##VIDEO ID:mOJfx0jRgds## we're going to open the public meeting public input all meetings are televised live and available on Demand by chumford Tel media at www. chelsford tv.org public input public input shall be limited to statements from the public relating to any issues with the jurisdiction of the chumon Zoning Board of appe appeals that are not currently the subject of a pending public hearing before the zoning board of appeals public comment on any pending public hearings shall only be heard during such public hearings and may be limited to three minutes time there is no administrative review tonight we have a new public hearing 17 crab appal Lane Barbara and Douglas Shepard requesting a special permits under zoning bylaw section 195 6.1 for the construction of an addition for a limited accessory apartment laa and section 1959b Conformity for a 20% reduction to the side setback requirement of 25 ft to 20 fet for the laa an attached garage addition other relief is deemed necessary this property is located in the residential RB District someone here tonight to speak for 17 crab apple yes I'm going to have to recuse myself okay I get your name and address for the record please Ed Greaves seven Fleetwood Drive transfer Mass okay and I'm here representing uh the people that own 17 crab apple and uh just applying for the laa and um I don't know if you looked at the plot plan we're going to uh there was two buildings on the property that encroached on the property side setbacks which we are going to remove both of them conforming with uh a letter that was sent to me uh by Jose Negron so you have an8 foot deck and a 12 uh oh I see no you have a 12 foot deck and a 12 foot addition is that a single story or two story single story there is two common areas yeah there is two common areas on that plan uh one's a hallway to the backyard from the existing structure on the right and then the other one is uh 10 by2 room that's uh behind the new garage so you're going to have two garages now one proposed in the backyard like yes in the farther back and then the new one up front yes what is the square footage of the actual laa 744 square feet are you able to see the dimensions on that mhm is the new garage supposed to be for the or the one that's attached to the house going to be for the laa yes okay y no blurry further questions from the board this time I'm going to go ahead and read the letters in I have a letter from the fire prevention office dear members of the board in regards to the special perit requests for the laa at 17 crab appal Lan this office finds the following the new proposed addition and the existing structure must be brought up to the current code 780 CMR smoke carbon monoxide and heat detectors type locations and power source the applicant is advised to submit the plans to the fire prevention office for review and approval prior to the issuance of a building permit an application with the town clerk office e911 committee must also be filed for separate addressing purposes and the marking of the unit must be done to denote separate units at the address this office would approve this plan with these conditions and I ask the board to make this letter a part of their approval process and public record sinly Josh Abbott captain fire prevention Chelson fire department I have a letter from Sheila Joyce uh project engineer for the town dear members this offic has reviewed the project application plans document submitted to the DPW on December 27th 2024 for the following public hearing notice on January 2nd 2025 as a result of this review the office has the following comments no increase to the town of chood sewer infrastructure shall be more than 500 gallons per day per CMR per CMR 15.0 Title Five sewage flow per bedroom of dwelling is estimated to equal 110 gallons per day one bedroom is proposed one bedroom equals 110 gallons per day equals 10010 gallons per day proposed additional flow is acceptable as of January 2nd 2024 the DPW shall monitor enforce the sewer flow limitations and impose penalties for the violations thereof in accordance with the town sewer policy for town of chumon sewer use regulations the Sewer Commission establish the estimated cost of increasing the treatment facility capacity of the systems to be $115 per gallon of daily Water waste of daily Wastewater flow the sewer impact fee $15 per gallon times 110 gallons per day equals $1650 this shall be paid to the DPW sewer prior to the certificate of occupancy if there a change in use or expansion the applicant should submit necessary floor plans to set supplement the sewer allocation calculations proposed additional garages are not permitted to connect to sewer erosion control devices must retain the sediment on site and must be installed prior to any work or demolition a driveway permit may be required if there's a newly proposed driveway or modifications for the second garage built in the rear of the house the applicant must contact the DPW engineering division to coordinate consideration should be made to install roof drain drywells or equivalent to infiltrate roof runoff this is not a requirement for approval I have a letter from the treasurer tax collector um please contact the tax collector's office outstanding balance for FY 25 quarter 2 bill due 111 2024 I have a letter from the police citing no concerns I have a letter from the Board of Health citing no concerns I have a letter from the chelon water district citing no concerns that is the extent of my letters for this application any further questions from the board seeing none I'm going to open this up to public comment anyone in the audience would like to speak in favor or opposition to this application now is the time seeing none I'll make a motion to close the public hear and Brian second second by Steve I favor right we'll take this up right now if that makes sense yeah I think we should um i' like to make a motion to approve 17 crab app Lane um special permits under bylaw 195 6.1 and into our meeting all second second by Peter all in favor opposed none it's unanimous marvelous hey that's not bad the first meeting of the Year first person up and it's a win very good number one yep y okay so we're all set yes sir good luck you eice hear the it's a joval group we laugh all the time with you with you we have a continued public hearing 14 C Lane Ronald D and an Marie Greenwood are requesting to renew an expired previously approved special permit under Section 19561 for the construction of an addition for a limited accessory apartment laa or any other relief deemed necessary this property is located in the residential RB District I do not believe we've taken any testimony at this point we have not we this is under continued public hearing but it was contined without discussion and I have not heard back from attorney Doug hler regarding today you may recall that uh the last last month the previous month he had asked to continue for today and he gave us an extension of time to act until the end of March um however I did send out an email and I haven't heard back from him so I don't know if his office is closed for the holidays any other or something happened where he's not able to access his emails but I have L heard from him well where the extension was issued to March I think we can continue this without too much nobody here concern there's no no one here no one is here to speak for this tonight that correct okay someone like to make a motion I'll make a motion to continue 14 Crosby Lane until February was it February 6 6th February 6th second Brian all in favor opposed unanimous okay our next hearing uh I think is an additional continuation maros Avenue cobblestones 5 LLC is requesting a comprehensive permit 40b pursuant to Mass General La chapter 40b the project proposes to construct five rental units of which four will be duplexes and one will be a single structure so we should probably correct that because I think that was wasn't that didn't that change to the uh see they decided to make it's still a single structure in the application that's the way we're looking at it okay yeah they've just changed it from a a TW story Colonial to that's what it was okay okay single structure but story as well and there's a request for a continuation there as well it's attached to the agenda and I can pull that up so we also have a request for continuation for Mar roav someone would like to make a motion to continue to February 6th is there no number on that one is just moros F yes oh yeah the lot doesn't have a number on it I'll make a motion to continue Marosa Avenue until February 6 a second I'll second by Peter all in favor opposed n unanimous all right I just the five two three I don't think he can Steve can vote onose Steve voting onose no so can we can I just see the hands again because thank you for reminding me um St I can't continue it even not voting on it I'm just continuing it have you uh have you oh you're out not eligible the hearing itself so for the sake of doing it right we might as well yeah we might as well keep him out of it sorry Danny Peter Charlie I'll put that you abstained I came here for the points the last point it's not like you get discharged after 80 points you know my fantasy league is going to suffer because of this it's not already right okay our next uh continued hearing is ledge Road owner ledge Road realy Holdings and Newport Aggregates LLC requesting an administrative appeal under the zoning bylaw section 19502 B3 of a cease and assist order issued by the Building Commissioner relative the use of ledge Road for commercial vehicles and any other relief deemed necessary ledge road is located in the residential RB zoning District someone here tonight to speak for ledge Road or aggregate Newport Aggregates there been a testimony on this one when was the last so there has been no continuation but no testimony so everyone's to hear okay I don't good evening Mr chairman and members of the board my name is David McKay I'm from M oconnell and it's a pleasure to appear before you uh this evening I have also have the pleasure of representing ledge Road realy and Newport Aggregates in this matter um I'm joined uh tonight by attorney John D Feliz and also uh by his brother Richard Jr uh who is an officer in the company and I regret that uh Mr def Senor was not able to join us tonight as he is attending to a private and personal matter um as you indicated this is an appeal of an enforcement order issued by the building inspector on uh September 9th of 2024 in this matter it's the zoning enforcement officer and the town that bears the burden of proof of establishing the zoning violation it's not newport's ver burden to uh prove that to you or to uh uh defend in any in any way uh the enforcement order it is the the town's burden to do that um we're not here seeking a permit from the board uh we're not here on a special permit or site plan review or anything uh of that nature uh as the board knows we submitted a detailed uh memorandum outlining our position on these issues on October 31st I hope you have that I have plenty of extra copies uh if the board doesn't um and Mr Silva would it be possible to pull up the um PowerPoint yes great thank you so as we uh set forth in our memorandum uh this enforcement order should be overturned for at least three reasons first the order is arbitrary and unfair second the order is based on uh certain factual errors and third the order is illegal under a number of legal doctrines that are detailed in the memorandum and that I'll also uh talk more about tonight in saying all that um I want to emphasize that we understand the traffic concerns that are raised by the neighbors I'll address those uh later on but but the issue before the board this evening is strictly under the enforcement order um with respect to that order there are several reasons why the order is arbitrary and unfair um as the board may know there are several commercial and Industrial users of ledge Road not just Newport uh if you read the enforcement order you might think otherwise but there are actually several businesses uh that use Newport or excuse me ledge Road regularly one of which is is Newport of course the other is Graves Granite which has a uh uh qu operation uh in Westford uh the gilets also have uh commercial businesses there and lameer uh Granite also uh operates and uses uh ledge Road and yet the enforcement order was issued only to one of those at least four users wasn't issued to the leres wasn't issued to uh um to the gilets and wasn't issued to Graves granite and I think that sort of speaks volumes to to the degree to which this is uh an arbitrary enforcement order in that regard I also want to uh note that there were several traffic studies and reports that were posted to the town's website and apparently those are the basis um or form the basis for uh this enforcement order in our view those are not relevant to the issues that are before this board um and the traffic studies themselves are arbitrary and unreliable the reports make no attempt to differentiate the commercial traffic uh generated by Newport as opposed to Graves as opposed to lameer uh as opposed to the Gil Mets the 2023 report uh acknowledges that the data is simply incomplete I'll point out that that report in particular is problematic in that it's not signed by anyone certainly doesn't have an engineer stamp it's not apparent who drafted or prepared that report um it also references in that report a North scale suggesting that traffic that was going to that North scale is attributable to Newport and that is simply not the case the north scale is operated um by uh Graves granite and that's a part of their operation it's also arbitrary to use 2013 as sort of the starting point or the Baseline for the traffic data um um that's referenced in in some of that documentation that was submitted to the board by the town um this is this relates to commercial Granite gravel material uh businesses that have been operating up on Oak Hill for over a hundred years Newport is one of them lameer is another one Graves is another one and so in that regard it's our view that the traffic studies are not relevant for all of the reasons that I just mentioned um but also the way the arbit the enforcement order was written is it's an all or nothing Affair it's not attempting to regulate the traffic in any way it's attempting to shut down uh Newport and by extension I would assume at least by logical extension it would shut down the other commercial businesses that also use that portion of uh ledge Road I should say too that um we don't believe that this is an appropriate Forum to talk about alternate access this is an appeal of an enforcement order that didn't reference alternate access or any or anything of that nature as you certainly know Newport doesn't control the roadways um it's not within our power to do eminent domain takings and take and build a new road elsewhere or to do things of that nature um it's the town and specifically the town of of chelsford in this instance that controls the roadways it's also notable that the town's own June 23rd report uh notes that it is beyond the town of chelmsford's rights to restrict truck truck traffic without offering an alternate route and so I should note that we were willing and remain willing to have a dialogue with the town about alternate access I don't think that's what we're here uh in front of this board tonight that's certainly not part of your charge um but that was the reason that we continued the hearing on the first night uh was to have that meeting and we were told that the town wasn't interested in meeting with us to uh to do that and so that's why we're here uh before you tonight um Miss D Silva if you could go to slide two I'd like to talk a little bit about kind of the history of the site um that's uh the enforcement order that we received is it this one yeah that's the one thank youc so um this shows several of the parcels in the area and I just want to kind of point out sort of what's what what some of these are to help Orient uh the board a little bit so this is ledge Road here a little tough to see on this screen but you do have have a better Locus see here we go this one might be better with the towns see so I think you need to scroll do you want me to go off nope nope other in the other direction is this reversed it is okay that's really going to throw me off let's go back to okay here we go yeah um so this is uh the parcel where uh Newport is located in the ler Quarry the graves Quarry operates on this par here which I think is 4821 and 483 um and of course this is ledge road coming in over here and then obviously you've got uh R three uh coming right in between so when uh we're talking about vehicles that are coming through ledge Road accessing um uh this area which uh has been called Oak Hill and has been called Oak Hill for for some period of time there are multiple operations that are happening up here all of which um relate to or all of which use ledge Road as the access um when I mentioned a couple moments ago the uh the north scale the north scale is actually on this parcel here which is not a Newport parcel that's uh a Graves Granite parcel and that's their building that's shown on that plan so all of those businesses use ledge Road as access and historically that has been uh the case quiring operations have been ongoing uh in that area since at least 1912 if you um Miss Silva can go to slide four and five