The Peabody Conservation Commission’s fines against Salem CC and Mayer Tree Service in the amount of $69,900 each for illegal tree removal of 233 trees in environmentally protected areas on golf course property have been set aside due to a procedural flaw on the part of the city of Peabody.
In a Jan. 30 decision issued by Peabody District Court Assistant Magistrate Daniel J. Toscano, Toscano found that the commission failed to comply with M.G.L. c. 40, §21D, which requires that the commission must deliver a copy of Notice of Violation to offenders within fifteen days after determination of a violation.
Toscano’s decision found that the commission “was required to issue said Notice of Violation to the SCC and/or Mayer Tree (15) days from May 18, 2022” but did not issue said notice until Nov. 18, 2022.
“PCC did nothing to move forward with assessing any fines against SCC and/or Mayer Tree for approximately five months” and “it wasn’t until Nov. 18, 2022 that Conservation Agent Lucia DelNegro “issued Notice of Violations” that included the fines,” Toscano stated in the decision.
Representatives from the commission, Salem CC and Mayer Tree Service stated their cases at Peabody District Court on Jan. 18 following the club’s Dec. 2, 2022 written request for a hearing.
Toscano found that DelNegro conducted an initial site visit at the golf course on Jan. 27, 2022, issued a verbal cease-and-desist order and there was no evidence that fines were discussed during the visit.
The decision stated that DelNegro then issued violation order letters dated Jan. 31, 2022, to both Salem CC and Mayer Tree and that those letters did not identify any specific fine amounts and did not state that fines would be imposed for illegal activity that Salem CC and/or Mayer Tree had taken before the violation order letters were issued.
