Commission bars invasive‑management work inside flagged wetland at 42 Scarsdale Road

The Dennis Conservation Commission on Sept. 4 approved a revised restoration and driveway reconfiguration plan for 42 Scarsdale Road but restricted any invasive‑species work, herbicide use or soil disturbance within the bordering vegetated wetland flagged as C1 through B6.

Theresa Sprague of BlueFlex Design, representing property owner Karen Devine, told the commission the team reduced the driveway by about 160 square feet, will retain several trees previously slated for removal and will perform invasive‑species removal by hand rather than mechanically. She said the plan revision and an easement correction were submitted Aug. 27 and Aug. 26, respectively, and that Down Cape Engineering would answer legal‑title and easement questions.

Abutter Annie Walker urged caution, describing how a nearby intermittent stream supplies water used on her certified cranberry bog and asking that the commission require Material Safety Data Sheets for any herbicides before work begins. "I request, as a condition to ... approval, what's called the MSDS — Material Safety Data Sheets — that I can look at them prior to them doing something," Walker said, citing concerns that systemic herbicides and surfactants might reach irrigation water used for her berries.

Andrew Gorman of Beals and Thomas, representing an abutter, recommended the commission keep management activities outside the BVW to avoid unintentionally thinning understory vegetation and damaging mature tree root masses. "We find that there is still benefit in restricting the management activities outside of the bordering vegetated wetland," Gorman said, noting that some invasives persist on abutting properties.

In response, Theresa Sprague described a targeted approach to invasive control: cut‑and‑wipe application to the stump and selective treatment of target species rather than broad foliar spraying. She said the active ingredients proposed are triclopyr and glyphosate and that a wetland‑approved surfactant would be used only as part of carefully applied treatments. "When we're applying herbicide, we're applying it selectively ... we are using the cut and wipe application method, which we feel is the safest, and absolutely minimizes soil contact," Sprague said.

After hearing public comment and questions from commission members about timing and methods, a commissioner moved to close the hearing and then moved to approve the project under the Dennis Wetlands Bylaw with one explicit exception: no invasive species management, herbicide treatments, or other disturbances would be permitted within the delineated BVW line from flag C1 to B6. The motion included a requirement that Sprague provide a revised plan marking the no‑work zone and that staff be permitted to review the flagged line in the field before work begins.

Commissioners approved an amendment to the motion adding five extra feet of buffer beyond the flagged line. The commission also required a site meeting with staff prior to planting and accepted Sprague’s commitment to include a note that no work will take place until after the cranberry harvest season.

The commission directed staff to prepare a draft order of conditions incorporating the no‑work zone, timing provisions and survivability monitoring for plantings (the applicant said it would meet a 90% survivability target over three years). Sprague and Down Cape Engineering will supply the revised plan and the corrected easement documentation requested by commissioners.

Next steps: the applicant will file the revised plan marking the no‑work zone and staff will draft an order of conditions that records the limits, the timing restriction to avoid cranberry harvest, and the monitoring requirements agreed on in the hearing.