so this is uh an old um uh historical map I believe it dates from 1921 and what it shows is uh outlined in red um the graves granite and the uh Newport Parcels this also includes uh lameer granite and it shows ledge Road as an access uh going into uh those porning operations and so that's been the case for uh many years long predates any of the homes that are on ledge Road currently and in fact the granite that's uh been Min from that area for uh over a hundred years as you might know called chelsford Granite um and it's long been known by that name I should add that this is an allowed byrite use in the town of Westford where uh the the chiring operations themselves are located it's in the industrial sea District um under the Westford zoning bylaw defines uh quarrying and Mining as the extraction of rock and the processing and finishing of the products thereof Rock crushing lime kills and lumbering I do have a handout for the board because I'm not sure if um some of this is in the record had a ton of room up here so if I may I've got copies of the Westford zoning map showing this thank you located in the industrial sea District so that's in the North Northern portion of that zoning map um and those current uses are consistent with the uh longtime historic uses of granite Granite cutting and the processing of earth materials and granates in 1958 there was a land taking that was done by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the construction of Route three ever since that uh taking was done and Route three was constructed um ledge Road has been the excl exclusive access to all of these businesses uh including Newport um as well as what was then the gilmet Quarry and is now the uh Graves Granite Quarry and I would suggest to the board that uh newport's use cannot be rendered illegal um or non-conforming by the commonwealths taking almost 70 years ago if we can go back to uh slide two for just a second uh to the enforcement order there are a couple of things and I think that enforcement order was drafted in a particular way and I want to point a couple of those things out first the enforcement order does not concern the public portion of ledge Road there is um I I'm aware of uh evidence from the town and neighbor complaints and concerns over the public portion of ledge road but the enforcement order is drafted specifically uh with respect to the use of the private portion of ledge Road I also note that the enforcement order is not a question of degree it prohibits business use uh entirely and I just want to be clear for the board so that the board understands exactly what that means in this context that would put my client out of business if they can't get into the property uh from uh ledge road which has been the only and exclusive access for 70 years they won't have a business and if you again take that order to its logical conclusion if that road can't be used for commercial purposes uh by Newport it also can't be used for commercial purposes by any of the other users laure Graves uh or the gilets and that will presumably put all of them out of business now we are not insensitive to and deaf to the concerns that have raised by the residents we recognized that the trucks make noise um my client my CL my client makes a lot of efforts to try and be good neighbors at the same time this is a quarry and this has been a quarry for over a hundred years again those the quaries predate any of the Residential Properties on ledge Road there's about 25 uh properties on ledge Road half of them are owned by The gilets Who uh operate what is now the graves Quarry for uh many years of the rest most of them uh were purchased in the last five or 10 years during a time period in which it's been well known uh certainly during that time if not for decades before that this was the historical access to the quaring quaring operations I want to emphasize too that these are legitimate long-term long functioning businesses um that have been op operating off of ledge Road that's been the case for many years um these businesses provide granite and Aggregates that are needed for roads for all kinds of construction projects uh septic systems all things of that nature um and Newport lameer and Graves all provide those kinds of materials that are needed for these projects um and that includes uh providing jobs for all the folks that work in the quaries as well as for the folks uh uh whose construction jobs depend on the materials that uh we provide in fact one of our customers is the town of chelsford the town of chelsford has been purchasing materials from Newport for as long as Newport has been operating on that site since 2017 uh I believe they've been uh a recurring customer every single year that Newport has been operating under and they bring material and they not only purchase materials uh from uh that site but they also send materials for processing uh up to the the Newport site I want to also emphasize what we are not doing on that site because I've seen some reference to that in uh some of the doc documents and some of the dialogue the town or excuse me Newport is not using uh this site as a back door to the asphalt operation that is accessed off of Route 40 um there are no asphalt plant customers that are accessing uh that site through ledge Road um and we at Newport are not sending business for the asphalt plant through ledge Road there are legitimate ways to address the uh uh any issues with respect to traffic on ledge road but I would submit to the board that this enforcement order is not one of them in fact the town explored many of these options and has decided not to move forward with any any of them for their own reasons and I won't speculate for what uh what those reasons are but in January 2023 so just two years ago um there was a feasibility con study conducted by the town it's in the materials uh that were submitted by the town to the board uh and are posted uh to the agenda it was a feasibility study by the Norther northern middle sex County of governments that looked at several alternate access operation um alternate access points for uh the Newport operation and presumably for the other businesses that uh operate in that area they explored the possibility of a new interchange on Route three they looked into Ward Road which is a private road uh in Westford also looked into Commerce Way at the board of selectman hearing at which that study was presented uh the town admitted that moving all of the traffic to Route 40 may not help and may may actually make matters worse um my point in all this is that these are known planning issues um and they are outside of our ability to control I submit they're mostly outside of your ability to control too I should also add that the town litigated many of these issues back in uh 2017 as you folks may know there was extensive litigation involving the asphalt plant between the town of Westford and uh Newport materials ultimately that resulted in a settlement agreement a very detailed settlement agreement that's included in our papers um and uh the town of chelsford challenged that settlement it challenged the agreement for judgment that was entered in the land Court to AFF effectuate that settlement and uh ultimately the town of chelmsford's appeal was not successful and they were not able to uh overturn that uh settlement and so there were ways in which the town can and could have uh addressed these uh these uh issues on ledge Road and it's not doing so instead it's resorted to what we view as an illegal unfair arbitrary uh enforcement order after a 100 Years of quarrying up on oakill they've manuf ufactured a zoning problem and a zoning violation and that's just not what this is this isn't your problem to solve it isn't our problem to solve because we can't solve it alone it's the town uh that has a policy and a traffic problem and it's really only the town and perhaps in cooperation with the towns of Westford that can change the way traffic gets routed um and again I already uh mentioned that the that the town is recognized uh as much its own traffic study which notes that it's beyond the town of chelmsford's right to restrict the truck traffic without Al offering an alternate route so um that's the first reason it really goes to fairness and the arbitrary nature of the enforcement order um the uh enforcement order is uh should also be overturned by this board because it relies on at least three fundamental errors of fact the first is that the private portion of ledge road is residential um parcel 6413 uh which is owned by the gilets contains that private portion of ledge Road uh that is referenced in the enforcement order that parcel has been in commercial use for decades in fact back in the 1950s and 1960s uh that area was zoned limited Industrial we received from the town a copy of some historic zoning Maps one of which dates from 1956 um I have copies of that for the board we also I I have to admit that the copies of the zoning map that we received from the town were not great I think they did the best that they could um with some of those historic Maps uh but a blowup of the map shows this as uh seven it's the uh the zoning area referenced as seven and that is uh indicated as uh limited industrial that also fits with the other historical documents uh that we found with respect to um with respect to that particular parcel because it uh has two commercial buildings on it both of which uh were built pursuant to building permits issued in 1952 and these are building permits issued by the town of Chelmsford so really the only real use of this parcel is for uh commercial and Industrial uses if we can go to uh slide eight for a moment actually can we scroll back up just to that photo of the bridge this one here yes please thank you um I neglected to mention this is the bridge on ledge road going under route three uh this was constructed in 1959 um and purposely constructed so that could fit um and access the site so this has been as I mentioned not only the exclusive access uh to both uh what was then Roma Stone and the lameer Quarry but also to the to the gilet Quarry that's now oper operated by Graves Granite obviously constructed with sufficient height for uh the trucks to go through um if you could fast forward then to slide eight yes this one here yeah that's the one okay so little tough to see in in this photo but this is the parcel that we're talking about here is a sort of a faint yellow outline this property is owned by the gilets I think they have it in an LLC um and I think it's important to not only to help Orient the board but but you see the kind of use to which that property is being put so this is one of the commercial buildings um obvious commercial uses uh down here as well down here you see um materials processing and handling that's being done piles of uh earth materials there processing being done here um so this parcel is entirely commercial has no home or residence on it um and this is sort of one of the uh uh I guess documents that shows that the building inspector's suggestion in the enforcement order that this is a residential property simply isn't the case if we can go to the next slide please these are some photographs of uh the gilet property this is the property that includes uh the private portion of ledge Road that's at issue in the building inspector's uh enforcement order so obviously a commercial building here you see uh commercial equipment there if we go to the next slide same here uh and then the next slide more of the same and then the next slide Please Mr Sila so this is uh sort of to the left again on the same parcel but shows two dump trucks and a tractor trailer truck uh here as far as I can tell the uh the gilet property there is being used for uh repair I think there's a repair station for those uh kinds of vehicles but there's also other processing and other commercial industrial uses that are happening on the property so clearly this is not a property that's being used uh for residential purposes as suggested by the uh building enforcement or uh the enforcement order the enforcement order also uh references commercial vehicles using ledge road to access the property are associated with your meaning newport's Earth removal operation on the property that's also not accurate as I pointed out before um Graves Granite lameer granite and gilmet are also using um and running commercial vehicles on that portion of ledge Road I also want to point out the nature and the scope of the graves Granite operation and I've got another handout for for the board on that these are pages from the um Graves Granite website for the uh chelsford Westford operation again this site is only access the grave site through uh ledge Road and as you can see from that printout um Graves is selling and processing and Manufacturing at that site um all different kinds of uh materials and products 17 different products including uh gravel and stone of different sizes stone dust recycled asphalt Etc lastly uh the one of the fundamental factual errors made in the enforcement order is that it again doesn't distinguish between any of the commercial users that are using ledge Road it only speaks to Newport and we think that demonstrates just how unfair Justice is the order also suggests that the private portion of ledge Road can only be used to uh for residential access to the uh Westford properties um the the natural inference from the enforcement order is that the only allowed use at least from the building inspectors uh or the building Commissioners uh determination for that private portion of ledge Road would be to support residential uses in Westford the problem with that is that there are no allowed residential uses Allowed by right uh for the Westford property at issue with respect to Newport or for the uh other properties that I mentioned gilet Graves Etc uh because they're all in a uh limited they're all excuse me in an industrial district and there is no um there is no byright residential use that's allowed in those locations in fact the byright use that is allowed in those locations Is quaring Mining and other uses uh again Allowed by right in the uh industrial SE Zone um m d Silva if we can go to slides 15 to 17 this speaks to sort of the Practical reality of the inference that the building inspector is is trying to suggest to you which is that that private portion of ledge Road should only be used for uh residential purposes and therefore the Westford properties that issue should only be used for uh residential purposes this is a view of the uh quarrying operation on the uh Newport site as you can see very high granet walls this is a of course a quaring operation that's been going on for uh sometime uh next slide again this is another picture kind of looking back um toward uh chelmford ledge roog would be sort of off in this area over here but again you get a good indication and a good sense of the nature of the cornering operation uh that's been happening there for a long time next slide please and then this is uh a slide looking back in the opposite direction uh closer to Route three this is one of the old uh quarrying areas that is now um filled in with water and you see some of the materials that are being processed uh and used by uh Newport at that site so the suggestion that this could as any practical matter be used for um a uh residential use I think just simply isn't the case the Third third reason that we're asking the board to overturn the enforcement order is that it is illegal and invalid I won't belabor these points too much because we uh detailed them at some length in the memo but I do want to point out a couple of things the first is the lenis versus city of Brockton case that case stands for the proposition that a bylaw is arbitrary and invalid if it bars access to land for any lawful use so the leenus case and cases that have followed since it since then talk about exactly this kind of scenario where you have a commercial property or an industrial property that has only one means of access oftentimes that means of means of access is located in another town or a portion of that access is located in another town and uh in the town where most of the property is located it's an allowed use in the town where the access is located it's often a residential use and the courts have said that um the town where the residential zone is located cannot prohibit that kind of access um because it would Rob the property in the other community Westford in this instance of uh any uh lawful by right allowed use of its property and so on that basis the enforcement order is illegal second the enforcement order is uh invalid because it violates the statute of OS in chapter 48 section 7 because it's been brought more than 6 years after building permits were issued and there are several building permits at issue here uh at least three that we've been able to find so far two of which are attached to our memorandum as exhibits e and f um the first one exhibit e is a 1965 uh or it shows the um that a building permit was issued in 1965 for an office on on what is now the Newport property and that was an office to support the quiring operations that were then done being done by the lameer um second is a uh this is exhibit F to our memorandum it references a 1988 building permit that was issued to Roma Stone um for the uh for a storage building that was constructed uh for storage of crushing equipment and it's specifically referen ref is storage