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Brookfield planning board schedules Smith Pit public hearing after finding 'grandfathered' filings
Summary
The Brookfield Planning Board set a special public hearing for the Smith Pit after confirming intent-to-excavate paperwork and earlier filings that suggest the pits may be 'grandfathered.' Members discussed notice logistics for dozens of abutters and inspection-form updates to track reclamation and phasing.
The Brookfield Planning Board agreed at its June 8 meeting to hold a special public hearing on the Smith Pit permit application on July 6 to meet statutory notification requirements and avoid conflicts with the July 4 holiday.
The board reported it had received an intent-to-excavate application from Smith and identified a list of affected abutters requiring certified mailing. Members said archival filings—reports from 1991—indicate the town’s two main gravel pits may be "grandfathered," a status that affects how permits and reclamation are handled.
Board members raised practical concerns about notification logistics. A member noted many small-property abutters on the Smith list would likely require registered or certified letters, increasing staff workload. The board agreed the extra lead time until July 6 would allow staff to prepare certified mailings, post the required newspaper notice and update the website.
The hearing will follow the same process used for the Moose Mountain excavation: a public hearing, review of the intent and reclamation plan, and, if approved, issuance of a temporary permit through March 31 of the following year. The board discussed asking the owner for current-use maps and for reclamation plans to include creation or update dates.
The board also discussed adding specific fields to the excavation inspection checklist—tax identification (map/lot), anticipated phasing dates, and a date/version on the reclamation plan—to improve transparency and year-to-year comparability.
What happens next: staff will prepare and send certified notices to the abutters, post the legal notice and publish the hearing date on the town website. The public hearing on the Smith Pit is scheduled for July 6.
