EASTHAMPTON — The city is nearing the final steps in a three-year process to create its own wetlands ordinance, aiming to bolster protections for Easthampton water bodies while maintaining a smooth application process.
Easthampton currently uses wetlands regulations, for bodies of water such as streams, marshes and vernal pools, through the state Wetlands Protections Act. If the ordinance is adopted, the city will become one of 220 municipalities of the 351 in the state to have its own wetlands regulations through ordinances or bylaws.
“The Easthampton Wetlands Working Group began this draft in 2022 and after three years of work have a draft that they’re pleased to present to the public,” Conservation Agent Eva Gerstle said at a March 25 Conservation Commission meeting.
Gerstle was speaking at one of several recent presentations, unveiling the draft ordinance to the public and inviting feedback. The next presentation will be at the Conservation Commission’s April 13 meeting. While not finalized, the ordinance is also on the agenda of the City Council Ordinance Committee for discussion.
Gerstle explained that when the Wetlands Protection Act was being drafted in the 1970s, it was written with the intention that local communities should adopt more stringent wetlands regulations that would best suit their community.
The Tasty Top Development LLC on Northampton Street and the Riverview Place housing development on Pleasant Street are just two of many approved Easthampton projects in construction that had to factor wetlands into plans.
Easthampton is one of many communities that saw a boom in building production after the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerstle said. Part of the impetus for the ordinance is to manage the influx of construction to protect the city’s wetlands.
“There were a lot of projects in front of this commission, some of which they felt they could not adequately protect the wetlands given the constraints of the act, so that’s where we were coming from,” Gerstle said.
On top of that, the Wetlands Working Group which started the draft ordinance, was also driven by the anticipation of future flooding events, Gerstle said.
To address that, the city’s ordinance will use future precipitation projections to protect flood plains, as opposed to outdated numbers through the state regulations. The future projections are predicted through a state data center called the ResilientMass Maps through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Flood plains represent the limit of space given to store water if a flood occurred. Gerstle said the ordinance will use a “500-year flood plain” regulation which gives the plains more space to manage “the most extreme weather events,” as opposed to the state regulated 100-year flood plain.
Another significant regulation in the ordinance is the protection of different wetland types abutting water bodies, mainly streams.
Gerstle said under the state act, vegetated wetlands — including marshes, swamps, certain pond extensions and more — that border a moving body of water, are protected. However, vegetated wetlands that do not border a moving body of water are not protected.
The ordinance would protect all wetlands, whether or not they border a stream.
“They function in the same way as they clean our water, they control flooding, they do all the same things that bordering vegetated wetlands do, so they should be protected as such,” Gerstle said.
Additionally, the ordinance gives more protective authority to the Conservation Commission to create buffer zones. Under the state act, a 100-foot buffer zone is advised but cities and towns can’t directly regulate within that zone, Gerstle said.
Under the ordinance, the 100-feet buffer is enforced and split into two sections: the inner 50 feet of the buffer cannot be infringed on at all and limited work would be allowed in the outer 50 feet, if allowed by the Conservation Commission. The commission can also extend the buffer beyond 100 feet, if they feel the project would be more dangerous for the wetland abutting the site.
No changes are made to the hearing processes and permitting timelines, but applicants will also have to fill out a narrative form that asks them to consider a number of climate impacts from the project, such as carbon sequestration.
Some additional fees for applicants would be implemented through the ordinance and the city would be able to issue fines if enforcement orders are not followed.
There are many other changes included but the overall goal, Gerstle said, is to “make this as smooth and easy as possible for applicants while adding some extra protections.”
