2005-DCPC DISTRICT OF CRITICAL PLANNING AND CONCERN

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Nomination Form, Item #15: What type (s) of development would be appropriate within the proposed district after the district has been nominated? Development should be guided by consideration of water-quality-associated impacts in the particular sub-watershed that the development is proposed. .The over-riding concern when considering additional development should be whether or not the sub- watershed can safely assimilate the amounts of nutrient loading involved without causing further negative impacts to groundwater and water bodies. For example, in its report on the Popponesset Bay Watershed area, MEP states that, "Unfortunately, almost all of the estuarine reaches within the Popponesset Bay System (including Popponesset Bay itself) are near or beyond their ability to assimilateadditionalnutrients without impacting their ecological health. Therefore, proposed development in this particular area must not produce additional nutrient loading that the estuary system. is unable to. assimilate -without causing further damaging impacts to its health. Nomination Form, Item #16: What guidelines for development should be instituted in the proposed district to protect the values and purposes for which the district is being nominated (e.g. , local zoning and general by- laws, regulations, local overlay districts? The goals of this DCPC are,to develop an integrated approach to nutrient planning and management, to implement a plan to avoid continued degradation of estuarine systems, and to provide for the restoration of our impaired water bodies. The State has mandated remedial actions for,.impaired water bodies, stating that: "The _ challenge for coastal communities will be to determine which pathways are appropriate to their particular watersheds". It is our intention to pursue all available options that will aid in achieving the goals we have set forth, i.e. , local zoning and general by-laws, overlay districts and/or other measures and regulations., including consideration of the modification or adoption of the following: 1) Board of Health nitrogen regulations requiring denitrification for flows over 600 gallons per day. 2) Conservation Commission wetlands regulations requiring on-site - denitrification systems. 3) Stormwater Management zoning by-law (Section 174-21.1) 4) Growth Managementzoningby-law (Section 174-26) relative to development . rate in relation to availability of adequate wastewater infrastructure and nutrient impacts. 12