Douglas Stormwater Committee Finishes Draft Regulations, Plans February Full Review

DOUGLAS -- January 27, 2026, Douglas Stormwater By-law Committee clears final draft sections and flags one AG-rejected sentence blocking adoption. The committee, chaired by Les Stephens and meeting January 27 with four of six members present, worked through the surety, enforcement, construction inspection, project completion, and perpetual maintenance sections of its draft stormwater regulations, approving targeted edits including a shift from mandatory to discretionary stop-work orders and a new requirement that applicants submit revised plans when a stormwater system is found inadequate. The enforcement section was substantially revised to mirror language already in the enacted stormwater bylaw, after Member Mike Swicker identified that conflicting provisions in the draft could leave applicants choosing between two different standards. Stephens disclosed that the Attorney General's office issued a five-page letter rejecting a single sentence in Section 6 of the approved bylaw, "No building permit shall be issued by the building inspector without the written approval of the site plan permit", as conflicting with the state building code, meaning the town must bring a housekeeping article to May town meeting before the regulations can take full effect.