Bridgewater Conservation Hits Elm Street Property With $350-Per-Day Fine

BRIDGEWATER -- March 26, 2026, Bridgewater Conservation Commission voted a $350-per-day enforcement fine against the owner of 1010 Elm Street after the newly appointed Conservation Agent Daniel Levesque found silt fences collapsed and sediment running directly into an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Levesque, splitting duties between Bridgewater and Halifax, described a "completely disregarded site" where silt socks were flattened and bulk material piles in a parking lot were draining toward wetlands, the property's second enforcement action after a prior order was lifted when the owner promised restoration work that was never completed. Chair Marilyn McDonald and Vice Chair Laurie Keane led the unanimous 4-0 vote to fine the owner, with Keane specifying the $350 figure must accrue daily until erosion controls are restored; staff will set a precise effective date in consultation with the town attorney. The commission also flagged a potential vernal pool at a proposed Curve Street home site after Levesque and McDonald heard wood frog chorusing on a site visit, ordering a third-party peer review and continuing that hearing, along with a four-lot South Street subdivision and a town-filed trail project on the Taunton River, to April 9.