Charlton Conservation Commission Closes Three Hearings, Recommends Stormwater Fine Schedule

CHARLTON — June 17, 2026 — Charlton Conservation Commission recommended a graduated noncriminal fine schedule for stormwater violations and acted on a full docket of development hearings at its June 17 meeting. Conservation and Stormwater Director Rose Conway proposed a three-tier schedule — $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second, and $300 for a third and subsequent violations — to give her a structured enforcement tool beyond the existing $300 criminal cap; the commission voted unanimously to forward the recommendation to Town Administrator Andrew, with a town meeting vote required before the change takes effect. The commission closed public hearings and issued orders of conditions for two residential projects — a 36-by-36-foot detached garage at 42 Ramshorn Road and a well installation at Lot 55 Jennings Road — while continuing the high-profile 360 Worcester Road mixed-use redevelopment of the former Route 20 mini golf course to August 19 pending peer-review responses. The commission also unanimously approved an amended order of conditions for New England Power Company's Carpenter Hill Road transmission pole project, allowing poles to increase from six-to-seven feet to seven-to-eight feet in diameter, raising bordering-vegetated-wetland impact from 282 square feet to 351 square feet with corresponding mitigation expansion. A months-long enforcement dispute at 62 Old Spencer Road remained unresolved, with commissioners voting to continue monitoring after concluding no active violation exists because the property owner rerouted his discharge pipe and no water has been observed flowing through the disputed trench.