Both dam articles being pulled from town meeting warrant

This week, Bolton town officials met with the state Office of Dam Safety to request an extension to comply with the dam order until June 2012, and state officials verbally gave their approval.  This extension would allow the town to take advantage of pending legislation that is before the Massachusetts senate and house to give municipalities and private dam owners assistance in complying with dam safety orders, including access to loans and  the opportunity to bond for the work over a 40-year period.

On Tuesday, the Conservation Commission voted to remove the warrant article from town meeting, contingent upon receiving the above approval in writing and upon the citizens group (that's us) removing its article as well.  We have just received word that the Conservation Commission has received the written extension from the Office of Dam Safety.  We have agreed to remove our article and are in the process of gathering the signatures necessary to withdraw it from the town meeting agenda. 

We welcome this development--the extra year will give us all a chance to take a deep breath, do a biological study of the area and work together toward providing the information the people of Bolton need to decide what they want for Fyfeshire conservation area and its dam.