Lunenburg Conservation Commission Holds Riverfront Regulations Training Session

LUNENBURG -- May 21, 2026, Lunenburg Conservation Commission holds full-meeting training on riverfront area regulations. The commission convened May 21 for a working tutorial led by a semi-retired wetlands consultant identified only as Mike, a former seven-year Tufts University lecturer, who walked members Chair Mary, Jenny, and Teddy through the four-step regulatory decision tree governing riverfront area under 310 CMR 10.58 of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. The session covered how to determine whether a water feature qualifies as a stream, how to distinguish perennial from intermittent streams using USGS topographic maps and StreamStats rather than MassMapper, how to locate the bankfull discharge line that defines the inner edge of riverfront area, and when a project qualifies for the less burdensome previously-developed pathway under Section 1058.5. Members said the smaller, example-driven format, drawing on the consultant's cases from Lunenburg, Concord, Rockland, and Easton, was more useful than standard MACC classes, and proposed scheduling similar sessions quarterly. No formal votes were taken.