We continue to be outraged and dismayed at the ongoing destruction of history and our environment at the 71 Hedges Pond Road site. At CLWC, we aim to provide the public with the resources to take action. Here are the resources compiled to date on 71 Hedges Pond Road.
Public Comments and Letters from Wampanoag Tribal Officers on 71 Hedges Pond Road
February 18, 2025 Letter to Governor Healey and December, 2024 Letter to Plymouth Planning Board and Select Board, Melissa Ferretti, Chairwoman, Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, Author
Plymouth, Massachusetts. On March 25, 2025, a Citizen Group of 24 residents delivered a Notice of Intent to Sue letter to the Select Board of the Town of Plymouth (MA), the Plymouth Regional Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (“Plymouth Foundation”), a private corporation, and Standish Investments LLC concerning a 33-acre sand mining operation underway at 71 Hedges Pond Road.
The Letter asserts the Select Board violated Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution and three other laws when it took the site, known as the Cedarville Conservation Area, out of conservation and sold it for sand mining. The Select Board took the 40-acre Cedarville Conservation Area from Conservation Commission jurisdiction without authority and sold it to the Plymouth Foundation in July 2022 for $1.00 for the purpose of commercial development. On February 7, 2025, the Plymouth Foundation sold the land to Standish Investments, LLC for $3.4 million. Standish Investments, managed by Eric Pontiff, is a sand and gravel mining company in the region. The sand mining at the site entails industrial scale commercial mining for at least 270,000 cubic yards worth $12 million in revenue. In the last three months, Standish has logged the site and taken marketable timber, dug up stumps and graded the land to prepare for earth removal. This drone video shows the denuded site as of March 24, 2025.
The Town’s Building Inspector granted zoning and building permits under the Zoning Bylaw Earth Removal Regulations on January 16, 2025. The Building Inspector claims that the sand mine, which will extract about $12 million in sand from the 33 acres, is “necessary and incidental” for development of the site. This is being challenged legally. Read more here.
The Citizen Group’s Letter is a Notice of Intent to Sue under the “Citizen Suit Law”, Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 214, Section 7A. This law gives a group of at least ten Massachusetts residents legal standing to sue to prevent actual or probable “Damage to the Environment” when the activities violate an environmental protection law. The Group intends to bring a lawsuit to stop further expansion of the sand mining project. Attorney Margaret Sheehan represents the Group. Sheehan is coordinator of Community Land & Water Coalition (CLWC), a non-profit group whose mission is to protect, preserve, and steward the lands and waters of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Select Board’s Illegal Land Transfer
The Notice of Intent to Sue Letter details the facts and law of the Select Board’s illegal transfer of the 40-acre Cedarville Conservation Area to developers. The Cedarville Conservation Area was created by a Town Meeting vote in 1993. The Town designated the land as open space and put it under the “care and custody” of the Conservation Commission. The public has used Area for recreation, including walking, hiking and nature observation.
Because the area was protected conservation land under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission, the Select Board was legally required to follow specific procedures before selling it for sand mining and development—but it did not. This was illegal.
First, under Article 97 of the Amendments to Massachusetts Constitution the Select Board was required to obtain a ⅔ supermajority vote of each branch of the State Legislature.
Second, under An Act Preserving Open Space the Select Board was required to obtain an appraisal before selling it and identify equivalent replacement land. While a 2018 Town Meeting vote identified 134 acres that were supposed to be conserved in exchange for the sale of the Cedarville Conservation Area for development, that has never happened. It appears part of the 134 acres is an old Town dump with no conservation value. The Town is now claiming that the Town Meeting vote made the sale legal, but this is inaccurate.
The Select Board violated all four laws. The Notice of Intent to Sue Letter states the Citizen Group will go to court to enforce the laws.