for crushing equipment and that was crushing equipment that was being used by Roma Stone on what is now uh the uh Newport property um for uh the processing of earth materials gravel sand and and things of the like uh third and I have a handout for this as well there were building permits that were issued as I referenced a few moment ago for the property of 57 ledge road if you look at the assessor records you're going to see that there are two 57 ledge Road Parcels the one that I'm referring to is parcel 6 4-13 uh the owner of that is jfg Holdings which is a uh a gilmet holding company and uh it references uh two buildings constructed commercial buildings constructed in uh 195 2 again both of them uh listed as Commercial Warehouse mdl properties these are commercial properties again for building permits for commercial uses that were issued specifically for the parcel on which the private portion of ledge road is located I referenced earlier and let me seven or eight copies of that as well I mentioned earlier the prior litigation which is yet another reason why the enforcement order is invalid in 2016 as I mentioned uh Newport entered into a settlement agreement with a town of Westford um that settlement agreement which is exhibit n again came out of the Newport materials asphalt litigation it recognized the lameer quarrying uses in sections 3 E3 three and five uh it also recognized and reserved the use of ledge road for the lameer a quarry and for the Newport entities chelsford attempted to invalidate that settlement agreement uh the complaint for that is exhibit R in our memorandum and specifically requested that the court issue a decision overt turning the settlement agreement the agreement for judgment and the special permit for a major commercial project uh the town of cord lost that appeal judgment was entered against the town the town did not uh appeal that and the town in our view cannot now attempt to relitigate the validity of that settlement agreement which specifically referenced and Incorporated and contemplated the use of ledge Road for Access by the Newport entities uh to the uh lameer Quarry property uh that is at issue um lastly there's uh one other reason that we believe that this enforcement order is invalid and those are the Equitable doctrines of aaple and latches and those are essentially Equitable fairness um doctrines in the law that uh prohibit a party and in this instance we contend that that includes the town from waiting too long to take uh enforcement action uh or to take some action or otherwise doing in circumstances that are unfair uh and the courts have allowed um Equitable remedies in Massachusetts for alleged zoning violations in situations where those kinds of facts have been shown and I would submit here that where the quaring uses have had one have been in place for over a hundred years and have had only ledge Road as their uh access that uh those circumstances are found here so I'll wrap it up I know you folks have let me go on for a while which I appreciate um but it just shows how important this is to my client's business this would put them out of business this is really an issue of fundamental fairness in the end I appreciate the pressure that uh zoning board members are under I represent a number of municipalities myself a number of them that aren't all that different from chelsford we represent Shrewsberry Bolton Granite Holden and a whole host poost of other communities that I worked for as well but that does not change the fact that this is an arbitrary and unfair illegal and inaccurate uh enforcement order again for a use that has been going on for many years um again against only one of several commercial and Industrial users of ledge Road and on an issue that was previously litigated and resolved so to close newport's operation now would effectively be nothing short of a taking it would put us out of business and the town cannot and the board should not regulate this company out of business as as well as if you take the enforcement order to its logical conclusion the other commercial businesses that are operating and using ledge road so on that basis and on those bases we're asking that the board overturn the enforcement order uh and allow us to continue doing business I'm happy to answer any questions that the board has I have a Brian oh certainly um in the beginning of your speech there um you said that the traffic studies are not relevant what do you mean by that well I mean the traffic studies suggesting that um that there is a dramatic increase in the traffic on ledge Road are not relevant in the sense that they don't make any attempt to distinguish between the traffic that's being generated by customers of uh Newport and the other users and that the increase alone is not uh is is arbitrary in the sense that it only starts looking at 2017 and we don't think that that's a an appropriate starting point for operations that have been in place for over a 100 years so you want to start it back at 1912 no I'm saying that under lenis and all those other cases the volume of traffic is not relevant to the issues before this board again this was an issue that was litigated uh by the town uh in the 2016 and 2017 cases and we don't think that it can be relitigated I think that's the only thing we're talking about five five years of an traffic analysis is not relevant I I understand I understand your point that they did not distinguish between Newport and the other companies I definitely understand that point but not not validating that the fact that the traffic increased almost doubled in five years is you don't consider that to be a valid point and in in of itself I don't think it's relevant to the legal issues that are before the board okay if I could I'm going to uh ask Jose to expand a little on his letter and what uh his conclusions were I understand as best I can your your point and I think that a little Clarity is is necessary to balance us out so uh that's what I think we'll go now and we we may certainly have further questions for you sure thank much just like to ask Jose if he could uh explain a little about why he felt this enforcement order was necessary mman prior to September 9 uh the uh Leed roll situation uh came to my attention through uh the previous Town Council and based on the traffic study and the Dron study and the data that I I receive um and based on the district and the historical aspet of this of the road uh under the uh guidance of the New Town Council in KP law uh I drafted the letter and uh we thought that the non-conforming use of the business has increased based on my J on my judgment on what on all the data provided to me to review traffic study and observations so I think one of the points uh the attorney made was that uh you've you've concentrated this on Newport materials as opposed to Graves and lerie and G Gil met I think was the other one there is was there logic to that that you could clarify I brought that to the attention of uh Town Council and uh it it was I was advised to just send it to uh the this uh Granite Mr MC yeah or Newport Newport is the can can I you said the private use portion of ledge is the whole Road considered private use Road I believe 193 ft are considered Private Road and is that the port right to the Westford perimeter or is that the part at the tail end going up to dunable I think it's uh right right out uh where it actually Forks in the road is that is that the location so you're not speaking that not that parcel that he's referring to you're not referring to that parcel there I believe is the first from uh uh gron road to the where the 190 ft and to the par right from the point can I can I clarify that uh yeah I'm I'm a little yes please do um I think it's Slide the aerial I mean I I guess we're not really working I saw a single uh plant that looks like it was stamped by a surveyor but we're we're working from town maps and uncertified uh roadways here at this point so is this you want look at it's the aerial photo and there is a plan I'll come back to that in a moment okay so this is the plan okay here this is the portion of ledge road that I think we're talking about and this is this is part of the gilet parcel that I was speaking of before are you do you agree with that is that what you see as the private portion um I can't see clearly from here but B based based on the data I got from uh all Town's departments it appears that the 193 ft begins right on rolton road and they end wherever they're going to end into Le road so right as you turn off the the main road if you yes sir uh the 190 ft which is not I think what you're referring to are we looking at two different sections of roadway it sounds like I couldn't tell from enforcement order the enforcement order doesn't actually specify where they're talking about to my knowledge all of the most the vast majority of all the homes are further down to where ledge Road connects with I think it's dun dun road yeah dun portion is all Public public Ro is CH the only portion that's not public is is the dirt portion right the dirt portion of the road I pay taxes parcel the Gil parcel I think that's what we're talking about is the private portion of Le road yeah just excuse me we we're going to open this up to public comment and anyone that has I can't help it this is ridiculous do your best um we're not going to get any further with interruptions you I I understand your frustration I do I I just think if we can hold it down until it's your time to speak uh it will be much more efficient sor for everyone I'm not trying to single someone out so is your enforcement order not the uh response that that the attorney is saying are we in two different areas I'm going to allow uh ask Town Council to respond on that matter so yeah I I don't know the exact amount of the roadway that's private but I think what Jose started to reference which is really the important legal point is whether or not the use of whatever that private portion of the roadway is has significantly expanded since Newport started their operations because if so then that would require relief from this board in the form of a special permit section six finding as a expansion of a preexisting non-conforming use um admittedly the enforc order doesn't explicitly reference that um but I think this board does have the authority to weigh that issue so we're not uh we're not going to issue a special permit here tonight they haven't applied for that right right so we're we're just an administrative review of the building inspector's letter right okay right so regardless of where that 190 ft is is it in between dunable Road and and the group of quaries in question wwn such that the trucks would have to go on that 190 foot stretch to leave the quaries to get to Dunstable Road that's correct so we all agree on that's correct so at some point the trucks would be on that private section of the road it's it's between that parcel and the Westford line correct okay may I comment on the non-conforming issue because I I heard that rais and Town Council pointed out that that's not referenced in the enforcement order and I can't emphasize enough how fatal that is to the enforcement order the enforcement order doesn't suggest that the use is a pre-existing non-conforming use and therefore is entitled to benefits under the town of chelsford zoning bylaw the enforcement order also doesn't suggest that Newport needs to apply for a section six finding to expand a non-conforming use it's our position that the enforcement order actually I take that back it's not our position the enforcement order is black and white it says that the use is prohibited doesn't suggest that Newport has the benefit of some of the protections um as a pre-existing non-conforming use and that they are limited to some number of trucks or some uh uh quality or character of use it says it's not permitted entirely so in my view the Le issue before the board is was that proper or not um this is not a non-conforming use issue as the enforcement order was written up in our view there are several reasons legal reasons factual reasons a multitude of reasons that this enforcement order as it's been drafted is arbitrary capricious it's illegal and it's based on a number of of factual errors that simply make it uh unsustainable it's written as if Newport is the only person that's using this commercial Road for uh uh for commercial purposes and we just know that that's not the case and it's the it's the building commissioner's burden to establish that there is a zoning violation and now the goalpost is getting moved we're apparently we're not a prohibited use I guess we're a we're we're now a non-conforming use but I think we're protected regardless and and uh because of all the legal reasons that I mentioned before leenus protects this use as do a number of other legal doctrines um and this use has been going on for a long time can I can I ask councelor so whether he verbalize whether the Building Commissioner verbalized it as prohibited or protected with a special permit because it's non-conforming non in either way they're currently using it illegally under bylaws so would the verbage matter either way however he written I step back and say at the outset it is an unlawful use under Cher's bylaw okay whether it he could get protection under six for a special permit or not either way it's illlegal currently hold on currently it it is an prohibited use commercial uses prohibited in the RB zoning District in Cher If the applicant has convinced the board that historically there has been a use of this portion of the road for Access for the gravel mine then the board could determine that there the applicant is established as a pre-existing non-conforming use then the question becomes has that use expanded since Newport took over in a way that would require further relief from this board in the form of a special permit I guess I there must be something I'm missing because the land is in Westford why would the use of trucks driving over that land be considered a prohibited use the roads so in Westford it's an allowed use West bylaw yep but the private portion of the ledge road is in chumford and therefore regulated under chump zoning bylaw okay and under the Cher bylaw um that private portion the way is in the residential B zoning District so commercial gravel mining is not allowed in the RB zoning District but how the use is not allowed but the trucks are not the use they are part of the use they are part of the use because they're carrying products from a mining operation yes they cannot do that on a private road well that that depends on the board decides in terms of has the applicant convinced you that they're historically the determination of whether or not there the applicant has established that there's been a pre-existing non-conforming use of the private portion of ledge Road um depends on you know that's for the board to decide um if the applicant has convinced you that um the predecessors of Newport had a similar mining operation and Newport took over and therefore Newport uh is entitled to some pre-existing non-conforming use of the road the board has the authority to determine that but then if the board determines Newport has met that burden of proving that there is a pre-existing non-conforming use question is then has that use expanded significantly since Newport took over and if the answer is yes then they would require relief from this board in the form of a special permit because that would be an expansion of a pre-existing non-conforming use has a permit ever been issued to use that road from the town of chord is there any historical where it says trucks can travel down there not that there's been no permit issued ever not that I'm aware of other than the building permits that Council referenced but there's no permits I'm aware of for special permits or anything like that that's my you know just so Mr chairman may I address that because if you that's actually in correct clarify in in addition to the building permits and these are included in our as attachments to our memo exhibits I and believe J exhibit I is a 1949 permit issued uh by the then not a building permit excuse me um is a permit issued by this board the board of appeals in 1949 on Gil Met's application of 57 ledge Road that's the address that we're talking about right now for the sale of sand the permit was to be granted under to sell sand not to use the road but but but that is a commercial use selling sand and then the next exhibit um excuse me second page of that same exhibit is another permit to gilmet in 1949 uh for a sand pit on the property at to sell sand 57 ledge Road in 1950 uh there was a permit to erect a building for the manufacturing of cement blocks and all uh incidental uh articles in connection with this type of business for the property at 57 ledge Road in 1953 uh there was a permit issued for the manufacturing of concrete products at 57 ledge Road um so there's been a lot of permits and that that that was sort of part of my point that the private portion of ledge road which is 57 ledge Road that's where this private portion of the road is located has been in long-term commercial use going back to the 50s and is is still in commercial use today not only by the Gil Mets but also by these um uh by these other uh companies and operations that I mentioned uh as well and if I can address just one other issue go going back to this non-conforming use issue you