Hamilton Conservation Commission Pushes Revised Wetlands Bylaw Toward April Town Meeting Vote

HAMILTON -- March 16, 2023, Hamilton Conservation Commission takes public comment on sweeping wetlands bylaw revision ahead of April 1 town meeting vote. Chair Lauren Lynch led a joint session with the Select Board on March 16, running nearly two hours over schedule, reviewing a proposed 13-page conservation bylaw meant to replace a two-page document last substantially updated in the 1980s and 1990s. Town Counsel Amy Quessel, who specializes in wetland law, told attendees the existing bylaw is "a little bit lacking" and that having key protections in a bylaw rather than regulations makes enforcement "much more easily defendable" in court, pointing specifically to a provision that would bring the town's orders of conditions in line with the state's three-year standard rather than the current one-year limit. Attorney Gordon Glass of Johnson & Bernstein argued on behalf of property owners that two provisions in Section 7, one allowing the commission to consider past and future development community-wide and another permitting wildlife habitat studies "whenever it deems appropriate", represent an arbitrary and potentially unlawful expansion of commission authority, with such studies costing applicants tens of thousands of dollars. The Select Board voted 3-0 to adjourn its informational session; the commission's final language decisions are expected at its March 24 meeting.