Historic and Ecological Significance of the Cedarville Conservation Area
Historically and as of today, the area is part of the ancient Native American Wampanoag Great Lot. This is an area of land ‘allotted’ to Native Americans. Under the colonial government of Massachusetts, Native American communal lands used for traditional life ways such as hunting, fishing and gathering, were eliminated and Native Americans required to live on the ‘lots’ assigned to them by the government
The Cedarville Conservation Area had high ecological value. It is Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) Priority Habitat #521 for Rare Species. In 2018, following a concocted Town Meeting vote, Town staff arranged for land to be transferred from the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission to the Select Board. This required a Conservation Commission vote that never happened.
Town Zoning Permit challenged, work continues
On January 16, 2025, the Town Building Inspector issued building and zoning permits based on an application by Standish Investments for a 300,000 square foot “unified complex” of warehouses claiming the earth removal operation is “incidental.” The earth removal will dig a 90 foot hole across the 33 acres. On February 14, 2025 and March 3, 2025, two groups of residents filed legal appeals challenging the Town’s permits. Read more here. The public hearing is scheduled for April 7 at 6 p.m. at Plymouth Town Hall.
On February 7, the Foundation gave Pontiff a mortgageto help finance his purchase of theCedarville Conservation Land. Since the Town employees are directors of the Foundation, they have a financial interest in the sand mining profits and development of the land which appears to conflict with their duty to enforce state and local laws that govern conservation, mining, and development.
The Foundation has conducted at least one other sand and gravel mining operation in the Town. At 103 Hedges Pond Road, the Foundation mined sand and gravel for years under permits granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals, generating revenue for the Foundation.
As of 2023, the Foundation had over $2 million in its checkbook. After the sale of the Cedarville Conservation Area to Pontiff, this ballooned to about $5 million.
Sand mining air pollution, threats to drinking water, forests
Sand mining causes emissions of medically harmful, carcinogenic silica dust, excessive truck traffic, noise and vibrations in adjacent homes, loss of real estate value, and threats to underground drinking water. All residents within the 199-square mile Sole Source Aquifer get their water from the same place: wells. The sand filters and protects the underground Aquifer. Sand mining pollutes the air with medically harmful silica sand. The silica particles that have been contained under topsoil for thousands of years become airborne and can be inhaled by humans and animals. Once silica enters the lungs, there is no way for the body to get rid of it. Silica inhalation can lead to health problems including respiratory and cardio-vascular issues, and even lung cancer and throat cancer. The permits issued for the Hedges Pond Road sand mine do not have adequate conditions to protect residents from airborne silica.
Sand Mining at Halifax’s Wampanoag Native American Site on Whaleback Ridge Draws Community Opposition
Group Delivers Notice of Intent to Bring Damage to the Environment Lawsuit
Mining Threatens Native American Settlement Sites, Drinking Water
July 24, 2024: Community Members Gather for Standout In Front of Halifax Town Hall.
Halifax, MA — A statewide network of groups and individuals held a standout in front of the Town Hall in Halifax, Massachusetts, calling for a halt to destructive sand mining operations that are destroying known Native American settlement sites on the glacial esker known as the Whaleback Ridge overlooking Monponsett Pond in the Town of Halifax. The network delivered a Notice of Intent to Sue Letter to the Town Selectboard and state officials under the state’s Citizen Suit Law. The letter states a Ten Residents Group intends to sue the mining operators and state officials for Damage to the Environment, including damage to water and the Native American historic sites. Historical records confirm the existence of three Native American villages on the land the companies are mining.
July 24, 2024: Group Delivers Letter to Town Officials at Halifax Town Hall.
The Whaleback Ridge is an ancient esker towering over West Monponsett Pond. In addition to the known Wampanoag Native American archeological sites, it supports rich biodiversity. The ridge is made up of sand and gravel that plays a crucial role in safeguarding the well protection zone for the Town’s drinking water supply.
For decades, Morse Brothers Cranberry, Ryco Excavating, and Oiva Hannula & Sons Inc. have been extracting sand and gravel, leveling Whaleback Ridge, and digging up Native American artifacts and historic sites. Oiva Hannula & Sons, Inc. is a cranberry company based in Carver, MA. Its president and owner, Scott Hannula, is the chair of the Carver Earth Removal Committee, which grants permits for sand and gravel mining in the town.
