Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAbutter comment Gabel 7.31.2025, 8.7.2025, 8.28.2025 and 9.4.2025108 Mill Lane Yarmouth Port, MA 02675 August 28, 2025 Yarmouth Conservation Commission c/o Brittany DiRienzo, Conservation Administrator via email <BDiRienzo@yarmouth.ma.us> Dear Conservation Commissioners: I would like to highlight what I believe to be the most serious environmental harm the proposed farm at 88/100 Mill Lane is likely to cause. During its August 21 meeting, the Commission spent a considerable amount of time discussing modiflcations to the manure composting facility that could mitigate environmental harm from the manure. Greater environmental harm, however, is likely to come from the pastures. The 30 goats and two donkeys will continuously deposit feces in downward-sloping pastures from sunrise to sunset. Coliform bacteria leached from their feces by rainfall and snowmelt will pose a serious threat to the wetland’s ecosystem. According to the site plan, the elevation of the pastures is more than 20 feet above Mill Pond’s mean low tide. This substantial hydrostatic gradient will facilitate the fiow of coliform bacteria into the pond. Groundwater will carry polluted water under Mill Lane, and a culvert at the foot of 100 Mill Lane’s driveway will provide free fiow of runoff into the pond. Mill Pond is periodically closed to shellflshing because of pollution with coliform bacteria. Adding polluted runoff from the proposed farm can be expected to increase the number of days when coliform bacteria in the pond and wetlands will threaten wildlife, commercial shellflshing, swimming, and other recreational activities. The added load of coliform bacteria may even render the pond permanently impaired. Please give serious thought to the farm’s potential adverse environmental impacts when considering the applicants’ notice of intent. Yours sincerely, Ronald A. Gabel, MD 108 Mill Lane -.. +.,.... te,„4., 4......... ilt 4.41.1 _1wr-, -.Nor 4, , (' ,,,,--. ... ilf ar,...—I......., , ' . PftipOGED "' O51MNc civ> � p 4o \ S ef, 100 feet \,.4 // ' '''' Scale:1-mg 40' nt 20 40 '. r FQT / ELEVATION Hydrostatic Head of Pressure *a `1 , ,I . About 20 feet at high tide About 28 feet 100 fSt at low tide 110 ftt+ft �4.- et 4 1%3 N� IP i r +4: 7 II • M;M1 Hallet's%I Porid Br dge r us ` h1i r�( „ecy a� i ''"*.vvir J1-..4. . wr.-r Good afternoon. My name is Ron Gabel. I have three questions for Mr. Ojala. First, how can the plan be modified to comply with Chapter 202, Section D, of the Health Department's regulations, which state: "Stables, corrals and paddocks .. . shall be located not less than 250 feet from the high-water mark of any source of shellfishing." The barn is located less than 150 feet from Mill Pond. Second, how can the plan be modified to comply with the Division of Marine Fisheries' requirement that a waste management plan must be implemented that ensures no runoff of animal waste or associated nutrients will flow into nearby wetlands? A hydrostatic downgradient of 128 feet from the composting area south of the barn to Mill Pond will ensure that all the coliform bacteria leached from the manure by rainfall will run off into the pond. Third, how will the safety hazard from increased vehicular traffic associated with the farm be mitigated? Walkers, runners, and cyclists regularly travel in both directions on both sides of Mill Lane and Keveney Lane, often accompanied by children and dogs. The roads are only about 18 feet wide and have little or no space next to them for pedestrians to step safely out of the way. These issues, which already pose a safety hazard, are likely to be exacerbated by commercial traffic serving the farm. 3 Good evening. My name is Ron Gabel. Down Cape Engineering has recently submitted a new plan to try to mitigate the runoff of coliform bacteria from the pastures. The only way to determine whether this intervention is effective is to measure its impact. Therefore, you should require the applicants to provide monthly measurements of coliform bacteria in Mill Pond for at least 6 months before making the farm operational, as a control, and for no less than 12 months thereafter as a test. Your approval of the farm should be conditional on these tests showing that the farm is not significantly increasing Mill Pond's pollution with coliform bacteria. Thank you.