ConCom preventing encroachment, weighing up fines and lanternflies

The Norwood Conservation Commission (ConCom) met last week at the Norwood Senior Center and discussed many items facing Norwood.

The biggest issue was that of adverse possession regarding conservation land abutting the property at 528 Nichols St. The property, and house on the property, appears to be encroaching on conservation land. The approval for the house came back in 2006, and so ConCom members were worried that the state’s Adverse Possession law would kick in.

Adverse Possession is the legal term, essentially, for what most people think of when they think of squatters’ rights. The idea is that if land is not being used proactively by its owner, after a period of time someone who is using it is entitled to its ownership. Massachusetts law is a bit more complex than that, but that’s the general idea – https://gvimes.link/advrspssn

Norwood Conservation Agent Carly Rocklen said that the encroachment may be an error in the Towns geographic information system (GIS) and so she recommended that a land survey be done to delineate the boundaries and make sure.

If it is found to have the house built on conservation land, Rocklen said the department would work to make sure no further encroachment takes place.

ConCom member Nancy Sullivan (no relation) said that since the ConCom is now asserting the land is the Town’s possession and also conservation land, the 20-year-ticker for adverse possession is now null and void, according to the law.

In other news, Rocklen reported seeing more lanternflies in Town.

“I did want to share that on one of my site visits last week I did see my first lanternfly in Norwood,” she said. “It was along the Neponset River on an invasive Tree of Heaven. You may also see them; we’ve been asked to report them to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to report them.”

If you see a lanternfly, report it at https://gvimes.link/lntrnfly

“They can often aggregate, and so if there is a Tree of Heaven, you can see a lot of them around one,” said ConCom Vice Chair Kinsey Mustafa-Widberg. The invasive Tree of Heaven is the pest’s preferred host plant. “I have also just seen single ones too.”

Rocklen said despite their colorful reputation, much of the time you can’t see their signature bright orange coloring.

“Initially I did not see them,” she said. “I was just telling someone that this was a Tree of Heaven and how to identify them, because he had asked, but then I looked up the trunk and you could see more going all the way up the trunk. Maybe 20. They’re well camouflaged right now. If they open their wings then you see the brilliant orange.”

ConCom Chair Catherine Walsh asked what you’re supposed to do about them.

“Didn’t I see on the news you’re supposed to kill them?” she asked. “But like you said, there were about 20 of them.”

While Rocklen stopped short of saying residents should squash the bugs on sight – several news outlets have been reporting that, despite the MDAR’s policy that vacuuming up the bugs is the most efficient way of dealing with them – https://gvimes.link/spttdlntrnnr – as that’s what the professionals use – she emphasized reporting the bugs is most important.

“I’m not going to be out there killing them,” Walsh said, rather quietly.

The MDAR map of reported sightings has most of Massachusetts already swarmed – https://gvimes.link/sptlntrnmp – and reports are only increasing.

In other news, there are updates for the Guild Pond dam issue.

The ConCom will be hosting a community information sessions with Tighe & Bond, the Norwood Sportsman’s Association and other relevant Town bodies on Oct. 8 at the Norwood Town Hall starting at 6 p.m.

The dam was noted to be failing a few years ago, and so the Sportsman’s Club members decided to sand bag it and shore up the dam. Guild pond doesn’t occur naturally, and the dam was put in at least as far back as the 1960s to give a small pond for youths to learn to fish and boat in. The club has been maintaining that area, though it is technically owned by the Town.

The feasibility study was aimed at looking at the dam, the feasibility of repairing it, replacing it, or letting it fail. Go to https://gvimes.link/cncmnws for more information.

Lastly, the 8 Mill Pond Ln. saga is continuing. Property Owner Thomas Geraghty originally came under fire for putting embankments and other such structures around the old Mill Pond Dam Park. The park was created after the dam was removed, and Geraghty said in the past it was just so he and his kids could access the park from their property.

Rocklen said at this point in the process, Geraghty has filed a request for a determination of applicability, but now needs to submit a plan detailing the work that is planned for the ConCom to review and, if everything checks out, approve.

But Rocklen said that hasn’t come in yet, and if the plan is not sent this week, fines of $300 a day could be levied. The ConCom members asked if Geraghty had been notified of this situation, and Rocklen said he had been through the email they had been previously corresponding with.