only get to the non-conforming use issue if we're wrong on the other four legal arguments that we put before you including leenus latches the settlement agreement that the town is prohibited from retiga these uh uh these access issues you only get to the non-conforming issue if Newport loses on all those and I don't think that the building inspector has shown and I haven't seen any evidence in the record that suggests that lanus is wrong or that it doesn't apply in this instance I think it that and the other legal arguments that we mentioned prohibit the town from prohibiting the use and again this was not an enforcement order that suggested that this was a non-conforming use and the building inspector has not established that this is a legally protected use it's not an illegal use uh notwithstanding the fact that the private portion of uh of ledge road is located in the residential district it was previously a commercial uh uh uh uh commercial District uh and it has remained in commercial use for many years can I ask when did Newport start operating in that area 2017 before that it was a um it was operated by the lers and there was also a company called Roma stone that was doing manufactured um earth materials sand gravel uh Rock crushing uh asphalt Recycling and things of that nature going back to the 1970s I guess that's where the 2017 traffic study to 2022 traffic now that kind of understand stand question why is it that the applicant's the only one that got the enforcement well the 2017 they started in 2017 but we by the traffic study we don't actually know it's you're right you're right and then that's a question that it's an inference that you would have to make yeah why is that I I still feel why are they different from the other three in that inference well it would depend on whether or not you believe that when Newport took over that you know they expanded at that point and that that expansion is what's reflected in an increased amount of traffic one could also say the other three have been more successful in the past year seven years or whatever and and are cranking out more landfill or whatever look at Revenue records to see if their sales and profit Revenue increas were to actually enforce you know uphold this all those other companies would have to stop well only if the Building Commissioner were to issue an order to them as well but H how does that work all the same uses do the same exact same thing we only put it on one property all the same uses are still using the same road well I I think you should listen to some of the residents and hear about whether there's a difference between pre2 17 versus after was going to ask for that public we need to from public I think we can step into that for I did want to understand I I know you had said that the uh North scale is part of the graves operation that's correct but there's another scale up there can I ask when that was installed and I believe that is Newport scale I'm going to guess that was installed in 2017 so as far as weight access actually actually I take that back I don't know if that's the case or not um because Roma Stone was operating there in the since the 1970s and I presume they had a scale as well just because that's how those operations work um and they would have um it may be that Newport took over what was then the Roma had been the Roma Stone scale so I I I probably shouldn't um we're speculating on yeah I am speculating a little bit and speaking of I I think the audience very patient I'm going to let them uh speak to their concerns and try to get some uh some understanding of what has happened since one more before we go to the audience absolutely the the traffic studies that have been done suggest that there's an increase in traffic is there any way that that can be correlated to the trucks from any one or all of the like there's nothing that says like you know these trucks had these license plates or these stickers it's just there's there's there's more vehicles and it doesn't necessarily say that they were trucks it's just Vehicles correct correct at this point okay I I am fairly familiar with the site and and I can tell you that uh a lot of the truckers that are coming through here are independent contractors they very well may deliver something to Newport and pick up something at Graves and the very same trip not saying they do where they don't but it's very likely because they're independent uh I'm sure Newport has its own vehicles but a lot L of this work is done by independent contractors with their own trucks and they they may well go to all three places in in a single day okay I I don't suggest they do what they don't I'm not I'm not just a possibility the way the way it is it's very likely that you if you need a stone that Newport is manufacturing you would go get it there if you needed a stone or or wanted to dump an asphalt product it Graves it's the same road goes up and and literally they don't access the asphalt from ledge is that correct well the asphalt plant not accessed from ledge Road okay but both Newport Aggregates and Graves sell and process recycled asphalt materials so for example and I believe the town of Chelmsford is one of those customers when they're repaving a road they dig up the old asphalt and they bring it to uh Aggregates and they dump it leave it there and either Graves or um or Newport will process that material okay you touched briefly when you started your presentation that there's a road that goes from uh the north scale out to Route 40 W uh was that Ward is that the name of it um why is why can't you use that for a a number of reasons one is uh I referenced Ward Road and one other Road um neither one of those are open for Access purposes for the kinds of vehicles that are coming in on ledge Road um and let me just clarify that Mr chairman so um the there is an internal Ro access road that goes in between the um the asphalt plant and uh to the uh Newport operation to the north customers coming in to either one of those sites do not access C asphalt customers do not come in through ledge Road and uh the uh they are not using ledge Road as a way to come in and then go down into the asphalt operation and the reason for that is the trucks that you see on ledge Road are Road trucks the road that is uh in between the uh the uh the asphalt materials uh site and the as the sorry the Newport aggregate site um is an internal Access Road that's not built to withstand that kind of traffic and and that's why it's not used for that purpose the trucks that do go in between the two are different kinds of trucks that are basically able to um to travel on quarrying type roads they're not for public roads so so that's not an appropriate access and also we would need permission from the town of Westford which we don't have and which was the subject of the prior litigation to not only build that road um that you're talking about but also to use Route 40 as a way for those vehicles to travel the the the other aspect of your question that you raised was Ward Road um and one of the other possibilities that um that the town looked into in the feasibility study and both of those were ruled out for similar reasons because it would require permits from Westford um and because those roads aren't currently built and connecting to um the uh operation that Newport has off of ledge Road and I one more if I may absolutely an observation coupled with a question I spent a lot of time in this neighborhood uh in fact I used to go up and down Swain Road twice or Thrice a day um you mentioned reasonable or fair use several times in your presentation when I travel that road I I see trucks that I I can't tell I don't have a speed gun they don't seem to be traveling the speed limit and there's an awful lot of aggregate that drops out of the truck so I hi if I was one truck that didn't even have its uh canvas cover over it now how about some kind of uh I know newport's been asked in a friendly kind of way by the select board to you know kind of be a good neighbor and watch for that but but where is that cooperation I'm not I see an attempt at it but not every day and the traffic study does Mr d f is happy to address that issue speak to that morning uh good evening Richard GD F Newport so to answer you directly um our our site has numerous times and to the the Chairman's um you know suggestion they're thirdparty lease drivers for the most part that are on the site like you mentioned they're not Newport employees they're not Newport trucks my control over third-party companies obviously is limited however I can tell you um and everyone on my site knows if there's a trucker that speeds out of our site leaves uncovered they're not allowed back on my site um I can't speak to the other operations in the area I don't control you know Graves I don't control them but you know for the the trucks that leave my site they know because we have a zero tolerance policy because we do respect the neighbors despite I think you know the comments that I'm hearing I do just want to say one other thing because I've heard some comments behind me I just want to State for the record asphalt trucks unequivocally do not go through the internal roadway it's not built for it we don't allow it I will never violate the Westford settlement agreement that we have any trucks that do go through the internal roadway I'm allowed to do it per my settlement agreement I can have trucks go through for manufacturing purposes from my Quarry to my asphalt plant um the trucks that do go through 90% of them are articulating Rock trucks because as attorney McKay said you can't have you know trixel dump trucks on this roadway I don't know if you've visited the site it's a it's a narrow one-way dirt roadway through the woods through conservation land that was built specifically for the purpose of our Rock trucks going through the site from the Quarry to the asphalt plant so not only logistically could I not do it I would never have you know random paving companies driving through the conservation land on a one-way dirt road it just it's not doesn't happen so what's to prevent you from improving it yourself isn't it your the major one is my Westford settlement agreement I can't and I would never violate that first of all second of all the roadway that is there was built um in unison with you know the conservation you know the wetlands everything it's all laid out specifically for this purpose so I can't it's it's surrounded by by Wetlands on both sides but again to to the bigger point I would never violate my settlement agreement with the town of Westford it's it's not worth it to me I don't need to because the the vehicle limitations I have on my asphalt plant Newport is the one that gave that number to the to the town because it's what we can work with so that's why okay any other questions for me before I on operations or anything and I do just want to say for the record too we bought the quy in 2017 however you know Graves next to us does roughly the same business we do if you're going to take both those are the two two largest companies on the parcel we're probably 50/50 split between what we do and what they do and all I can tell you is in the last you know seven eight years they've expanded as well so not only yeah okay both operations have expanded so to single us out you know it's just not accurate else thank you unless there's further questions I'm going to open this up uh to the audience and let uh speak in favor and opposition if you'd like to you wouldn't mind forming a queue behind the podium I ask for your name and address when you speak and we will uh and we have the people who speak in favor go first got good evening and uh thank you for providing us with the opportunity your name and address I'm sorry my name is Everett Olsen Jr I am a lifelong resident of north chelsford um 76 years resident address the actual address this is for the record sir not to give you 140 gron Road um I'm not sure if it's possible to navigate this map to where my wife and I live which is at the intersection of Route 40 and Swain Road right at Ground Zero where the trucks turn on to Swain Road and come out of Swain Road 140 gron 140 140 Gren 140 gron Road there he is this is our home right here I grew up here so I've been in this same neighborhood for 75 of my 76 years in this town going up here living for the last 40 plus years here the trucks that we're talking about and I will give you in this phone all the traffic study information you need I've got hundreds and hundreds of pictures and videos of unending unending truck traffic it starts here at 5:30 5:45 in the morning and continues until late in the afternoon unending this is not a truck traffic situation where there is 10 15 20 minutes between Vehicles often times during the day there are 3 to five minutes between either an individual truck a 10 to 22 10 to 22 wheel vehicle 3 to6 axles that are trying to navigate a residential neighbor and I'm not only talking about Route 40 I'm talking about our friends also on Swain Road dunable Road and ledge Road all my life when lameer and gilets were operating these quaring functions we never never saw the truck traffic if we saw one or two a day that was the norm it wasn't until Newport began its operations and I'm familiar with all this because I was the superintendent of schools in Westford when this agreement was negotiated with the town of Westford I've since retired from there but these trucks start at 5:30 to4 to 6 they go all day six days a week we've once in a great while seen trucks on a Sunday but mostly Monday through uh Sun uh Monday through Saturday all right what has happened is our residential neighborhoods have been turned into heavy industrial neighborhoods I've presented you a um a document that I drafted what we've experienced and I've put some pictures in there also and I've got hundreds hundreds more to document what I'm saying to you we've endured Stone spills on the roads we've seen the street sweeper in North chumped more in the last 6 months than we have in the last 6 years because of the stone spilled on our roads one of the pictures I've presented to you is that stone tell me that a young family pushing a baby carriage somebody trying to walk or somebody trying to jog and navigate the roadways with that stone spilled you have a picture in there of a young child with a school backpack trying to navigate through trucks at the intersection of Route 40 and Swain Road you have a number of pictures in there showing multiple trucks a lot of them stop on the side of the roads or at the triangle store triangle store has been a long-standing business in North Chums I've lived there my entire life especially across the street from it but they what they do is they Stack Up along Route 40 coming eastbound such that motorists coming down Route 40 uh route uh Main Street excuse me to the stop sign near my house cannot see oncoming traffic from Route 40 truck after truck they pull over the side of the road occasionally and will'll idle for 15 20 minutes sometimes for 30 to 35 minutes at a time we have endured loud squealing breaks all day long unending exhaust fumes and dust we can't open our windows in the summer we can't have any outside activities in our yard in the summer because of the truck traffic and the noise associated with it we've tried to meet with people outside window contractors whatnot we've had to move inside the house because of the noise of the trucks upshifting the downshifting they have been [Music] overwhelming our residential neighborhoods and it was never never like this as a person who has lived there my entire life all right you know we've been told we've been complaining about this for the last several years we've been told that there was a um Grandfather Clause to allow a non-conforming use well nobody has been able to find any Grandfather Clause nothing in writing nothing cified in the minutes of any meeting minutes going back how many years or decades so from my perspective and I'm not a lawyer but from my perspective in my line of work as a school official if it wasn't in writing and it wasn't in existence we've also been told that well we had a grandfather clause a grandfather clause in place for the the operations well those operations were probably 140th to 150th of what the scale of operations are now because of the level of truck traffic that existed back then and once again I've been there my entire life and the amount of truck traffic that happens now and has been happening for the last several years you know talked about wanting to be a good neighbor trying to be a good neighbor I haven't seen one thing that has represented being a good neighbor I understand these gentlemen are in business to to make money but not at the expense the health the safety and well-being of the res of North Chumps particularly on gron road Swain Road dunable Road and ledge Road it is unending and intolerable now with respect to any regulation that might be placed on Newport or any any other business excuse me you know sometimes we were told that a um a permit special permit for non-conforming use is irrevocable well in the town um The Case of the town of Hemstead New York against goldblat company which I've referenced in my document goes back to 1962 Town Hemstead issued regulations because the gold black company was beginning to and that's an excavation that was an excavation company was beginning to uh rece receive and the town of Hemstead