Agency Approves Revised Wetlands/Watercourses Regulations

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a public hearing, members of the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) this week approved certain revisions to the wetlands and watercourses regulations which they administer for the town and the borough.

IWC members at a November 14 session unanimously approved the rule changes that will bring those land use regulations into technical conformity with current state law pertaining to the environmental protection of wetlands and watercourses.

Voting in favor of the rule revisions were IWC Chairman Anne Peters, Sharon Salling, Mary Curran, and Patrice Boily.

The town and borough first adopted the wetlands/watercourses regulations in October 1974. The changes that were approved this week mark the eleventh time that those rules have been modified. The most recent previous revision occurred in March 2007.

Rob Sibley, town deputy director of planning and land use, told IWC members that the town’s land use staff effectively reviewed the state’s current wetlands/watercourses laws in fashioning the specific revisions to the IWC rules for the town and borough.

Among the rule revisions approved by the IWC, the local wetlands/watercourses regulations now contain a section concerning the withdrawal of water from waterbodies for firefighting purposes through the use of a device known as a “dry hydrant.”

The revised rules expressly will allow municipal firefighting agencies to use dry hydrants, which are permanently installed sections of empty, large-diameter pipe that have one open end inserted into waterbodies such as lakes, ponds, and streams that are considered to be dependable water sources.

Such dry hydrants are used for firefighting when there are no conventional fire hydrants fed by public water supplies available for firefighting.

The IWC defines a dry hydrant as a nonpressurized pipe that is readily accessible to firefighting apparatus from a public road. Suction is applied to the dry hydrant to draw water from the lake, pond, or stream to which it is connected.

The rule revisions also list certain changes concerning the length of time that permits issued by the IWC would remain valid, generally extending the length of those permits’ validity.

Additionally, the rule revisions provide the IWC with the authority to list restrictions concerning the time of year when certain regulated activities may be conducted.

Also, the rule revisions modify the wording of a standard list of wetlands/watercourses permit conditions, changing the term “conservation official” to the term “wetland agent.”  The person now known as the wetland agent is the person who enforces the wetlands/watercourses regulations.

In a related matter, Ms Peters noted that the town is now processing relatively more “short-form” wetlands/watercourses permit applications.

Unlike “long-form” applications, which are subject to review by the full IWC at public meetings, the short-form applications are reviewed at the town land use agency office by town staff members.

The short-form applications are a swifter and simpler method of obtaining permits, Ms Peters said.