ONE MORE MEETING – See you there!
Tomorrow night, Tuesday, September 4th at 7:00 p.m. the MPA will go before the Board of Selectman in Douglas asking for their support of our effort to form a watershed district for Manchaug Pond.
The Douglas Board recently voted to support the formation of a watershed district for Whitin Reservoir and now is considering the same legislation for Manchaug Pond.
We expected a ruling at their last meeting but…. the vote was delayed until tomorrow night to review what a Sutton resident handed to the Board in opposition. (Check out the August 22nd post.) Also of concern to all is that the Sutton Board of Selectman did not want to participate in the District and would not even consider the new changes made at the request of Douglas legal counsel to limit eminent domain powers and secure a voting seat for the Town. Douglas Selectman voiced concern as to how the district would function without Sutton’s participation seeing a need for two willing participants with lake property owners.
While the relocation of the Guilford mill and the pending sale of the dam are definitely what got us doing our homework, the dam and waterlevel by far are NOT the only reason a district is right and good for the future of Manchaug Pond. There are Great Ponds protected by watershed districts; there are districts for lakes in two towns; there are districts protecting more than one pond; there are districts protecting Great Ponds smaller than ours and larger; districts who focus on water quality, weed control, waterlevel, protecting habitats and watershed… and all in Massachusetts. We propose nothing new, nothing that hasn’t been done before – only a tried and true method of protecting a beautiful water resource. A method recommended to us by the Congress of Lake and Ponds Associations.