complaints about health and safety and well-being concerns of residents so they essentially issued some regulations similar to and I want to thank you for issuing the cease and toist Order essentially did the same thing in terms of imposing some regulations on goldblat goldblat took the town of Hemstead to court it went to the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said that a OK municipality has the ability to regulate a business if it's impacting the health and safety and well-being of a community I want to make reference to something I put in in my letter also you know we talked about traffic studies and this is very concerning back in the summer of 2023 just a year and a half ago there was an aerial surveillance study done I don't have the cover letter to that study but it was done with this town and a town official was involved in part of that report it says I want to note that the town of Chums conducted an aerial surveillance of truck traffic in the summer of 2023 during which the author of this report and a town official observed what they believed to be intentional aerial obstruction of surveillance leading to the conclusion below which is and I quote it is also conclusive that all recorded obstructions during the surveillance period indicate that the volume of truck traffic on ledge road is considerably more and they emphasized the word more in that report than the average daily totals that we have visualized this has to come to an end I'm asking you as representatives of this town the zoning board of appeals please uphold the cease and desist order we should not have to live day in and day out year in and year out with trucks that are passing our houses every 3 to five minutes that is not an exaggeration if you would like to come sit in our driveway my wife and I would love to have you sit there for an entire day for an entire week for an entire month and see what we are observing and experiencing in terms of rock spills upshifting downshifting sometimes horns blasting screeching breaks all day long and traffic conditions that are unsafe in our residential neighborhoods I don't want to keep going on and on but you know one of the concerns also is Newport and I'm not sure whether it's the asphalt or the aggregate operation has been so sold apparently to viny or Vincy Corporation a global a multic conglomerate Global in over 120 countries their business operations State we're looking forward to the purchase of Newport to step up its Road operations in North America needs more asphalt needs excuse me means more aggregate it's only going to get worse no none of you no one else in this entire town wants to be living day in and day out with this nonsense that we have had to bear in terms of unending noise can't open our Windows can't have a conversation can't have any function outside because of the damn trucks that don't stop all right and I thank you as you can tell I'm quite passionate about this because as I said 75 of my 76 years have been spent there and I've never never seen anything like it in my life and it has to stop and I thank you very much can I ask you a question yes I ask a question please sure um you said you know you acknowledge they're in business to make money I'm sure you har har no personal ill will to the owners how can we help you without hurting them my feeling is this is a matter between Newport and the town of Westford that you have the Sovereign right to impose this ceas and deist order let them work it out with the town of Westford as I said I worked there for 35 years mostly As the superintendent of schools and I remember the negotiations it's a matter of the town of Westford that just doesn't want the inconvenience of all the trucks give it to chord okay that's been the philosophy there was a there if you notice Newport uh asphalt there is a requirement that all truck traffic turn left coming east to North chumpon I checked with the town of Westford about five months ago and to everyone's knowledge that requires going on to a state either entering onto or off of a state roadway requires State approval the op approval no one in the town of Westford could verify that there was any approval that was requiring all of those trucks and forcing them not to go into Westford but to come into North chelsford those are the games that have been played so that to answer and I don't mean to be quite blunt but to answer your question this is not a North chumford problem they pay their taxes to West I verified that this is you we we have the ability in this town to uphold and to issue that cease and toist order thank you hi good evening uh Laura Rogers amonson I own the property on Tu SW not road so I'm right at Ground Zero I am Mr Olsen's neighbor across the street I know exactly what he's talking about and he said it so eloquently and so passionately um I also grew up in chelsford I moved away for a while and I bought a house to come back to raise my children here in a safe manner in the way that I brought up and I was thrilled to move back to chumford so my husband and I just found it so wonderful that we were able to buy this property we bought our property in 2019 we only saw it on a Sunday we didn't see these trucks all right purchas and sale is signed on a Tuesday that's pretty different um our children were little when we bought this property I have not wanted them in the front yard it's too dangerous we can't hold a conversation in the backyard my 86-year-old mother says hey can we sit outside in the back she cannot hear because it literally sounds like we're on 495 there's so many trucks it's also remarkably dangerous to back out of our driveway and if you look out our front window we're not on the corner we're one over these trucks are lined five deep 18 wheelers 18 wheelers on a residential street in shels Road who would have thought it feels like it feels like we're living in a nightmare um we can't you know we have to be very careful with our dog we have to be careful with our children we don't walk on that road we can't have certain conversations even in the front of our house I would be on a conference call I can't hear my conference call it's that loud it's like I'm working in a quarry um it doesn't I I just it's very very inefficient too this is why can't they just take a LIF what other deal they made with Westford it's very easy to come out of the front we're talking all about fairness it's going out of the back road it's it's ruining ledge Road it's ruining this is hundreds of houses it just makes no sense to me it's not fair it's not right it's dangerous I feel when I back out of my driveway I could be killed it's B when they come trucks too big think of 18 wheelers on the same road coming at each other like this going around a corner you want to back out into that I mean I better love chord because I don't know if I'll ever be able to sell that house CU anybody unless I sell it on a Tuesday which was what was done to me because it is just it's unfair and it just seems so inefficient why on Earth is this our problem this is in Westford they can go out the front if they made a deal with Westford re-evaluate that don't put it on our shoulders we might not be a big business we might not be attorneys but we matter and I know representative Elliot has been wonderful champion in this for us so I just said my peace and I thank you can I can I ask how long have you lived at that so we bought that house in 2019 okay Y and wow like it's not just a little like it's when you look at our front window I don't know if have you seen an increase since you've been there or has it been pretty it's just been so I mean it's been so horrific the whole time that it's just I remember I was like a lot of trucks but when something's so awful can it get more awful if something's awful you're like this is terrible it's not even as bad as what they're going through on ledge Road I cannot even I cannot even imagine it um but it's not the chum I grew up and Chum's been a fair town and I think what's been done to us and done to chump is unfair so we appreciate you trying to rectify this can you discern which companies are driving I've seen I've seen like Newport we're talking like 18 wheelers I've seen Newport on the top Rocks coming out um I've seen a lot of dump trucks some have names some don't but I definitely have seen newp it's that huge you guys all know this right it is is so long it's like from your desk like two curtains past that it's just crazy long and then you'll have a dump truck behind that and another truck and they'll all speed cuz they're coming out of ledge they're going on the right they're banging a ride on Swain they're going as fast as they can because it's inefficient for them right they should be able to go out the front hop on the highway and be on their business so they're trying to make up their time they must not like this either it's Luna to have to do this like crazy roundabout through a commercial neighborhood and then you know you're they're seeing they probably have to like move over and be like cuz you see people trying to walk dogs kids babies yeah we had the bus stop for our children they're my step kids they're my husband's children they get picked up at their bus at their mother's house cuz I will not have them walking on that road it's not worth it does somebody have to get killed do we have to have a tragedy to like fix this it's just not chumford it's not fair any other questions do you have any recollection of the time of these trucks the other gentl oh my goodness so it's crazy honestly I recall waking up being like what is that is that an earthquake 530 in the morning I'm like isn't there supposed to be some type of Ordinance one time my husband went out to to check something in the driveway it was like 4:00 in the morning I mean I don't know if that's been recent but this has been over all these years and you know what fair is fair it should be never this is a this is a regular residential Road and you know it's just why is a company in Westford who has a they have a front door to go out like if you had a party would you say only a limited amount of people can go out the front door everybody else has to go out the back uh oh the part's just overgrown now everybody's here that's kind of what's happening and I'm sorry to put it in like a Rodney danger field type of way but it feels like nonsensical and like lunacy that we are in this weird predicament so we respect your time thank you thanks could I just ask I just want to ask one question good evening what are your hours of operation on the aggregate side oh I'm sorry what I'm asking the gentleman what their hours were yeah I mean not four in the morning um you know you generally you'll you'll have employees on site in six o'clock hour no okay they know more about my business and I do I'm asking you we we'll stick with the we'll stick with talking to the chairman please Newport Newport specifically um we're we're done pretty much before 4:00 in the afterno run between say 6:30 7:00 a.m. with traffic coming in through about 4:00 in the afternoon we don't work at night we don't work on Sundays I mean we we could but we we don't we try to limit to normal working hours so that our neighbors aren't you know hearing them on Sundays and overnight but that's thank you so 6:30 is when your employee show up or when the trucks show up or both six depends on the day 6 o' hour our employees will show up on the I mean I don't have a which just to be clear that would be a normal pickup truck just to arrive to work yeah as opposed to trucks that load but like trucks who are coming in to be loaded could show up as early as what I would tell you in the six o' hour okay okay o00 and 5 and I I appreciate you so but one I will tell you that we really don't know that their trucks are the trucks you're referring to I I know where you live I know where ledge road is I'm not saying it's not I'm just saying that you know I'm trying to understand what their hours of operation are I'm I'm certain there's guys that get there early I'm certain there's guys that get there and may go to Graves or laia or some entirely different way and be on that roadway and I I can't speak to any of that Mr Sir just one other comment we do not stack any trucks on the roads obviously you've seen the Aerials we don't need to but none of Newport related trucks are stacked on any public roadway so I just want to make that very clear thank you sorry for the interruption sir I just wanted to get that organized how are you doing tonight I'm I'm doing okay good um my name is Valentine pager uh my wife Terry and myself we live at 38 ledge road we haven't been there 5 years we've been there over 30 years as most of the residents on ledge Road have been contrary to what was stated earlier that many of them have start have only gotten there in 5 years so I just want to clarify a couple of things secondly the trucks do begin at 5: to 5:30 in the morning the traffic counts support it and my house is only 30 feet from the road so I can support it all right now are they going to Newport are they going to graves are they going to laazer I don't know that but Jose you referenced an aerial survey do you have that survey that we can see from what I read about it what what I heard about it was that it very clearly shows that the majority of the trucks it didn't count all the trucks as it said there were some challenges with it but that the vast majority of the trucks were going to Newport is that true can you show that to us I know that are you talking about the uh aial survey the aial I will consult with Town Council I believe you probably need to apply for a fo request in order for to that the video but uh I believe it's available um so reach out to me uh tomorrow send me an email and I'll further guide you on how to obtain if that's okay because I think there's a lot lot of questions right everybody's got questions why let's take if there's video let's take a look at it let's put it in the record and let's help let Let's help that inform the decisions that are made here but I want to back up I wanted to because of the the discussion every discussion seems to go to who is it where where where are their trucks going um so my wife and I raised five children on ledge road we've been there as as I said since since um 1991 yes there have been trucks there all along yes they've been traveling ledge Road there was probably I would estimate somewhere in the range of 60 to 70 trucks a day coming up and down the road that's an estimate okay what year are you making that estimate for what year back in the '90s back okay back in the '90s so when we were raising our children we even know that the children knew the truck drivers okay we even had occasions where a truck driver would stop his truck and say hey your little kid's out front and that's not a good good place right so they were good neighbors all the quaries the gilm mats especially Roma Stone laazer Graves all of them good neighbors did not drive on our front Lawns did not um dig furrows in property that's wooded land that belongs to to the neighbors okay but because the road's not quite wide enough let's just make it wider okay so you just drive until the furrows come see them are This Tall because they've dug out the dirt and pushed it into the woods so they can have a wider road because ledge road is really only made for cars and of course they can't pass each other and that's very inconvenient for them okay uh some of them use their Jake braks just CA not because they need them a truck traveling 15 to 20 miles an hour which is what the majority of them do on ledge road now that we have the speed bumps okay um they don't need jake brakes they can use the mechanical brakes but they use them just to spite us they just lay on them every speed bump they got to lay on the jake brakes Morton in particular so wherever Morton is going I don't know Morton is he's a trucker so maybe they're going to Graves okay he has to lay on his jake brakes at every segment of the road okay he's been doing it for years and he won't stop doing it the increase you can you can surmise and I believe the video will show that the increase is due to Newport growing their business okay that's fine what I heard today was and what I read in the documents was that Newport entered an arrangement a legal agreement with West uh Westford okay that said nope even if you buy lameer it's even in the agreement even if you buy laaser you can't take those trucks out through Westford you have to take them out through chelsford read the agreement they signed an agreement knowing that if they bought that quarry they weren't going to be able to grow the business and drive it out ledge Road without destroying the neighborhood they did it anyway sorry sir you don't care about us the fact that your business is growing and you're forcing those Tru I'm sorry please address the board chelsford okay they're destroying the road they're destroying our property my neighbor across the street and myself have had to put up boulders to keep them off our Lawns and trucks have driven through the boulders and thrown them four feet into my front yard just C because they were in a hurry it's very frustrating it's very dangerous and yes you can draw the conclusion usion that it's Newport that has added the volume dramatically and I ask you I'll close with this I ask you one thing at what point in this good world is too many trucks too many we're up to 3 