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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970-05-0434.E CHILD CPRE CENTER Mystic Valley Association for Retarded(john F. Kennedy School) SWIMMING POOL PERMITS Battle Green Motel Middlesex Tennis & Swim Club Sheraton -Lexington Motor Inn J.W. Hayden Recreation Centre, Inc. Sun Valley Association, Inc. Centre Playground Pool Appointment of Slaughtering Inspector, Robert Heustis Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 P.M. BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MAY 4, 1970 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, May 4, 1970 et 7:00 P.M. in the Board of Health Office. Members present were: Dr. William Cosgrove, Chairman, Dr. Charles Colburn, Mr. James Lambie and Robert C. Heustis, Director of Public Health. The minutes of the April 6, 1970 meeting were approved as read. Mr. Heustis reported that he had revoked Donald McElman's permit to keep one horse. The horse had gotten loose twice this past week and had run through the neighbors yards, this along with the spreading of manure a few weeks ago seemed to warrent the revoking of this permit. Mr. Heustis said he had given the McElman's until June 1, 1970 to make other arrange- ments for the horse. The Board agreed that circumstances did warrent the revoking of this permit and concurred with Dr. Cosgrove that this action was right at this time. They also agreed that one month was a reasonable time for arrangements to be made for the care of the horse. MC ELMAN'S HORSE PERMIT Mr. Joseph Kelley, 83 Cary Avenue, came into the meeting KELLEY at this time and the Board again discussed his request for a variance to keep 19 horses. Dr. Cosgrove: Mr. Kelley, we are considering your animal application now, I personally do not feel that I want to go be- yond 10 horses, how the other members feel I do not know. Mr. Kelley: How do you think you are qualified to keep me at 10 horses, you people know nothing about horses. Dr. Colburn: Mr. Kelley, there was an ad in the Boston Globe a few weeks ago which mentioned a stable for boarding horses with riding rings and trails nearby, this stable was located handy to routes 128 and 2, also an indoor ring coming soon. The phone number mentioned in this ad is an unlisted number in your name. You told this Board that you would be 342 breeding Morgan horses, you did not mention anything about boarding horses. Mr. Kelley: I did say I would have vacant stalls to board other horses, I also have the equipment to transport these horses to shows inc. Mr. Lambie: I am really bothered by the number of horses you have requested in a residential area. Horses for your family use in this area I can understand, but 19 horses is quite a size and goes far beyond family use. This operation presents many hazards to the neighborhood, horses being ridden in the street, the traffic problem created by the trucks, horses being ridden by inexperienced riders to and from the trails, and I can foresee many other problems. Mr. Kelley: You talk about the horses being on the street, they have a right to be there. Mr. Lambie: You are expanding to quite a size just the same. Mr. Kelley: You have had no complaints about my horses for the past eight years except that one pony that the woman claimed hurt her, that was a pony not a horse. Dr. Cosgrove: We have said 1 horse, 1 acre, according to that you would need 19 acres. How did you arrive at 19 horses for your request. Mr,, Kelley: 19` stalls in '.the nein barn an . nfipor ring. These buildings are designed and if you take a stock design it is not as expensive as if you had a barn custom made. Dr. Cosgrove: We had Dr. Foley in with 8 horses on 2.8 acres of land and made him cut back his horses to 3, I don't think in all fairness to him we can grant you 19 horses on 8 or 10 acres of land. Mr. Kelley: You talk about fairness, I'll name you others who have 8 horses on less land than you are talking about. Dr. Cosgrove: Those permits could be old ones, people who have had permits for years have not been denied the original number. Mr. Kelley: What objection could you people have, there has been no objections from the neighbors. Dr. Cosgrove: Oh now that is not right, out of the 32 letters sent out we have had at least 15 objections. Mr. Kelley: Those people up there would object if I put a Jewish Temple or a Catholic Church up. Dr. Cosgrove: That