(Photo by Anne Marie Tobin/The Daily Item, Lynn, Mass.)
While Peter Fischl, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass., told the city’s Conservation Commission that the club “takes full responsibility” for any unauthorized removal of trees as part of a golf course renovation, Commission members said they will consider fines, remediation orders and possible elimination of an annual 75% property tax abatement that had been granted under a state law meant to encourage preservation of open space. A site visit has been scheduled to determine the extent of removals that occurred in areas where the Commission has oversight, with the club saying many were where it regularly performs grounds maintenance.
City officials in Peabody, Mass. are considering significant fines, remediation orders and even the possibility of eliminating a property tax abatement after learning that Salem Country Club removed nearly 700 trees while undertaking a $3.5 million golf course renovation, The Salem News reported.
C+RB first reported on the situation in February 2022 (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/course-renovation-at-salem-cc-halted-over-tree-removal-issues/).
And while the club’s General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Peter Fischl has said that Salem CC “takes full responsibility” for unauthorized work, members of the city’s Conservation Commission said they’ve heard it all before, the News reported.
“I’m sorry to say but you folks are habitual repeaters,” said Commission vice-chairman Michael Rizzo during a contentious two-hour meeting on March 23rd, where a vote was passed to issue an enforcement order against the club, the News reported.
“You folks should be ashamed,” Rizzo continued, suggesting that he believes the Commission should consider daily fines retroactive to January 2022 for the unauthorized work.
Members of the Commission were scheduled to be at Salem CC on March 28th for a site visit, to take a look at the areas of the golf course where the 683 trees were taken down over a two-week period in December 2021 and January 2022, the News reported.
The city’s conservation agent had been told previously that about 20 dead trees would be removed, the News reported.
Of the 683 trees, 205 were in areas under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission, the club’s engineer from the firm of Weston and Sampson in Reading, Mass. said during the March 23rd meeting, the News reported. Areas that the Conservation Commission would have oversight for include buffer zones and wetlands.
And a little more than half of those trees, 116, were in areas where the club regularly performs grounds maintenance, leading them to believe the tree removal was allowed, the engineer said.
The rest of the trees, the club believed, were outside the jurisdiction of the Commission, the News reported.
But while that might mitigate to some extent any actions taken by the Conservation Commission, the City Council earlier this month approved a request by Councilor Anne Manning-Martin to have the city’s lawyer, assessor and finance director look into whether the unauthorized work puts an annual 75% property tax abatement for the club in jeopardy, the News reported.
That abatement was granted under a state law that was meant to encourage preservation of open space, the News reported.
“They benefitted from those very trees they killed,” Manning-Martin said.
She and several Conservation Commission members also said they believe the golf course needs to be held to the same standard as any home or business owner in the city, the News reported.
“They need to be held accountable, just like the average homeowner,” said Manning-Martin.
The enforcement order approved by the Commission on March 23rd will require the club to conduct a formal wetlands delineation of the affected areas and pay the city’s costs of hiring its own expert to review that delineation, the News reported. And officials said additional requirements will be considered going forward.
“Everyone is going to get fined to the max,” said commission alternate member Amanda Green toward the end of the hearing, as officials turned toward the tree service that took down the hundreds of trees in a two-week period before being ordered to stop, the News reported.
“Did it ever cross your brain maybe you need to talk to someone in the city?” RitaMarie Cavicchio, an alternate member of the commission, asked Mayer Tree Service owner Dan Mayer.
Mayer responded that he was not made aware that the work would be taking place in protected buffer zones or that it might also have required a forest management plan, the News reported. He said he relies on the property owner to have all permits in place when his firm is hired. “We trust them implicitly,” he said.
But the commissioners said they’ve long felt frustrated by Salem CC’s actions, the News reported, including the removal of trees in 2017 to create paved parking lots for the U.S. Senior Open—a matter that still remains open five years later.
They also expressed skepticism as to why the trees were taken down, the News reported.
Commission member Arthur Athas asked Fischl if the club is changing the course, and was told that the goal was simply to try to improve existing conditions. “If trees compete with grass, the trees win, every time,” Fischl said.
Commission member Bruce Comak said as a golfer, he understands the need to maintain the greens, the News reported.
“I play a lot of golf and Salem Country Club is an asset to the city of Peabody,” Comak said. “However, this is blatant. I don’t care what Salem Country Club says—everyone at Salem Country Club knows what’s in our jurisdiction.”
“This makes a mockery of the Commission,” Comak continued. “Every single time, you come up here and beg forgiveness rather than asking permission. Everybody knew damn well what they were doing beforehand.”
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