Commission denies partial certificate for 10 Exit Street, cites unstable fence and unfinished site stabilization

The Brockton Conservation Commission on May 20 denied a request for a partial certificate of compliance for 10 Exit Street, saying the site still needs significant work and the newly installed property fence is not permanent or safe.

Acting Chair Joyce Boris presided as the commission reviewed a partial certificate request from Brad Holmes of ECR, who asked that the commission confirm the single-family reconstruction meets the order of conditions while leaving restoration monitoring open for two growing seasons. Kyle, the commission’s staff reviewer, recounted a history of enforcement visits and two enforcement orders tied to the property, and recommended denying the partial certificate.

“Kyle said the restoration area has been planted but large patches of lawn are not stabilized, the fence posts are poorly anchored and there are protruding screws and brackets throughout the fence, and the fence location does not match the submitted as-built,” the commission discussion recorded. Kyle told the panel he could physically shake fence posts with one arm and observed exposed hardware beginning to rust, raising safety and permanence concerns.

Brad Holmes said the developer has remedied earlier problems, that conservation markers were installed and that he could return with a full certificate after the required monitoring. Holmes asked the commission instead to consider a narrower partial sign-off limited to the house and its layout while leaving the fence, site stabilization and restoration area open. “We can work it either way,” Holmes said; he added there is an agreement between the previous and current owner to fund required fixes.

Commissioners pushed back. One commissioner said granting even a partial certificate would reduce the commission’s leverage to require corrective work, given the home already has a certificate of occupancy and the property sale has closed. Another member stressed the fence had been rebuilt multiple times over the past year and remained inadequate. Peggy Curtis moved to deny the partial certificate; the motion was seconded and passed by roll call (Curtis: yes; Green: yes; Leon: yes; Matt: yes; Boris: yes).

Following the vote, Holmes said the applicant would address the commission’s comments and return. The commission’s decision leaves the order of conditions open for continued enforcement and for the applicant to return with a compliant fence, site-stabilization work and the full restoration documentation needed for a later certificate.

What happens next: The applicant will be expected to correct fence construction to meet the commission’s standards, stabilize bare areas of lawn, remove construction debris from jurisdictional buffer areas as required, and return with documentation that restoration planting is successful, at which point the commission may consider a certificate of compliance.