Seal Cove News: Developer faces violation notice

Developer faces violation notice
By Mark Good

TREMONT — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is recommending that the town issue a notice of violation to developer Pritam Singh for tree cutting done on property his family owns on Seal Cove.
The DEP contends that Mr. Singh violated the town’s zoning ordinance when clearing a 23-acre site on the Cape Road, formerly owned by the heirs of Joan Fisher.

Millard Billings, Tremont’s town manager and code enforcement officer, confirmed Tuesday that he plans to issue a notice of violation but is unsure when that will take place.

Mr. Singh intends to build a 305-foot-long pier and float project off the property. The pier became controversial in the town, with abutting landowners and other residents opposing the project during the planning board process. After hosting a series of impassioned public hearings, the board approved the pier June 21.

During planning board review of the pier, Mr. Singh said he plans to build no more than six houses on the property, a main house and several smaller homes for family members.

According to DEP shoreland zoning coordinator Tracey Thibault, her department was asked by the town to assist in determining if a violation occurred during the land-clearing process.

“The state helps the town administer the shoreland zoning ordinance,” she explained.

Ms. Thibault said aerial photographs of the property and information from global positioning satellites were used to help determine the extent of the cutting. In addition, the DEP asked CES, Inc., the engineering firm used by Mr. Singh for the project, to supply calculations regarding the amount of vegetation removed from the site, she said.

In a letter to Mr. Billings, Ms. Thibault writes that the CES report shows violations occurred within the 75-foot buffer strip required along the shoreline and also outside the strip.

CES states that 7,137 square feet of forest canopy was removed from the buffer strip, she writes. The zoning ordinance limits any clearing in this area to 250 square feet “as measured from the outer limits of the tree crown.”

The “buffer area did not contain a well distributed stand of trees and other vegetation prior to additional removal” and therefore is a violation of the ordinance, she writes.

Outside the buffer strip, CES determined there is 268,287 square feet in the shoreland zone, allowing 67,072 square feet to be cleared. However, 104,580 square feet had been opened prior to Mr. Singh purchasing the property. This, Ms. Thibault assumed, was grandfathered. CES stated another 17,172 square feet had been cleared, resulting in a second violation of the ordinance, Ms. Thibault writes.

Ms. Thibault said that CES representatives agreed to remedial measures during a site visit she attended with them and Mr. Billings. As a result, 48 trees would be planted in the buffer strip and 58 trees planted outside the strip. Saplings may be no less than three feet tall for coniferous species and no less than six feet tall for deciduous species. The planting must be a mix of three native species with not one species making up more than half the number of trees planted.

In addition, Ms. Thibault said, Mr. Singh could be fined or face other sanctions as ordered by a court.