By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
4/21/11
The Conservation Commission has acknowledged it made a mistake in failing to notify abutters when trees were cut on the Ulin Rink property on Unquity Road late last year.

“The abutters weren’t notified and they should have been,” Kiernan said during the commissions April 12 meeting. “[The town] didn’t make that mistake. I did.”

The statement came in response to several neighbors’ previous complaints about the trees being cut.

Kevin Keating, whose home on Harland Street abuts the rink, said he observed Department of Public Works crews cutting trees down behind the building Nov. 19. He said he immediately went to the town for answers, and was told by DPW Director Joe Lynch that the town had filed with the state to do the work and wasn’t required to notify abutters.

But Kiernan said the Conservation Commission also held hearings on the project, adding that, under the town bylaw, abutters must be notified of activity with 25 feet of a wetland resource area. Regardless, he said the town was within its right to cut the trees because they were creating a safety hazard and impeding on emergency access to the area behind the rink.

“Under the state law, they were entirely correct,” he said. “It was my fault abutters weren’t notified, but the final determination would have been the same.”

Commissioner Judith Darrell-Kemp agreed, saying the trees were overgrown and damaging the roof of the facility.

“The work as described to us was maintenance. If you need to get emergency vehicles behind that building, you need to cut the trees. That’s maintenance,” she said.

But Keating questioned whether vehicles could fit behind the building, even with the trees gone. He said the area is never plowed when it snows, and he never sees vehicles back there.

“There’s no way an emergency vehicle can fit there,” he said.

Keating also raised concerns about snow from the property being dumped into the wetland area.

He said he’s concerned the excess water could drain onto his property.