Shutesbury Conservation Commission Denies Boat Ramp Emergency Cert, Issues Tree-Cutting Enforcement

SHUTESBURY -- April 7, 2026, Shutesbury's Conservation Commission denied an emergency certification for Lake Wyola boat ramp repairs and issued a tree-removal enforcement order at its April 7 meeting. The commission voted 4-0 to require Lake Wyola Association representative Mark Rivers to file a full Notice of Intent rather than pursue an emergency cert to regrade and re-gravel the Randall Road boat ramp, with Chair Beth Duffy citing the work's location within the lake itself as a resource area requiring full permitting. The commission also reached an agreement with 87 Shore Drive property owner Bill Wells, who had removed three large trees within the buffer zone without a permit, requiring him to plant three native shrubs near the shoreline in lieu of tree replacement, to be documented in a second enforcement order. A partial certificate of compliance for a lakeside house project at 59 Shore Drive was continued to April 23 after the commission found that an unpermitted Goshen stone walkway and a gravel garden bed had been installed near the lake without an amended order of conditions. The board unanimously extended by 30 days the emergency certification allowing Lake Wyola to remain five feet below normal level while temporary dam patching continues.