Townsend Conservation Commission reorganizes, ratifies two emergency beaver dam permits

TOWNSEND -- June 17, 2026, Townsend Conservation Commission reorganizes officers and pushes back on conservation restriction removal at a completed age-restricted housing development. At its June 17 meeting, the commission unanimously re-elected James Gates as chair, elevated Mike Fox to vice chair, and appointed Abigail Farley as clerk. The body also ratified two emergency certificates allowing the Townsend Highway Department to breach beaver dams and install flow-control devices at culverts on Warren Road and Dudley Road, both carrying a June 17 to July 17, 2026 window, after which a standard permit would be required. In the meeting's longest debate, commissioners voted 5-0-1 to send written comments to the Planning Board opposing a request by Kevin Smith and Kenneth Tully to strip the conservation restriction from roughly 21,054 square feet of open space at a completed five-unit, 55-and-over condominium development at 1 Depot Street Extension. "If that property was approved due to the conservation restrictions, if that was the reason, it sticks," said Gates, who then abstained from the vote. The commission's comment letter, signed by Fox as acting vice chair, states that the restriction should have been created at the project's inception and that the commission will agree to hold it only upon mutual acceptance of its specific conditions with the condominium association.