wouldn't be a health problem, keep- ing horses is and we have an obligation to all the people. We do not give these permits out promiscuously to start with, cz cr nr 1 1 1 343 and they are granted for use by the family. I feel if we say 1 horse per acre for one person we should say 1 horse -per acre for all people. You say you have approximately 10 acres of land then I say 10 horses. Mr. Kelley: Then you are denying me my permit for 19 horses. How can you people in all honesty determine whether I can keep 8 or 5 horses. I run a clean barn and you Dr. Colburn cannot judge because you have never been there. Dr. Cosgrove: I went all over your barn with Mrs. Kelley. I am not saying your barn is not clean, it was in very good condition but that manure pile was left standing for months. Mr. Kelley: There is no odor from manure, and besides what do you expect on a farm. Dr. Cosgrove: The assessors say there are no farms in Lexington, therefore, I do not consider your property a farm. Mr. Kelley: It is a farm, you don't know what a farm is because your man said there was no definition of a farm. Your man said %. or more cows constitutes a farm, So I am a farm. Dr. Colburn: You are in a residential district surrounded by residential lots. Our regulations are designed to prevent nuisances and your request is far in excess of what you should have in that area. Mr. Lambie: The risk of 19 horses in a residential area is very great. There could be more people affected by that many horses. You have already had one woman injured and another loose horse in a child's sand box. This operation you talk about will have other people handling these horses, riding them on the streets, to me the risk is too great. Mr. Kelley: Well if it is your decision that I will be allowed no more than 10 horses, I will take you to court. Dr. Cosgrove: We have our regulations, if you can prove them inadequate then all I can say is take us to court, but it is our du,�y to protect all the people and I feel 10 horses is the limit. How do you feel Dr. Colburn, Mr. Lambie. Dr. Colburn: I agree to 10 and no more. Mr. Lambie: 10 horses is as far as I will go. Mr. Kelley: Then I will take you to court. I belong to any number of horse organizations that will back me up on a court case. You people have absolutely no right to rule on something you know nothing about. Dr. Cosgrove: We are ruling on the basis of our regulations, if they are wrong then take us to court. Mr. Kelley: (Turning to Mr. Heustis) You are not qualified to be a Health Officer in this Town, and I will bring in witnesses 344 to prove this, men from Cambridge and the State. You men will receive subpoenas from my attorney and we will have our day in court Dr. Cosgrove: You may keep 10 horses and no more, that is this Board's decision. Mr. Kelley retired. ANIMAL PERMIT The application for a permit to keep a horse by Henning 210 MARRETT RD. W. Swenson at 210 Marrett Road was approved by the Board. Mr. Swenson has approximately 2.76 acres of land. Mr. Heustis reported that Mr. Cahill, builder of the LOT 14 house on Lot 14, Carriage Drive had submitted the finished plan Carriage with grades of the disposal system for that lot. Mr. Heustis Drive said he wanted to send this plan to Mr. Lucas of Whitman & Howard for approval. Dr. Cosgrove said he felt we had spent enough money on this lot already and unless this was absolutely necessary he did not feel that we should spend any more money. Mr. Heustis said he had talked to Mr. Lucas who said he could problably do this work at his desk. Dr. Cosgrove asked if this was necessary, it had never been done before. Mr. Heustis said if we had to go to court we should have it done. Dr. Cosgrove suggested that Mr. Heustis talk to Mr. Lucas and see approximately how much this would cost. If it was not too much then he would go along with it. The Board approved the application for a permit to keep 1 horse by John Holdsworth, 6 Coach Road. All the abuttors were contacted and the one objection was checked and the people with - ANIMAL drew their objection. PERMIT Mr. Heustis reported that a. resident had called and re- ported that beefburgers dropped on the floor at Brigham's had been picked up and put back into the general supply. He said BRIGHAM'S a letter was written to the store manager bringing this to his attention. A letter was received from Mr. Lee Guse, District Manager, stating that the