400 truck truck trips a day that's a couple hundred trucks a day from 60 to 70 or up to three or 400 yeah it's every I'm not trying to be sarcastic have you counted yes I have cameras would you like me to send you the video no I'm just asking physically counted over I'm going to say an 8 hour period or sounds like it's a little longer than that a 10 hour period it's closer to 10 hours it starts at 5:30 now it's not a lot at 5:30 it's at probably a dozen trucks and I think the the traffic surveys support that and there's there's probably a dozen trucks that travel through after 4: and it's 7 o'cl at night there's one truck in particular that travels every night at 7 o'clock at night just comes barreling Down the Road dumps his load and comes back out it's it so we're up to that what's too much is it 700 is it 800 are we going to have to put up with a thousand it's incredibly crazy an agreement was signed with Westford where Westford knew exactly what they were doing they said nope you buy that quarry they're going to go out ledge Road and you're going to grow the business like you're growing the business and and and good for them but you're going to push it all out ledge Road and the the community those families those children be damned thank you thank [Applause] you I have a tough act to follow I guess huh um Melissa Lauren I actually own um two houses on ledge Road I grew up there my entire life um was born on at two oill Road own the property at 44 ledge Road and then I actually own the beginning of the property of the private way um my land goes into the private way AB buts the gilets along with sher's up to the Quarry so at the split at the V the right hand side is the private way um in newport's defense they're not the only Quarry up there right and so while they're great and they do take responsibility if I have a problem like the trucks going over the yard and digging into the road and I mean I I even texted one of them last week and I'm like I I need you guys to bring down more Boulders because they're 5T off the road into my yard they're not the only Quarry that's up there it is Graves as well right so if we address this holistically we need to look at both sides of it um Graves bought the gilet Quarry Newport bought leries Newport I mean um leries and the mpy don't have trucks there's they're not hauling Fleet all day long in and out of there it's graves in Newport and you know with all due respect there you know Newport is the one that will raise their hand and help out if we need them and you know take that extra action where Graves doesn't but I think in the consensus of this cease and desist it's not about their business and what they're doing it's about the volume the speed the safety the environment concerns that us as residents have I'm in full support with my neighbors I live on five acres of land and I can't even enjoy it I have a inground pool I can't go swimming during the day I have to wait until after 5:00 because the noise is so loud and the infrastructure on the street do po holes are another issue right I'm writing a letter to uh Paul and um the engineering Christine at least every two months asking for that for the uh Department to come up and fill all the potholes because it just keeps deteriorating and deteriorating it's like putting a bandaid on a burst artery how much can how much can you take and how much can how many employees and resources are we going to continue to put into the infrastructure on the street where it is inhabitable to drive like you're destroying your car you're Shing your health going over that you can't walk um you know I have two small dogs I try to take them out for walks during the day I can't I have to actually walk through the yard now and just because I can't use the road um and you know in in my neighbor's defense as well this morning the truck started at 5:00 it was 5:01 when I looked at my clock I'm like are you kidding me so with I know with the meury agreement with Newport B measures the the hours were 6 to 6 right that's when they were supposed to start six is still kind of early to be running a commercial business up through a residential neighborhood um you know but something something needs to be done I'm not asking to stop Hal businesses but if they're in a Westford area this is a real Westford problem and North trumpster needs to stop being the burden to taxpayers to the residents to the resources that we use to to clean the streets pick up the Rocks you know take care of fill the yards you know all the air quality stuff that's been going on you know we need to look at this as a holistic problem and not just a you know conforming nonconforming questions comments thank you thank you good evening uh my name is Susan Olen and I live at 140 Garten Road um I won't repeat what my husband had to say earlier um sorry um I do have a a couple of well first a question and this could be directed to anyone um where is 90 ledge road is that in Westford or is that in chamford uh I personally don't know but Becky is going to look that up right now the reason I ask is because in a I think it's Westford I'm 79 and I'm the last one there in many of the documents especially even on the uh Newport website it gives directions for the truckers on how to get to the aggregate plant on ledge road and it says enter your GPS 90 ledge Road North chemsford I never knew there was a 90 ledge Road and yet there are other instances when 90 ledge road is listed as being in Westford that's why I ask just to I'm curious whether they're just not outsmarting GPS I I I don't know I don't know the answer to that so when you type in the GPS 90 ledge Road does show up up as North chumford sir I can answer that so we when we acquired the quy that's the address Roma Stone was using for their customers to access because GPS like you said wasn't reading that area properly so we just continue with their thank you um a couple of comments the first one is with the millions of dollars Mr D fiz has at his disposal why can't he file for a change in the special permit increasing the number of trucks entering and exiting from 540 G Road seven years of this with Westford has done nothing but sent the problem to chamford they they have it is destroying our neighborhood you you just can't imagine what it's like to live with this truck traffic and I'm I'm talking from your dump truck to these huge seven eight axle the wheel it it's unbelievable um living where I have lived for 48 years there has never been any communication or Outreach to the residents affected by the hundreds of trucks barreling by our homes by Mr D fiz or representative of Newport no trust has been built a willingness to work together and allow the residents to identify upfront what aspects of the traffic pres presents the greatest challenges how can Newport aggregate help ease the burden on chemsford residents that's just a comment um I I I would think that would go a long way if if there was some compromise if Mr defiz we have a group of residents if Mr def Le our representative could come to us and say let's sit down and look at this issue let's talk about it let's see what we can do let us help you that that would be great um our roads do not have the width and P and pavement structure to continue to accommodate 20 plus wheel 67 axle trucks we are affected by noise dust vibration spills safety and health issues that truck traffic is a detriment to our neighborhood we cannot enjoy the peaceful enjoyment of our most valuable asset which is our property um prior to the trucks exiting the aggregate facility are they weighed or inspected for appropriate load size where my house is located I'm looking at Swain Road I can't tell you how many trucks and I know you you probably try to make sure that the loads are covered I have pictures of trucks that whose loads are not covered I see the trucks going up gron Road whose loads are too too high they so they make a turn and what's over that the top of the bed they come it's coming out so they're overloaded and they're not covered I I don't know who's looking at it or if there are guidelines on weighing these trucks before they leave the property I don't know if that's done my last comment my next door neighbor is my daughter she has a 17-year-old severely autistic child um Brandon's greatest pleasure was jumping on his trampoline out in the backyard for the last five years Brandon has not been able to go out and jump on his trampoline because of the um the trucks the noise he walks around with his hands over his ears he cannot enjoy it he can't play basketball outside and these the kids that need this kind of activity and he can't participate it he doesn't do it anymore and it's very sad and it has affected his life thank you Danny um earlier you stated that the last meeting was continued because you reached out to the town for a meeting and that was denied uh can I ask who denied that and we offered to meet with Westford and Chelmsford um and we were told through Town Council um that Chelmsford was not interested in meeting with us what was the premise for the meeting what was The Proposal the premise of the meeting can I just ask like what how was it was presented I the well you you've heard the testimony suggesting that this needs to be a holistic approach I I don't think we disagree with that um but we feel that this is not the avenue to do it an enforcement order that is legally flawed is invalid is arbitrary and capricious only goes to one of the of the multiple commercial users is just fundamentally unfair and I think it it you're from the res from the testimony that you're hearing from the residents we think they matter we believe that their neighborhood is important it is the only access that we have to get in and out of our site but you did hear testimony from one of the neighbors that when they reach out to Newport we raise our hands and we do something about it so when you offered to meet with the towns how did you present it is what I'm asking I pres I offered to meet with the towns to address to talk about these issues and find out what was really driving this okay not to sit down and find a a compromising solution or how could we address this to to to you know appease everybody or how do we address this holistically but why what you want you you meet the town what was driving the season assis well no I wanted to understand all of these issues what was it that was what what drove the enforcement order because the enforcement order didn't make any sense to me I couldn't understand and I still don't understand how it is that we all know that there are multiple commercial users up there and Newport is being blamed for uh the operations of all these independent third parties and for other commercial businesses that are in um in chelsford and in in Westford and I I frankly I couldn't understand why you would issue an enforcement order or how that could possibly be considered anything other than arbitrary if you're only going after one of the parties and maybe it's just because Newport is perceived to be the biggest I I don't I can't understand why that would be but I made the proposal because I thought it made sense to try and understand one why Newport was being singled out but also too what really are the uh the the ways that the underlying issues not necessarily the enforcement order um but what are the ways in which we could assist with some of these underlying traffic issues that aren't just our problem and aren't created solely by uh by Newport we were willing to talk about that um and there are other ways that this can be done and I think this goes to why we feel the enforcement order is so inappropriate traffic can be monitored and regulated the police are out there I my understanding from some of the uh information that I've seen in the record that the police do Patrol that area we welcome that we most of the these are not Newport has very few trucks that actually drive up and down ledge roads these are third-party contractors many of them going to other sites we welcome the traffic enforcement we are happy to talk about those kinds of things that we have some element of control over but in the context of this enforcement order there's only one party that's that's here in the room and we think that's unfair was Westford willing to meet with you at that same time you no I don't know if Westford was willing to meet with us or not okay did you did you get a response from did you approach westford's Town Council or In fairness I spoke to only only only to our our only to your Town Council uh in park as his firm represents both towns represents Westford and Chelmsford so and the only thing that I heard was that CH there wasn't going to be a meeting um so I really can't speak to westford's you know appetite for a conversation um but it also sort of goes to the point of why this enforcement order is so problematic because one of the parties is not at the table and the the suggestion was that we should go to Westford and solve this we did um we had an extensive negotiation with Westford to address these issues and that's how we came to the settlement agreement my understanding is that chelsford was invited at multiple points during that litigation to participate in the litigation with Westford over the um the asphalt plant issues that also implicated uh this other operation and was ultimately a part of the settlement agreement and Chelmsford did want to participate but that was then this is now um we did make the offer to have those uh Communications and we did um have extended negotiations with Westford that ultimately led to the settlement agreement and that was also an opportunity you know this is almost 10 years ago that that settlement agreement happened and uh you know I'm not aware that that there were any negotiations with chelsford at the time to address any of the issues that they were concerned about with was your Westford agreement though was focused more on the asphalt operations not your aggregate operations it was In fairness it was a result of the litigation regarding the asphalt plant but it had very specific Provisions in it dealing with the lameer Quarry and the possibility that um uh that Newport would acquire the operations of lameer and of of Roma Stone and that that access that had not been done yet um but that access was always understood to be through ledge Road and again you know without Graves it's really hard to have this kind of a conversation about what can really be done I think we've shown the residents have shown just trying to get understanding tford may have been invited but they didn't own that property yet so the the the agreement with Westford was for the asphalt company in Westford so chelsford may have been invited but the property that we're now discussing they didn't own at the time is that is that I understanding the timeline correctly we were we were in communication with them which is why it was in the agreement I just want to be very clear on the wording of that Western settlement agreement the intent behind it was so that asphalt related trucks do not go through ledge Road right that was why they Point everything and I just want to be very clear as to why certain wording about traffic between the two sites exists that was the purpose but it had nothing to do or was not infected or impacted or anything about Quarry the Quarry operations or aggregate operations discing the operation because you didn't own it there would have been no there would have been no permit requirement or process so it would have been a conversation and a mute point for chumford to be involved well that's not entire true they they entered they made an appeal and they did they did enter the sitation was that after you after you owned is that after you uh acquired the quy operations it's around the same year I have to see exactly when the appeal was filed okay I just don't want to answer okay the um settlement agreement uh it's paragraph 6 talks about the number of vehicles accessing the property so it's talking about um uh about the the asphalt plant property it specifically excludes internal trips between the property and the Fletcher Quarry as was discussed earlier located at 534 Gren Road or the lameer Quarry operated or excuse me located off of ledge Road and then there are other Provisions uh that also talk about the operations at the laaser Quarry um specifically paragraph three um references the ler Quarry uh on-site excavation cutting and crushing of materials uh and the sale of those materials to off-site purchasers and then uh paragraph 4 also references again the Fletcher Quarry and the lameer a quarry um contemplates that uh in this agreement as well that uh that Newport might might Acquire The lameer Quarry um and uh speaks to the number of vehicles uh and specifically that the vehicle limit doesn't apply to the lameer a quarry and access via ledge Road right does not apply so it does not apply it didn't give them the ability to increase any current ability to or uh authorizations or special permits that have been granted with the current operations of those quaries on ledge Road by Westford the well I'm not sure if I understand the question so any special permit or current non-conforming op numbers that were being uh understood say the traffic truck load was 150 a day during that period by those operations there was no guidelines or uh any precluding uh State Clauses in that agreement for the asphalt allowing them to be