Fuhrmann won the appeal and received a two-year trial Chapter 91 permit from the state, which expires this September. It was granted in 2013, renewed in 2015 and is set to expire this year.įuhrmann used the Conservation Commission’s decision to appeal the DEP’s denial of his initial Chapter 91 permit application. Before the decision can be made, however, the commission is waiting on additional information and comments from the DEP’s independent review of the project.Ī wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission certifies the ski slalom course complies with the Wetlands Protection Act and Belchertown bylaws.

Members of the public have the right to appeal the decision if they do not agree with it, Haines explained.

“If you approve it, what sort of recourse do we have?” “Most people here are dead set against it,” Kenneth Douglas told the commission. Over a dozen Belchertown residents filled the Conservation Commission office Monday, some sharing their opposition to Fuhrmann’s course. but would be recorded against the deed and therefore give any future landowners the right to keep and maintain in the same location the water ski course,” Cross said.Ĭonservation Commission Chairman David Haines asked Fuhrmann for additional information about the course, including photographs and design plans prior to next month’s meeting. Should the commission approve his application, it would give Fuhrmann permanent permission to operate the water ski course, Conservation Administrator Erica Cross explained in an email. To receive the necessary permits, Fuhrmann needs to comply with state, federal and town wetlands protection laws and a set of conditions. “My take and my attorney’s take is that nothing has changed since two years ago.”Īt a meeting Monday night, the Conservation Commission voted to continue discussing the issue at its next meeting April 9. “My attorney told me to show up to this to notify the commission I want to renew my licenses that expired,” said David Fuhrmann, a 52-year-old New York state resident and owner of the water ski course. BELCHERTOWN - The owner of a private water skiing slalom course on Lake Metacomet is still seeking the necessary permits through the Belchertown Conservation Conservation and state Department of Environmental Protection to resume operating the course come summertime.

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