matter had been investigated and the store manager spoken to. Mr. Heustis explained that when the German Measles Clinic was held a number of people had put down as the school attended GREDLFR+S Gredler's Kindergarten, an investigation was made and Mrs. Louise KINDERGARTEN Gredler, 119 Burlington Street, had according to her explanation been operating a tutoring service in reading and writing for the past 12 years for preschoolers and some children in school. She claimed she charged no more than what it would cost to meet the over -head and therefore felt she could not be classified as a Day Care Center. She has 18 children in her group. *041 1 1 1 1 1 345 Dr. Cosgrove said he didn't see why she should not be classified as a Day Care Center if she had 18 children in the group. He felt it was our respinsibility to see that the proper safety regulations were followed and that adequate and acceptable facilities as required by State Law was enforced. Mr. Heustis said she would be finishing her school year the end of May but he would write her and tell her that the Board felt she should be classified as a Child Care Center and in that way it would be up to her to prove that she was not a Child Care Center. 24. Leonard The letter to Anthony Ferrari, 24. Leonard Road was approved Road by the Board. Mr. Heustis explained that Mr. Ferrari was filling in a lot he owned with construction debris and the water was over- flowing onto a neighbors property. The Board suggested Mr. Heustis notify Mr. Ferrari to check and see if the Hatch Act was involved in this filling program. Mr. Ferrari wanted to cover the construction debris with clean fill but until it is determined if the Hatch Act is involved no action by the Board could be taken. The Board suggested that an article in the newspaper might make people aware that they cannot fill land with debris, etc. and also the danger of filling wet land without professional advise. The letter to Frank DeCarlo, President of the Castoldi BRENT Construction Co. regarding the filling of lots 57 and 56 Brent ROAD Road was approved. Mr. Heustis explained that a cellar hole had been dug and during the wet period this hole filled with water and the neighbors were concerned about the safety of the children. An order was sent to Mr. DeCarlo stating that the hole was to be filled by April 15, 1970 but nothing had been done to date. The Board directed Mr. Heustis to notify Mr. DeCarlo that this nuisance of an open hole should be filled within a week and if this was not done court action would be taken. The letter to Mr. Robey Roberts, 23 Spring Street re- garding the brook which flows along Marrett Road and drains into the "Old Res" was read and approved. Mr. Heustis explained that each year there is a certain amount of flooding from this brook. Mr. Wenham of the Public Works Department has checked this out and also the Middlesex District Mosquito Control has done work in the area. There is not much ,hat can be done by the Town because of easements required. The letter regarding the cost of connecting the house at 34. Valley Road to public sewer was read and placed on file. 23 SPRING ST, 34. VALLEY RD, 34 "OLD RES" The letter from Neil Borden, President of the Board of Directors, Mystic Valley Mental Health Association, Inc. re- garding the budget submitted for 1970 was read and placed on file. The request of the recreation Committee to use temporary sanitary facilities at the "Old Res" was approved by the Board. The request of the Recreation Committee to use temporary sanitary facilities at the "Old Res" was approved by the Board. The Board discussed the request of a donation from the American Cancer Society and agreed that this had not been done in the past and therefore would not be advisable at this time. The Health Officer's Report was checked and the milk counts discussed. Mr. Heustis reported that Blue Ribbon Dairy had been awarded the school milk contract for the coming school. year. The following permits were signed by the Board: Installer's Permit - John E. Grant Swimming Pool Permits Christian High School Peacock Farm Association Recreation Camp Meadow Brook Day Camp (Christian High School) Methyl Alcohol Colonial Garage Lexington Auto Sales Grant Gulf Station Rowe Chevrolet, Inc. Funeral Directors John B. Douglass Arthur F. Douglass Howard C. Ela, Jr. Douglas A. Sederquist Alice M. McCarthy Louise H. Spencer *14 1 1 1