increased for the Cory operations on ledge Road it doesn't talk about an increase of of operations there um In fairness though the issue is not so much whether the agreement contemplated an increase in in operations at what was then the lameer Quarry and was specifically contemplated to become part of uh uh become acquired by Newport it didn't it it it addressed that issue in the sense that it was known that ledge Road was going to be the access for that operation and the reason that I think that's important from a sort of Equitable standpoint is the fact that this issue was known to the town of Chelmsford at the time that there would be Vehicles accessing the Quarry the lameer Quarry the Roma Stone operation which might become uh purchased by Newport all of that was known and contemplated in this agreement and yes it was in the agreement it's referenced in the agreement that Newport might acquire the the lameer operation and so this is not an issue that was not foreseen by any of the parties and that's why it was specifically referenced in there and the town did specifically attempt the town of chelsford did to invalidate that settlement agreement and the court said no and chelsford took no further Appeal on that so my point in I in this is that there is a settlement agreement it did address these issues and In fairness Newport has been willing to speak with any of the parties about these issues all along both with respect to the asphalt plant um and with respect to to this operation but again that's a different conversation that's not this enforcement order because this enforcement order only deals and only suggests that there's one commercial user up there and that's just not the case did the applicant ever get a notice from the town or did someone from the town ever reach out to the applicant prior to the cease and assist not to my knowledge no well actually let me let me re let me be more precise in that answer there may have been conversations with Mr D fiz about between the town of chelsford and the operations up there in fact I think Mr D fiz met with folks in connection with that feasibility study uh that I referenced in in 2023 so I can't say there were absolutely no conversations but the enforcement order was the first time that we were told that it was a zoning violation for Newport to be using uh ledge Road for access to the um to the uh Newport aggregate site and at no time as Graves and Newport combined had a conversation with any town both at Town jointly about any of this as a as a group we have not had a collective conversation regarding a holistic picture okay I mean to be fair we're competitors in a way and I will say just to that point I mean business is business my father I did meet with sorry I don't know who it was but a representative from the count of chelsford they walked the area in visibility study the one that talks about you know building a new roadway kind of per uh parallel to Route three and then coming on on Route 40 that was an extensive they had they walked the land um ultimately reason do why that couldn't happen um but just to be very clear too when into what you know joury said like we're here for a specific reason we are not opposed to trying to mitigate the concerns of our neighbors when you know we've been told the road is Dusty from all of the operations up there we've sent our sweeper to to sweep it um we we've watered the streets we down there near the near the uh the private roadway to to to make the roadway you know more efficient so we have you know done what we can under the guise of what we can do because we don't own the road you know there certain things we we can't go build sidewalks you know on a wh right so um we've done what we could do when we've been asked to do it um and again as a company we're not adverse to trying to figure out a solution for everybody not why we're here tonight this is a very different issue but in general we're not head in the sand not no pun intended not wanting to you know solve this many to make that very clear taking in a lot tonight um I don't know the flavor of the board honestly in any sense um do we want to look at a little more information and continue this do we want to vote on the specific count we're here for is to determine if the enforcement order uh should be overturned or not and that that is really the only discussion we have as far as a vote goes I I'm thinking in my mind that we have to uphold uphold um Jose's order the reason we have to uphold it is because that'll get everyone talking and everyone to do something for the Neighbors so we can solve this I much appreciate their position too I think it's we can solve this problem in in a way it works I uh cuz if we CU if we let it go nothing will happen yeah but that's not why we're here I know that's not why we're here like we can't I mean I understand the point and the intention to get people talking yes but we can't uphold something with the goal of just getting people talking there has to be some legal backing behind why we're going to uphold it I I will say I need more time to digest the historical information to see the to verify the validity of the cease and assist um with all the traffic data reporting cuz some of that traffic um the M the do report specifically references Newports increase in traffic like it specifically references just Newport the northern middle sex council's of government's report um and new reports increased um operations so um I don't know if that's why that was one of the guiding reasons why Newport is singled out on the cease and assist but um I would have to read more of all of the appendixes and annexes and reports to really digest all of the material um to see um again everything I would I would not be able to come to a conclusion to come up J had you hand up yeah I guess uh just if if the applicant or I mean the um Newport is willing to meet with the town to try to work this out I feel like the it's on we should try to at least give the chance to have that meeting to discuss possibilities and I and I can appreciate that position and that's up to the town but we have to stay within what our duty is right like I would love and encourage the town to do that but our role right here is very narrow in scope right and that's Jose CE assist right and the validity of that so um I would hope and encourage that maybe the town would rethink that stance um but we can't like I you know yeah no I just meant to like agree agreement with you to like maybe continue it and just a point of order Mr chairman um currently the board's under a statutory deadline to act by January 15th so we would need the applicant's consent to continue beyond that that would be this meeting or or not uh I guess I'd ask your opinion whether you would Grant the extension of time what are we going to do with the extension of time like what I what could they do but what would we do I don't know I guess wait for for more information allow Jamie time to digest what's going on I I personally think that the idea of uh putting these guys uh feet to the fire so to speak is not right I don't think they are alone I think a lot of testy had with with all due respect and I am not there enough to have a strong opinion but what goes to Swain Road by no means tracks back to Newport singularly there there is many many trucks doing many many things uh a ton of them and and not just that's the other thing maybe the time would allow someone else to reconsider the scope of the cease and that it is not solely on newport's shoulders it's been issued we we don't get an amended cease and deist order if if Jose says as a result of this meeting I'm going to write another CE and assis letter uh whether it included grd whatever his it's his purview to do that but he's not going to amend it okay and we're going to look at it again he would issue a new one if he feels that that is his his that's his job that's that's what he would do but we would we're not going to have an amended version come forward and and make a uh that's our we can sometimes we have the ability to like modify things so I wasn't sure would have the ability to modify his order we could modify his order in in the sense that it needs to expand to a larger audience no no um it would be on Jose to decide whether or not to issue a new order to a different party but the order before you now you you have the ability to uphold it to completely overturn it or to modify it but it's still still only to one party we could not in include before you tonight is just to Newport okay okay Mr chairman well we give it a minute because this has been patiently waiting have a minute okay I I'm I'm going give you your your minute or more if need be I tried to be quiet but I can't yeah you struggle everybody thinks this is a problem right I think I think we all agre I live on the land they come down we just ask for your name and address before we my name is Shirley Bowski 79 ledge Road I live on the dirt road and they go over my land every single day they have taken widen the road with their whatever machine it is both sides and every time they do it they take a little more little more I I have 10 acres of land yes but that is my property when you say they are you specific to Newport materials uh I don't know if it is new Port I know Graves he is a a bad person to me I tried to talk our problem is that uh we feel maybe the cease I feel maybe the cease and desist was misdirected maybe what was misdirected what was the the cease and assist order specifically names Newport materials I think there it's not all Newport I I would concur and I met that man and he is a very very very nice person which man the owner Mr pardon me no of what a while ago the owner of Newport or Graves which were Newport and I know Graves too he'd run right over you and that's just what he's doing and that's what he told me he was going to do and he's doing it cuz somebody did it to him that's what he told me I'm not lying oh I wouldn't think you were ma'am and my husband passed away and I'm in that house all by myself I can't even go outside with the trucks going down I'm sorry for that truly am thank you I just want to tell you that you know I didn't get up here to make a everybody has said how they feel and what has happened but I live on the dirt road I pay taxes on that road right up to the where the uh highway is the highway comes down maybe 9 10 ft and then I own down to my driveway and when we bought that house well it's not the house there the house we lived in my husband built the house and that other one got gwn down when we moved there we were told that we could that road because it wasn't it was only a cat Road it was a dirt road a cat Road where they used to have animals go up when I moved there 1959 times have changed there you go so who's taking care of me with them going down on my property nobody and you know what I don't want their money I want them gone get off my my land and that will take care of everybody it'll it they're going to be gone hopefully if somebody can help me and if the law is what I think it is everybody else has spoke now I have got it out of my system and that's how I feel I I respect your opinion 100% And Graves and I had a talk one day and he said something to me that he had a man on his property for years and when he told him to get off the guy wouldn't go and he says I lost my property and you know what I said to him is that what you're trying to do to me he had nothing to say so there you go he's not a nice person in my mind I have not met him okay thank you for letting me speak you're very I have more to say but there's been enough said and I'm not going to say no more it's everybody here has got the idea of what's happening and that's all it counts okay thank you very much thank you uh good evening good evening uh Mr chairman memb members of the board uh my name is Rodney elliottt I just want to share some of the work that that I've been doing um I'm a state representative for the 16th middle sex district and I represent um neighborhoods two neighborhoods in in LEL North chumford all the way to Westlands um I have filed legislation um at the state level uh that legislation was filed as a result of a home rule petition that past town meeting uh um in 2023 and 117 to I believe 12 um vote uh that legislation was filed uh in in May um it was referred to the committee on Transportation um on May 25th a hearing was scheduled uh it was heard uh on on in November and and I won't go through the whole chronology um this bill um for for some reason um we have a reporting deadline that was that all bills are supposed to be reported out of committee either favorably ought to pass or they they go to a study this bill was never was not reported out until the last day 7:31 2024 um I was hopeful I have shephered this bill through the house uh on um on the on August 20th it was sent to every every bill needs three readings it was ordered to the committee on third readings on uh on September 12th this bill went to the floor of the house and on September 12th this bill passed the floor of the house to be engrossed to go to the Senate two hours later this bill um the motion was brought forward that no further action be taken on it so the reason why I I bring this up is and my bill was not to restrict all vehicles down ledge road I was in um this was advice from house counsel that it's only for any vehicle with gross vehicle weight of 26,000 that is significant I actually have a CDL and those are jump those are dump trucks so it wasn't um it wasn't targeted at any business or the individual it was merely Dum trucks so um uh this doesn't have anything to do I just wanted to bring you um up to speed of what we're trying to do at at the state level um I also spent 24 years as a low City councelor and happen to know a little bit about zoning by far an expert because it's it's it's very complicated but I guess my I I just wanted to clarify through Town Council if based on your report that if this cease and desist order is upheld then then it's upheld but if it is not then the one the the other bylaw says that the use has has increased significantly increased and then the requirement is these these operators have to apply for a special permit to this very board correct okay so sitting down makes some sense I understand but that bylaw will still kick in and they will still require based upon the increase traffic a special point one way or the other okay great I'm always available to help at at any particular level um we're just going into another session um I'll you know I'll meet with um the board or the Selectmen if if they want any other action further but um unfortunately this build didn't go any further and I don't have I I don't have any answer for why it did not so thank you for your time thank you any question Danny that special perent requirement wouldn't that also go on graves as well well well assuming that the building inspector as as he inter Pur it would uh if he decides that there is in fact an increase and in fact that it's Graves and he can he can write an another enforcement order that may require the special permit uh would that go to the planning board were that the case are you familiar um I'm not 100% sure I'm not sure really that's why I ask I pray a little but we don't know um so we're at the crossroads here I think we've taken enough testimony to understand the problem uh I've made my thoughts clear on it but it's it's uh certainly something we can vote on we can consider continuing it I don't know as Steve said what the gain would be permission to continue yeah pardon we need permission from the we would still need to have that question answered to actually continue that is the uh the attorneys and the de Lisa's choice to decide whether theyd like to extend that time um well we'd have to decide if we need or want it first right do do we do we feel like there's no decision and even if they're not going to Grant it make that decision for us yeah but if we don't need it then we wouldn't ask them to Grant it if we said oh we have enough information there's no reason to ask for the extension but if we feel like we would gain something from the time then I would say we go forth and say well but if everyone here tonight was like I've heard everything I need to hear I'm ready then there'd be no point to putting that out there is my does everyone feel that we have enough information to make a decision five voting members I I uh I mean I'm I'm willing to uh close the public hearing at this point and go to a vote and we'll see where the chips May lie I just uh well if we vote now then that's the vote right right the the vote would be to uphold would be to deny the building you could do I thought that was an affirmative that's requested that's not so the application was to overturn so um you could entertain a uh motion to Grant the appeal and overturn turn it and everyone would say with the idea that there's potentially a flaw in the way it was presented that can be remedied uh what we're doing is addressing this specific ceas and assist order we can't add anything on to it though right what you we're just voting one way or the other well I think we could make changes to it you could make changes to it but I don't think we could do if I'm not mistaken we couldn't do anything like uh from this point forward their hours are 8:30 till 4 I don't think there's any adjustment of bringing everybody to the table is like Charlie was talking