Conservation Commission backs first wetlands fee overhaul since 1997

SUDBURY -- January 8, 2024, Sudbury Conservation Commission unanimously recommends first wetlands fee overhaul since 1997. The commission backed Conservation Coordinator Lori Capone's category-by-category rewrite, raising the base fee for minor single-family projects from $25 to $100, the new single-family-house fee to $300 plus 75 cents per square foot of impact to unaltered buffer, and the commercial base fee from $500 to $1,000 plus 75 cents per square foot. New filing fees include $75 for previously free Requests for Determination of Applicability, $500 (up from $25) for contaminated-site remediation, and $25 per hazard tree capped at $100. Capone estimated current bylaw revenue at roughly $3,500 a year against staff costs of "500 to a thousand per application." Member Kenneth Holtz called the existing $25 remediation fee "insanely cheap." The package now goes to the Town Manager for a future Town Meeting warrant.