Folks have been wondering what is next in the Amesbury Sports Park story, ever since the City of Amesbury's Conservation Agent John Lopez exercised his authority under the Commonwealth's Wetlands Protections Act by putting a 'Cease and Desist' order on Amesbury Land Associates (the folks who own and run the Sports Park) on August 29, 2014.
I can't say much about the condition of the business or the oft-asked question: what's happening with the October 2014 Brewfest that was scheduled to take place there. I can say that the City of Amesbury's actions were limited to stopping the Sports Park from the running of so-called OCR (Obstacle Course Race) and any other events through wetland and wetland buffer zones in the City of Amesbury. This effectively meant the cancellation of several OCR events planned for this year. Such events do NOT represent the entirety of the Sports Park's business. The City's action only was against any such race on an affected property and not against all Sports Park business operations.
Tonight (Monday 9/15/14), the Amesbury Conservation Commission took two important actions against Amesbury Land Associates.
First, it formally 'ratified' the 8;29 Cease & Desist Order (HERE). The language of the order was as follows:
This Amended Enforcement Order is being issued as a follow up to the original Order issued on 8/29/2014 for unauthorized activities within Bordering Vegetated Wetlands (BVW), Bank and the 100' Buffer Zone without permits from Amesbury Conservation Commission (ACC), which consisted of the creation of an approximate 4-mile hiking trail of various widths through wetland resource areas and Buffer Zone that significantly altered wetland vegetation, and exposed and destabilized soils; excavation of a 30' x 10' x 5’ trench (approximate) and a smaller, partially excavated trench within BVW, and the placement of tree limbs across intermittent streams and BVW for the purpose of supporting foot traffic. These violations were made pursuant to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act (MGL Chapter 131, s. 40) and its regulations (310 CMR 10.00), as well as the City of Amesbury Wetlands Ordinance and its regulations. The majority of violations took place on city-owned and private property without permission. Therefore, you are hereby ordered to cease and desist all activities within jurisdictional wetland resource areas and Buffer Zone. See additional directives in Attachment to Amended Enforcement Order pertaining to restoration of activities and deadline dates.Second, it approved an enforcement amendment (HERE) to this Order that ordered Amesbury Land Associates to:
- Hire a wetlands scientist to conduct a damage survey on all affected public and private properties, using a geo-map of the August 9 Spartan Race course.
- Based on the survey and assessment, develop a mitigation plan for presentation to the Con Comm at their November 2014 meeting. Specifically, "[t]hese observations shall be detailed in a report and be photo-documented. This report must include proposed restoration activities in an effort to restore the resource areas to its original condition."
 |
| 2013 SuperHero Scramble - Happily scrambling through some very wet wetland (Source: http://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/2013/06/2013-new-england-superhero-scramble-charger-review-recap/) |
5/4/13 - Renegade
Playground
 |
| 2013 SuperHero Scramble - Stream(?) Crossing |
6/8/13 - Superhero
Challenge
6/29/13 - New
England Civilian Military Combine (CMC)
7/13/13 - Dirty Girl
Mud Run
8/10-11/13- Spartan
Race
5/17/14 - MUD Match
2014
5/31/14 - Warrior
Dash
6/7/14 - Superhero
Scramble
6/21/13 - New
England Civilian Military Combine (CMC)
7/26/14 - Dirty Dash
8/9-10/14 - Spartan
Race
9/6/14 - Muddrella
Race (cancelled)
10/11/14 - OutFit
Challenge (cancelled)
10/18/14 - Zombie
Run (cancelled)
5 last year, 9 this year, all with approximately the same course.
With the Conservation Commission addressing the wetlands violations (and the private landowners sorting out any trespassing violations), my concerns turn towards the fact that these races were held with such impunity. The City does have something of an event permission process in place, but it is mainly geared towards the recreational use of Town Parks for things such as sports leagues and competitions. It is not geared towards events held on private property or outside of Town Parks. Whatever process we have in place currently, it clearly is not adequate, since it has allowed tens of thousands to race through Town Conservation land, capped landfill, and Superfund properties for some time without proper controls. The Sports Park has at least coordinated with our Police Department on traffic plans related to these events, so there was some City awareness but that didn't translate into additional oversight. And a resident of Amesbury had brought these very same land use concerns to the City after the May 2014 Warrior Dash and before the August Spartan Race, without result. So, somehow, we've been missing the link from the thousands coming into Town for these events and these land use problems.
Last week, I requested from the Mayor copies of any paperwork submitted by the Sports Park for any of the events listed above. I have not yet heard back regarding what the City may or may not have on file. UPDATE 9/16/14: I heard back from the Mayor's office and an ongoing search has not turned up paperwork for 2013 and 2014 OCR events hosted by the Sports Park.
To address the problem of having only modest or little oversight of large scale events in Amesbury, I've drafted and submitted a Special Event Permit Process ordinance, for first reading at the September City Council meeting, with Councilors Lavoie and Ferguson as co-sponsors. It sets broad standards in place for what kinds of events will require a special permit and the conditions which any permit application must meet before being approved. You can read the proposed ordinance HERE.
I'm looking forward to getting input from the City, my fellow Councilors, and from the business community about how we can do a better job of overseeing these and other public events.
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