Jacobs Pond decision due in 3 weeks

By L.E. Crowley, Town correspondentThe Norwell Conservation Commission closed its hearing Tuesday night regarding payments for the cleaning of Jacobs Pond, and now has 21 days to make a decision.

The question is whether condominium owners at Jacobs Pond Estates will continue making a $5,000-a-year payment toward treating and cleaning the pond.

According to the commission's administrative assistant, Meredith Schmid, the commission will hold a special meeting on the topic next week. At the end of the 21-day period, the commssion can issue either an approval order of conditions or a denial order of conditions, she said.

Last month the commission opened a hearing to revisit the payment plan that was established in 1999, when the development—a 42-unit retirement complex--was completed under the state’s Chapter 40B affordable-housing law.

The condo association asked the commission in a letter last month to eliminate a condition the association pay $5,000 per year toward the maintenance and care of the pond. In its letter, the association said the payment should be rescinded because a study of the pond reported the condo development’s septic system is not contributing to pollution in the pond.

The Conservation Commission has said the condo association has made sporadic payments since 1999, and through the years the town has taken over those payments. The commission has said the payment has not been received since 2002.