties pursuant to the agreement for judgment,” the agreement states.

The town was represented by Jonathan D. Eichman and Katherine Laughman of KP Law in Boston, who were not present at the meeting. Many residents had questions about why the decision was reached and the process of negotiation that town officials could not answer.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, the neighborhood came together, made posters reading “no commercial sawmills” and created a webpage with links to various court documents, letters to lawyers and a cease-and-desist order.

Many residents asked what was the point of a public hearing if what they said wouldn’t make an impact.

Planning Board Chairman Mark Schwallie said “to let everyone know what the agreement is and you can make public comment if you want.”

Dowling said town counsel notified officials through email that the town was not likely to win the case against Cotton and the most cost-efficient option would be to settle. Dowling said town counsel told Westhampton officials to create a negotiation that would have teeth.

Schwallie said conditions set in the decision were based on information gathered from the public forums in the past. He said they tried to ensure that noise would be minimized, to regulate the hours of operation, and ensure that machinery is not in sight of abutters. The operation’s portable wood-processing equipment must be a minimum of 500 feet from a home. Some conditions limit the times and days of certain operations. For example, the business can only operate the wood chipper, stump grinder, band saw or any other wood processing equipment on the property Tuesday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The number of vehicles coming and going from the property is capped at roughly four per day. The conditions state no more than 120 trucks requiring a commercial driver’s license will enter carrying materials into the site or carry materials during a monthly period.

“Who’s going to be counting all the trucks?” Garth Stevenson said.

He moved to Northwest Road in 2015 and said he pushes his young children in the stroller every day. If log trucks become a regular occurrence on his street, it could impact the safety of kids in the neighborhood who play close by and in the street as well as the environment at home with the noise of jake brakes.

Town officials say residents can appeal the court decision.

Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.

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