Douglas Conservation Commission levies fines, issues orders over wetland violations

DOUGLAS -- June 15, 2026, Douglas Conservation Commission begins $200-per-day fines against South Street equestrian center and issues enforcement order over a Sutton pool that appears to encroach on town-owned conservation land. At the June 15 meeting, Conservation Agent Brandon Doyle told the three-member board that town counsel had concurred with his finding that teaching horseback riding does not constitute raising a commodity and therefore does not qualify for an agricultural exemption under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, ending a process that began with an October 2025 enforcement order against Ryan and Morgan Norton. The board voted 3-0 to impose fines under Section 13 of the Douglas Wetland Protection Bylaw, with tickets to be filed at Oxford District Court. In a separate matter, Doyle reported that a land survey ordered by Town Administrator Matt Wojcik indicates a pool built at 72 Main Street in Sutton by Lee Alexander crosses the Douglas town line and sits largely on parcels owned by the Douglas Conservation Commission as part of the Muszynski Conservation Area, land that Sutton's building commissioner apparently never flagged when approving the pool. The commission voted 3-0 to issue an enforcement order and cease-and-desist covering map 119, lots 5 and 6 in Douglas, and directed Doyle to conduct a wetland delineation of both parcels himself as a town employee on town land.