Acting to protect wetlands

“Westborough has experienced a lot of development over the years, and a number of our watersheds are at capacity for being able to handle any more storm water,’’ said Derek Saari, the town’s assistant conservation officer and planner.

Westborough is not alone in crafting its own wetlands protection. Area communities that have passed their own home-rule wetlands regulations include Acton, Ashland, Boxborough, Carlisle, Framingham, Franklin, Maynard, Medway, Milford, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, Plainville, Sherborn, Shirley, Watertown, Wayland, Wellesley, and Wrentham, according to the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions.

Like other local measures, the Westborough regulations go beyond the state’s Wetlands Protection Act. The state law creates buffer zones around the edge of wetlands, but Westborough’s proposal mandates setbacks beyond those buffers and governs development activities within these areas.

“We wanted to look beyond an applicant’s property to see what the implications are to the town’s infrastructure,’’ Saari said. “We know, in certain areas of town, we have a lot of trouble spots, like undersized culverts, and a substantial amount of development in front of us, but state law doesn’t allow us to look beyond applicants’ properties - so we’re handcuffed.’’

The town’s Conservation Commission will hold a public meeting Nov. 10 to discuss the regulations, which grew out of a bylaw passed at last fall’s Town Meeting and were approved recently by the state attorney general’s office, Saari said. He said the commission can either vote on the regulations Nov. 10 or make changes based on the public comments and vote at a subsequent meeting.

Joe Ferson, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, said communities cannot create bylaws less restrictive than the state’s standards, but “if a community supports the measure, the Department of Environmental Protection believes the community has the right to enact a more restrictive bylaw.’’

Westborough’s rationale is one of many that are cited by communities seeking to enact their own, more stringent wetlands regulations.

“The state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Wetlands Act cannot be everywhere, see everything, and know everything,’’ said Gregor McGregor, a past president and current board member of the Association of Conservation Commissions, which advises local panels around the state.

McGregor, an author of the association’s model local wetlands bylaw, said that nearly 200 Massachusetts communities have passed such bylaws or ordinances since 1972, when the state law was established. The tougher regulations can protect drinking-water supplies or guard local wildlife refuges or corridors.

A situation often cited by local officials looking to tighten the rules, McGregor said, “is if they have endangered species and vernal pools, those ephemeral spring pools that the law doesn’t protect very well.’’ A vernal pool typically forms in the spring, and provides a breeding ground for smaller creatures such as salamanders before disappearing with the dry months of summer.

Westborough’s reasons for pursuing its own regulations “are very common and desirable right now,’’ McGregor said. “A local bylaw can define the buffer area as a resource area,’’ so communities have full jurisdiction over its development.

Wetlands bylaws can change over time as communities react to development challenges.

Hopkinton first enacted its own bylaw in 1995 and made some language adjustments at this spring’s Town Meeting for the first time since 2003, said Don MacAdam, the town’s conservation administrator. The Conservation Commission will adopt new regulations related to those bylaws in the near future, he said.

“Obviously, you’ve got a 14-year-old document. As the times change and as you learn more, you try to make it better through trial and error,’’ MacAdam said. “When you create a law based on protecting resources, you might not envision everything coming down the pike.’’

The Hopkinton bylaw goes beyond the state’s version to protect any vegetative freshwater wetlands, marshes, bogs, swamps, or other such bodies of water. It also protects vernal pools regardless of whether they have been certified by the state for protection, and it emphasizes erosion and sediment control and wildlife and recreational values.

Wellesley’s bylaw, approved in 2002, protects isolated wetlands that cover at least 2,500 square feet of surface area. The state law only recognizes isolated wetlands over 5,000 square feet.

“In a town like Wellesley, we’re pretty built out and there’s not a lot of space,’’ said its conservation administrator, Adam Bossi “But even small wetlands spaces are performing an important function.’’

The town’s Wetlands Protection Committee treats the first 25 feet surrounding any wetland as a “no disturbance zone’’ where any development activity comes under heavy scrutiny, and the next 75 feet as a “limited disturbance zone.’’

But that doesn’t mean those areas are completely devoid of development - just that the committee works closely with people seeking permits for work in these areas, and closely assesses the impact of, say, digging in a heavily wooded area that is associated with a nearby wetland.

“People still get permits for all kinds of works - houses, commercial properties, roads, you name it,’’ Bossi said.

Moreover, some residents hire their own consultants, engineers, or architects with knowledge of local wetlands protection regulations, he said.

Lexington has had its own wetlands protection bylaw since 1977, said Karen Mullins, the town’s conservation administrator. The local Conservation Commission has established setbacks for structures and disturbances in protected areas. Residential structures must be at least 50 feet from wetlands.

The bylaw is more stringent than the state act “in that it refers to the buffer zone as a ‘protected resource area,’ ’’ Mullins said. All wetland-adjacent building requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Franklin’s conservation agent, Nick Alfieri, said that the town adopted its current regulations in the late 1990s. Compared with the state Wetlands Act, the local regulations contain fewer exemptions for entities such as power companies. “Everybody has to go through the local process,’’ he said.

In addition, wetlands of all shapes and sizes are protected in Franklin. “There’s a certain size the state recognizes, but we don’t have that size description in our bylaw,’’ Alfieri said.

Wayland implemented its bylaw in 2002, adopted regulations in 2004, and amended those regulations last year. Over time, administrators have gotten more sophisticated at identifying and examining natural resources and how to protect them, according to its conservation administrator, Brian Monahan.

In Westborough, officials’ concerns stemmed largely from increased development that could encroach upon wetlands borders and create additional runoff into waterways.

“The Wetlands Protection Act is a good tool,’’ Saari said, but “you could have work going so close to that line that it inevitably alters’’ the wetlands.

He said that the new regulations would allow the town to look at the possibility of getting developers to pay to prevent any harmful effects on a town wetlands.

Saari said that he would not expect the regulations, as proposed, to prevent residents from renovating their homes or businesses from building in town.

“Development still happens every day. It just means you need to do your engineering appropriately,’’ Saari said. “It’s far more expensive’’ to take runoff out of the wetlands. “We’re not here to hinder. We’re here to protect.’’