AD Makepeace mining under the ruse of building a cranberry bog and reservoir. Photos: February 2022
May, 2022: 59 Federal Road “Earth Removal Site” AD Makepeace Co. continues its massive destruction of globally rare Pine Barrens forest mining for sand under the claim that this is an “agricultural project.”
This project shown in these Carver Earth Removal Committee — a committee made up of sanding mining, trucking and cranberry businessmen giving permits to their cronies.
In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, without proper public notice, the Carver Earth Removal Committee approved this massive project on Federal Road. This will strip mine 100 acres and take out over 4 million cubic yards of lucrative silica sand – about $36 million worth.
Jim Kane told the Earth Removal Committee the sand mining here was necessary to build a new cranberry bog reservoir.
The cranberry grower who ran the Committee for decades, John Garretson of Slocum Gibbs cranberry has resigned when STPB started asking questions about this. His company does sand mining too, and the Committee gave his company a permit.
Garretson has reportedly sold his land to Makepeace in a deal with Jim Kane. Another Earth Removal Committee member, John Shurtleff III, also a long-time cranberry grower who does business with Makepeace also resigned. The current chair, Robert Leronimo, admits he does business with Makepeace the company he is supposed to be regulating. The State Ethics Laws prohibit this kind of self-dealing.
The Town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and Earth Removal Committee have been repeatedly asked to take enforcement action to protect our water and environment from this reckless strip mining. Why won’t they act?
July 2023: AD Makepeace filed a Notice of Intent to mine within a wetland buffer zone at 46 Federal Road. During the hearing, the developer’s engineer casually mentioned that they were going to raze another 7 acres of trees because a certain patch of berries was not performing as well as other locations. This 7-acres of destruction was not approved in the original EIR. Residents testified in support of better protections for their drinking water and Town, and argued that the Conservation Commission has a duty to protect the natural resources of the Town.