Charlton Conservation Commission Closes Three Public Hearings, Issues Multiple Compliance Orders

CHARLTON — October 8, 2025 — Charlton Conservation Commission closes transmission-line and commercial hearings, hears four stormwater violations at packed October session. The commission voted unanimously to close public hearings and issue orders of conditions on two electric transmission right-of-way NOI filings and a commercial building addition at 29 Southbridge Road, while continuing three Sandersdale Road single-family home cases to October 22 pending DEP comment on recently submitted septic plans. The conservation agent briefed four active enforcement matters — including unauthorized clearing of more than an acre on High Crest Road, substantial wetland-adjacent clearing on Worcester Road where a cease-and-desist was issued September 29, a cooperative Christmas-tree planting project on Route 20 requiring guidance on land disturbance permitting, and a Route 20 equipment-staging area whose owner must submit an engineer-certified statement confirming disturbance is under one acre. The commission also received a no-vote briefing on a planned Marcia Road stormwater improvement — three deep-sump catch basins and a hydrodynamic separator — required under the town's MS4 permit to reduce an 11 percent phosphorus load flowing untreated into the impaired South Charlton Reservoir, with project delivery potentially delayed to spring 2026 by an eight-week lead time on a custom-fabricated separator.