Conservation Commission Issues Cease-and-Desist Over Chronic Coastal Bank Discharge

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — March 17, 2026 — Manchester-by-the-Sea Conservation Commission continued three active wetland cases and voted to send a cease-and-desist letter over years of unchecked stormwater discharge onto a coastal bank. Chair Steve Gang and members Dr. Henry Ottinger, Dr. Olga Hayes, James Hoffman, and David Lomsden, meeting virtually on March 17, voted 5-0 to send the letter to the estate controlling 33 Smith's Point Road, directing it to stop roof and sump-pump discharge that has been eroding material over a coastal bank and onto neighboring properties, and to appear at the April 7 meeting. The commission also continued the hearing on an 18 Boardman Avenue seawall extension — a two-foot raise for sea level rise resilience proposed by Fred Morris through DeRosa Environmental — and scheduled a site visit for March 28 to examine effects on adjacent low-lying land. A Request for Determination of Applicability at 355 Summer Street hit resistance when Ottinger said he was "very strongly not in favor" of a proposed fill berm inside the salt marsh buffer zone, calling it likely to require a full Notice of Intent. The commission also flagged that eight conditions from a November 2025 order for 7 Central Street, home to a planned Cafe Miro restaurant, remain 90 days past due with no submittals received.