about if it for people to do that then that makes a lot of sense to uphold it you know what I mean well I I think they would have the right to appeal if we right even by having this decision they're sort of right gaining the right to appeal if we're saying we know it's not right but we're going to do this right uh I think the appeal would be very very quick very my thoughts on it yeah yeah I I think that we have to decide whether as issued the cease and desist is valid and really answers the question uh is Newport solely responsible for the increase in it or should they be uh I didn't quite understand how you put holistic but should they be the only ones held responsible for using ledge Road when there's clearly another party at least one other party that is using the roadway and and providing traffic that doesn't negate new there's nothing saying that Jose doesn't come out tomorrow and issue another ceasing assist for another party but the ceasing assist doesn't invalidate newport's responsibility well I don't disagree with you but there the idea of just saying uh I mean could we say we could allow a number of trucks would that be uh would it even be enforceable yeah no yeah I I don't think we should go down that road I agree to understand what what we do have you read the traffic studies I mean I've read some of it and based on the information that's there there the finger pointing is at Newport I you mentioned it I didn't remember seeing it but I want to be firm of where the finger pointing is in those traffic studies is it the number of vehicles by Newport only is it all the vehicles is it an increase more so for Newport than for graves because it sounds like those are the two companies from from the public input right is that fair to say I think those have definitely uh increased their volume much greater than Li meury I had Graves come to my house oh yeah I know they truck yep um so I think there's been some new information raised tonight about Graves that I wasn't aware of okay um so I certainly am willing to talk to Jose about that not willing to disclose micophone please there's been new information raised tonight um particularly about Graves um and their operation that I was not aware of um that I haven't had a chance to discuss with the Building Commissioner um obviously I can't decide how for him how he would want to proceed but I think the the real question before you tonight is just limited to Newport and based on the traffic data that you've seen and the clear increase um in that traffic um I did hear an acknowledgement that there wasn't an expansion um by Newport to some extent of the operations since they took over um an expansion of a pre-existing non-conforming use requires a special permit um and Newport doesn't have that at this point here here's my view chairman based on what we've seen and what I've like I said I would like to divulge for further but there is evidence that Newport has increased operations to a point that is hazardous and against the neighborhood decease and desist is qualified against Newport now not withstanding is Newport solely responsible probably not and that would be something I would think that the commissioner The Building Commissioner could take up but not in my opinion upstanding hold the cease and desist would negate I think if we don't uphold it then it's saying that Newport has no responsibility in my opinion and I don't think that's the right decision either right in my opinion we we're in a tough spot here there's no job there really is it's brutal so just uh in my experience when you know when there's a traffic study that's done there's usually a peer review done on that and obviously we can't require that for the traffic study to specifically say that these are all Newport that's the problem that I have with the traffic study it didn't say all Newport but it doesn't differentiate whose trucks they are and there's no way to tell the difference between them and that's where the trouble I have with the traffic study is and for the cease and Tois we're solely making it prohibiting the use on them which I feel if we're like there's a cascading effect because Graves is also a a party in this I I agree there is a flaw in the ceas and assist I absolutely agree there is a flaw on it but then we can't upold we can't not we can't it's not it's not complete I don't think it's complete but it's not wrong it's just not complete but that's what we have so if it is incorrect it should be remedied which another cease and assist can be issued but this one is flawed in my opinion if we overturn this ruling tonight and can Jose go issue two if that's what it is not saying they should be issued I'm saying can he legally go do that so we overturn this new one to Newport yeah yes issue to both companies could be problematic right that'd be problematic because we just overturned it why is going to turn around issue another one tomorrow if we just overturned one today you need to have some different reason for coming up with a new one the the idea of requiring a special permit is not even on the table if Jose would to say what I'm going to do is require a special permit for both Graves and Newport that may be a solution when we have some ability to control the amount of traffic well I I think one determination you could make is you could you could agree with Newport that they when they assumed operations they assumed a certain extent of a pre-existing non-conforming use but that that use has expanded such that they require a special permit you could make that determination that sounds like a motion well is is that still overturning it's an it's an opportunity I don't know is that still overturning of modifying okay so if we if we say that that they are so their Assumption of their pre-existing non-conforming and now they have exceeded the pre-existing non-conforming will require them a special permit and so what we're saying until they get that they have to reduce operations back to 2017 numbers until they get that pre that special permit how do we determine 2017 the traffic report that's not a Newport traffic report that's a overall traffic exact if Newport cuts by 50% and G Graves or whatever stays where they are they're still going to be over 2017 numbers so I know I'm sure they have reports of how many trucks came out of their own lot in 2017 but I don't again I again I'm just asking how do we you're saying yes we tell them they need a special permit how does that solve what we're doing right now until they get issued a special permit like and how do we get the other a possible party involved who tells them they need a special permit I don't think we tell them they need doesn't Jose have to that's what I'm saying that's what he's saying modify that's what he's saying we can modify this to say that instead yeah be heard on that for for just a moment I think the reason the board is struggling with this is because it's an arbitrary enforcement order and it should be overturned period full stop the town has the burden to issue an enforcement order that standing on its terms is valid and enforcable and it's clear that the information that you have shows that the town did not consider the fact that there there are other commercial users the traffic study M does not if you can even call it a traffic study I don't think that's a traffic study that was conducted in accordance with the appropriate standards it doesn't have an engineer stamp on it it you can't even tell who did that one study that talks about the Drone flights and so forth so I don't think that's a valid study but even if it were it doesn't distinguish between Newport traffic which and the other users and we all know there's other users up there so that study should not be taken as evidence that there should be an enforcement order against Newport this is a invalid and improper enforcement order if the town wants to have a conversation about addressing some of the issues that we've talked about tonight I think that's a fair conversation to have we were willing to have that conversation we've always been willing to have that conversation but for tonight purposes this board should not be attempting to create and manufacture a a pre-existing non-conforming use issue that was not put in the enforcement order that was not something that the building inspector suggested you have no data s that suggest that 2017 is the right starting point or 2018 or 2020 or any of those things you just don't have the data and it's the town's responsibility to provide that for you so I would request that the board do what we think is the right thing to deny and overturn this enforcement order and we'll have the conversation that you folks are suggesting that we should have and we'll also invite Graves and laaser and and the gilets to have that conversation you're trying to solve a problem that you haven't been given the tools to solve and you're trying to do it in the context of an enforcement order and that's just not the appropriate place to do it so I know that we'll have that conversation with the town and with these other parties um but this isn't the way to do it does the town of chumford have any grounds to offer a special permit what is it a road use because we the both quaries are in Westford correct yes all four of them all the quaries are in Westford so what are we what so would be a Jose is it a is it a road use to be honest I think you got input on this matter um my enforcement letter is basically based on the residential district right and the increase since 2017 since uh Newport took over the site that's what the study that's the data that I have and and that's the data that I use to make this determination is B is basically a c and disas of such operation that was increased in 2017 I know Town counts are Council made some misleading statement about my letter but if you really read into the letter it's really aist and deist to stop the increase of equipment that the the trucking that is being uh uh going down Le Road um so but again it comes back to if it comes down to a special permit um what are we offering that's what I'm saying what are we going to issue to sit down with myself and having Council to further discuss how uh I mean it's a road permit it's not a use permit right no we can't do anything about the quy it's not a jump no no but that's what I mean so has the town ever issued anything like that no did anyone know of it would be a special permit to expand the pre-existing non-conforming use of the private portion of ledge Road okay would that allow some control as to uh volume yes that that is the goal ultimately is to find a way to reduce the volume whether it be an hourly thing or a uh per truck ideal but I I still feel very strongly that if you're going to say that to Newport uh you should say to Graves and I know the two other guys are not uh in the same level as as graves in Newport they're they're almost mom and pop but uh but how do we and then like question sure yep we haven't closed it have we no no don't close it ever Olsson 140 gron Road um I I hate to see this issue confounded by the pration what's the pration here uh I will say again as a lifelong resident of that neighborhood where all of this traffic proceeds through this issue did not start until 2017 and has been increasingly exacerbated since then if I understand there are only two major operations that heavy heavily capitalized Newport and a lesser capitalized if I'm correct Graves may I ask Town Council because I'm partially deaf and I didn't hear some of what said is it possible to uphold this ceasing assist order and then in another meeting come back with a cease and assist order against the next company that being Graves is there anything to prohibit that no I just don't want to see this issue confounded by who's responsible for all the traffic the person who's been there using his eyes using all my videos and photos says began in 2017 when Newport began its operations in Earnest I would implore you to uphold this cease and assist order and then if you feel you want to do so against graves because if they're a contributing factor they're a contributing factor then come back issue a cease and desist order against Graves and let's do something about this issue we keep going round and round and round and the people in this audience right now and my wife and I are living with misery day in and day out and I don't want to rehash all this but if that's a viable alternative according to Town Council of upholding this cease and assist and then issuing a separate one against Graves I'm going to emplore you to do that that's the only way this nonsense is going to stop right volume you still want your month excuse me Mr chair we getting a month extension because I'm with jimy you'd like more time for yes yes please Stephen okay okay uh we're going to request an extension of time from you gentlemen and your responses awaited and we're willing to do that we'd request that we have an opportunity to meet with the town this time if that's really the goal of the exercise and I think the other parties ought to be invited to that meeting as well because this is not a problem that Newport alone can hand can resolve for the town or for the residents I think you've heard testimony that we're a responsible operator and when we get the call to fix something we fix it um but but um you know we can't we can't do this alone which goes to the reason why we feel so strongly about this enforcement order but if the board's requesting it continuance for that purpose we're happy to try and do that I think that I could ask both Town Council and the Building Commissioner to uh approach the powers Meb and ask for that uh meeting I I think that's the limit of my authority we're willing to do that uh I would suggest we continue this until February 6th uh with the hope that the is willing to meet I don't uh know whether Graves would be willing to I don't know whether that uh would allow Jose to uh consider his position on enforcement orders uh not just for Newport but that's that's not myview perview of the Building Commissioner um could so could we anticipate an extension of time in writing until at this point say March the March meeting give us a a month to do something and a month to act on it March 6 is that February uh well we're going to meet on February 6 uh we I guess our request would be till March 6 if we come in February and we can make some progress you know with the I mean I guess we could ask for another extension on February 6 whatever you're comfortable with it's it's not decision to clarify it's two different things one is the board is considering continuing this hearing till next month February 6th but we they are also requesting of you an extension to act on your appeal March I okay so so effectively it's it's a 60-day continuance not just a 30-day correct it'll be a little more because today is only the second but yes yeah more sorry yeah more but that would give an opportunity for the meeting with the town take action so when they have a ceas and desist are they able to still operate right now they shouldn't be legally because it's a ceas and deist a is it a daily fine is that correct I haven't taken that approach suppos they're operating so Mr chairman we're okay with the extend the 60-day extension to that March meeting okay we'd ask for that in writing and we're happy to give that to you in writing I do want to emphasize and I recognize that it's not necessarily this board's call but it is predicated on part of the problem we don't feel we have enough tools as you said to act but we definitely see things that could be uh done in a different way that may come out favorable for everyone involved and I I just want to emphasize and go on the record that that part of the reason for this extension and we're willing to agree to that is the notion that the town will meet meet with us and talk with us about this and also invite those other parties to participate in that conversation I recognize that's not something that's fully within this board's authority to give but I just want to put on the record that we are willing to have that conversation in good faith and that's part of the reason why we're willing to agree to the continu I'm sure some encouragement from other parties will help hopefully influence others to join the table that that's hurt and and honestly we can control what we can control I I that wasn't and then that wasn't meant for you guys at all by by any means not no you are here you are here wasn't meant for you guys no no not for you at all and if I took it that way I apologize absolutely not I I just want to be clear no you are here absolutely you are here we hear you I think we're going to continue this meeting until February 6th and hope that uh people are willing to meet and and come up with some ideas uh that may i' I'd suggest also that perhaps you could talk to uh maybe Mr Elliott or others in the audience and see if we couldn't get someone from the neighborhood to be uh a bit of a a participant in this and share some ideas as they are the ones truly affected by this or encourage some attendance we a motion to continue I'll make a motion to continue the ledge roads ledge Road administrative appeal uh with the approval of the letter of extension coming from um the lawyer representing Newport Aggregate LLC second second all in favor unanimous Mr chairman members of the board thank you very much thank Youk you that was great