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Article 37 To see of the Town will vote to amend Section 172-7 (A) (1) (Permits, Determinations and Conditions) of General Bylaw Chapter 172 (Wetlands) to increase the current one hundred (100') foot buffer zone to wetlands to one hundred and fifty (150') feet and increase the current requirement of a fifty (50') foot Naturally Vegetated Buffer Strip (NVBS) to seventy five (75') feet, as follows: 172-7 Permits; Determinations and Conditions: A. If the Commission, after a public hearing, determines that the activities which are the subject of the application are likely to have significant or cumulative effect upon the wetland values protected by this chapter, the Commission, within twenty-one (21) days of the close of the hearing, shall issue or deny a permit for the activities requested. If it issues a permit, the Commission shall impose conditions which the Commission deems necessary or desirable to protect those values, and all activities shall be done in accordance with those conditions. Lands within one hundred fifty (150') feet of specific resource areas, and lands within two hundred (200') feet of rivers, are presumed important to the protection of these resources because activities undertaken in close proximity to wetlands, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, creeks, estuaries, the ocean and/or other resource areas have a high likelihood of adverse impact upon them, either immediately, as a consequence of construction, or over time, as a consequence of daily operation or existence of activities. These adverse impacts from construction and use can include, without limitation, erosion, siltation, loss of groundwater recharge, poor water quality, and loss of wildlife habitat. The Commission therefore may require that the applicant maintain a continuous naturally vegetated buffer strip (NVBS) within the aforesaid one hundred fifty (150') foot (or two hundred (200') feet for rivers) area with the aim of minimizing adverse impacts to resource areas and the wetland values of Chapter 172. (This requirement will not preclude access pathways through said NVBS, as determined by regulations for this Chapter.) Said NVBS shall be a minimum of seventy five (75') feet in width unless the applicant convinces the Commission (as per the provisions of Section 12 of this Chapter) that: (a) The NVBS (or part of it) may be disturbed and/or diminished without harm to the values protected by this Chapter, or (b) That reducing the scope of work/alteration is not possible. Submitted by the Conservation Commission Explanation: This article would increase the current one hundred (100') foot buffer zone to wetlands to one hundred and fifty (150') feet and increase the current fifty (50') foot naturally vegetated buffer strip (NVBS) to seventy-five (75') feet in order to provide increased pollution and sediment removal from waters entering wetlands, and to increase the area available for wildlife habitat. The Select Board recommends approval of Article 37 by a vote of 4-0 The Finance Committee recommends approval of Article 37 by a vote of 6-0 Motion made by Select Board Member Weeden Motion: I move the Town vote to approve Article 37 as printed in the warrant. Motion passes at 8:58 PM