Conservation Commission Orders Old Spencer Road Pipe Extended, Swale Filled

CHARLTON — May 14, 2025 — Charlton Conservation Commission votes to end a decade-long stormwater violation on Old Spencer Road. Acting on findings from Conservation Agent Rose's May 1 site inspection, the commission voted unanimously at its May 14 meeting to order property owner Gothier at 62 Old Spencer Road to extend a discharge pipe onto his own land and fill in a swale that has been routing stormwater directly onto the roadway in violation of the town's stormwater bylaw. The commission also voted unanimously to send letters to two private landowners — LFP USA Inc. and a party identified as Blair — whose beaver dams on adjacent parcels Conservation Agent Rose believes are the primary driver of elevated pond levels that have flooded neighbor Benick's two-plus acres and killed hundreds of trees on his property. "The water was shooting out of that trench, not trickling out of that trench, shooting out of that trench onto the road," Benick told the commission, adding that he had asked Charlton police to log the discharge as a public record. The commission issued negative determinations for a Title 5 septic repair at 21 South Sullivan Road and CSX Railroad's five-year vegetation management plan, directed a North Main Street applicant to file a full Notice of Intent for fill work 15 feet from a wetland, and voted not to exercise first right of refusal on a Chapter 61B parcel on Gould Cemetery Road.