I have in all earnest been trying, since 2016, to sell Parcel I (3e-33) so that I can pay the back taxes I owe. There has been and continues to be interest in the property. The buyers I had lined up in 2016 as well as all the others since have made it very clear that no one is going to buy my lot without the order of conditions and septic permit being released. The order of conditions for this Lot was approved and signed years ago but is still being withheld. I was told then that this was because I owed back taxes. Parcel I (3e-33) has successfully perc’d and the septic permit is awaiting submission until the tax situation is resolved. I was and am still unable to pay what I owe unless and until I can sell Parcel I (3e-33). Permits are being withheld per section 215-2 of the Bolton Town by-law, “The licensing authority may deny, revoke or suspend any license or permit, including renewals and transfers, of any party whose name appears on said list furnished to the licensing authority from the tax collector…….” “………..provided, however, written notice is given to the party and the tax collector, as required by applicable provisions of law, and the party is given a hearing………” https://ecode360.com/14850159 There has never been a hearing on this matter. March 2019, I was told to direct all questions to the Town Counsel, who has not responded to my emails and inquiries since. Had the town released the permits instead of severing all communication with me and refusing to deal with potential buyers, who have since walked away, the Town would have been paid in full already. A potential buyer stopped by the Bolton Town Hall to inquire about the property. The Conservation Agent told him they would not even discuss his plans (which would resolve the Tax and Wetland Issues) until the back taxes and court judgment were settled. Another potential buyer called the building department to find out about my land for sale but was told that the Town had no record of my address and they could or would not look it up, therefore were unable to answer any questions about it. I was hoping I might be able to preserve this land. However it will likely now have to be turned over to the developers. I am unconvinced that if the Town takes the property for the back taxes, that it won’t just be turned over to developers anyway. Please direct the town to release the previously signed and approved permits for Parcel I (3e-33) and provide time to sell the property and redeem the tax titles. There is no reason that this situation cannot be resolved with a little cooperation from the town. I have been breeding and raising alpacas in Stow since 2008. In 2014 I brought some of my alpacas onto the current property on Maple Street, Stow and Teele Road, Bolton to graze and then slowly began maintaining and improving the “Land in Agricultural Use”. Because activities performed for “normal maintenance or improvement of Land In Agricultural Use or when they occur within the Buffer Zone or Bordering Land Subject to Flooding that is not land in agricultural use” are exempt from the WPA (MA Wetlands Protection Act), which preempts the local bylaws, I did not think I required any permits to do so. https://www.mass.gov/doc/310-cmr-1000-the-wetlands-protection-act/download
In 2015, the Town of Stow brought me to District Court in Concord accusing me of damming up and diverting water ways. Something for which they provided no evidence. These charges were promptly dismissed. In 2016 the Town of Bolton told me that according to the local bylaw I had only one lot, not the five that they had been taxing for the past 25 years, since the plan creating these lots was only recorded in Middlesex County. Bolton being in Worcester County, I simply recorded in Worcester, the same plan which had been signed by both Bolton and Stow 25 years earlier, thus resolving that issue. Bolton had been taxing two of these lots as Build-able, yet over the course of 25 years had refused to issue the permits necessary to build, primarily because the variances had expired and the bylaw had been changed, it now requires all frontage to be in Bolton. The Town mislead me to believe, it would not honor the variances originally issued by the town 25 years earlier as they to had not been recorded in Worcester County. (The Town now claims that the Variances are void after 6 months if not acted upon). I brought this issue to the tax assessors and these two lots were then converted to and assessed as Unbuildable. Realizing the taxes were still going to be an issue if I wished to farm this property long term, I decided to sell Parcel I (3e-33). I applied for and was granted the variance, required because a small portion of the contiguous frontage was in Stow not Bolton. The variance was approved, issued and recorded in Worcester County, along with my Declaration of Homestead (b56786 p165). With the issuance of the variance the lot was reclassified as Buildable and the taxes were increased. I then had Parcel I (3e-33) Perc tested and was working on the NOI (Notice of Intent) and Septic Plan. However a MA DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) declared drought stopped the documentation to refute the Perennial Stream Presumption and thus halted progress. During 2017 the Stow Conservation Coordinator then took a temporary position in the same role in Bolton. She asserted that my Perc testing of Parcel I (3e-33) in Bolton was a violation of the WPA and local bylaw. Since Bolton’s bylaw allowed the town to recoup court costs, expenses that Stow could not and was not willing to pay themselves, and DEP had declared a drought, both towns took the opportunity to bring a joint suit against me in Superior Court. The charges this time were violations in the Buffer Zones and Riverfront Area, a presumption I was unable to refute at the time because of the drought. Claims were then made that the property was not in agricultural use. Stow began and continues to withhold the yearly animal counts made by the town animal inspector. Bolton never counted my animals. However both towns have and continue to issue Agricultural Burn Permits. I was then as I am now unable to afford or otherwise acquire legal representation, so I attempted to defend myself. While the Towns were bringing suit against me, the Stow and Bolton Town Clerks were able to disrupt the USPS (United States Postal Service) deliveries to my farm. I assumed I had responded properly to the Superior Court, however my notification from the court was returned NSN (No Such Number). This caused me to miss the hearing and my answer to the complaint and request for a new hearing were denied for failing to comply with Rule 9A. Because of the mail delivery issues, I only found this out after I was defaulted. In 2018 I tried to comply with the Towns and the Superior Court Judgement by filing a NOI. However after Bolton approved the order of conditions for Parcel I (3e-33) the Town withheld this permit because of back taxes, thus preventing me from selling and being able to pay the back taxes and comply with the default court judgment. The conservation agents of both towns were somehow successful in blocking my state FCP (Forest Cutting Plan ), preventing me from harvesting timber and thus paying what I owe and/or having the money necessary to otherwise work towards resolving these issues. The denial of my FCP was based on the Preliminary Injunction not the Final Default Judgment from the Superior Court that superseded it. My FCP & NOI which should have satisfied the court order was denied, thus preventing yet another opportunity for me to comply with the court order, and resolve the tax issues. The Worcester Superior Court declared my violation to be “land clearing and erection of fencing and structures within 100 feet of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands and within 100 feet of a pond without an Order of Conditions” None of this is a violation in a Wetland Resource Area but instead only in the Buffer Zone. The Superior Court ORDERED that I “restore the wetland Resource Area and Buffer Zone at the Property in Accordance with the requirements of the Wetlands Protection Act and regulations and the Bolton and Stow Wetlands Bylaws”. Default Judgement Dec 2017 ActionNo 1785CV00789 As this legal action was undertaken during a MA DEP declared drought I was unable to refute the presumption of Perennial Streams until 2018 when RDAs (Requests for Determination of Applicability) filed with Bolton and Stow successfully refuted the presumption of the Riverfront Area and any prohibition of “New Agriculture” there in. There are no Perennial Streams on the property and therefore no 200 foot Riverfront Area, as determined by the Conservation Commissions of Stow, Feb 6, 2018 and Bolton January 16, 2018. Wetland Delineation was accepted by the Town of Bolton for Parcel I (3e-33) in March 6, 2018 DEP File #0112-0660. The other areas that have been cut were never been in contention. The property is “In Active Agricultural Use”. Forest, Field, Stream, and Pond are Actively Managed in the For Profit pursuit of Breeding Alpacas and raising Industrial Hemp, as acknowledged by both Towns with Agricultural Burn Permits and the State by my MDAR Hemp License. This property was and is Presently and Primarily in Agricultural Use as witnessed by both towns and the State to continuing to issue Agricultural Permits for this property. All of the declared violations are allowed as “Improvements of Land in Agricultural Use” and are exempt from the WPA and Local Bylaws. Since there is no Riverfront Area on the premises there are not now nor have there ever been any violations of the WPA or local Bylaws, thereby complying with the ORDER to complete any and all required work within one year of the Default Judgment. The already signed and approved Order of Conditions for Parcel I (3e-33), based on the NOI required by the Superior Court Order and thus fully compliant in all regards, should be released and the Septic Permit for Parcel I (3e-33) released upon approval, thus allowing me to sell Parcel I (3e33) and pay all back taxes, money judgments and liens on the property when sold.
In spite of all this the Town of Bolton continues to refuse mediation and was able to also get my Previously approved Industrial Hemp License Revoked for 2022.