July 16th 2024: Mining at the Whaleback ridge.
“The public demands that Governor Healey immediately halt all sand mining operations. Our Sand Wars in Cranberry Country report documents the silent environmental crisis happening here and the shady network of companies evading the law. This must stop”, said Meg Sheehan of CLWC.
“This is a failure on the part of the Town of Halifax and Maura Healey’s administration. Corruption has infected every nook and cranny of this administration and it is disturbing,” said Mary Dormer of Carver Concerned Citizens. “I would like to know when breaking the law became acceptable? The sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts has to stop. Governor Maura Healey and Secretary Rebecca Tepper need to get their heads out of the sand (or their hands out of these lucrative pockets) and protect the residents and the environment. Enough is Enough.”
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5D3C2EF5-B026-49E0-89D0-5CEF3EF4F4C0-scaled-e1721930847346.jpeg17921920Meg Sheehanhttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngMeg Sheehan2024-07-25 18:15:502025-12-29 16:15:17PRESS RELEASE: Sand Mining at Halifax’s Wampanoag Native American Site on Whaleback Ridge Draws Community Opposition
Makepeace’s Redbrook expansion around Deer Pond will obliterate at least 25 acres of pristine forest. Is this necessary? Is this the type of “green” and “sustainable” development that AD Makepeace promised Plymouth and surrounding towns in the early 2000s when it announced plans to develop its vast landholdings – about 10,000 acres? Has Makepeace met its obligations for conservation of land?
Deer Pond & Native American Site
The Deer Pond area contains evidence of Native American use and occupation of the land during the Late Archaic Laurentian period, about 5,000 to 4,000 years before present time. A archeological study done as part of the “MEPA” environmental study process for Red Brook included an archeological study done by a consultant paid by AD Makepeace.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is the state agency responsible for deciding whether archeological sites like this can be destroyed or must be preserved when a development is proposed. This is one of the many sites that MHC signed off on allowing Makepeace to destroy the archeological evidence here. MHC operates in secret with developers like Makepeace.
The Deer Pond archeological review process should be reopened to comply with today’s expectations for social justice and environmental justice. All Wampanoag tribes should be given a full and fair opportunity to have input on whether this site can be destroyed. The MHC protects archeological sites containing the history of the colonists – but does not treat Native American sites equally.
August 2023: Plymouth’s Select Board
waives right to purchase Deer Pond land
The Town of Plymouth allows Makepeace to keep its undeveloped land at Redbrook in “Chapter 61” so Makepeace can save on real estate taxes. When a landowner benefits from Chapter 61, the law says that if the landowner wants to remove the land from this preferential tax category and develop it, the Town has the right of first refusal to buy the land.
In August, 2023, AD Makepeace gave the Town the “right of first refusal” on the Deer Pond area as required by law. What did the Select Board do? Basically, behind closed doors waived the right of first refusal.
To keep the public in the dark, the Select Board typically lists the Chapter 61 agenda items by “map and lot” instead of by landowner name and without an explanation of what is going on. CLWC is working for more transparence and trying to change this.
The pubic should be fully informed about “Chapter 61” rights of first refusal. The Select Board should not give up the public’s right to buy open space behind closed doors, like it did in 2023 with Makepeace. Here is Makepeace’s right of first refusal letter dated August 25, 2023.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/h-2.jpg5891500Katherine Harrelsonhttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngKatherine Harrelson2024-05-21 13:28:062025-12-29 16:35:17Plymouth: Campaign to Save Deer Pond from AD Makepeace Reckless Development
UPDATE ON MORSE BROTHERS CRANBERRY LAWSUIT AGAINST TOWN OF HALIFAX TO EVADE REGULATION FOR SAND AND GRAVEL MINING
State’s highest court to hear arguments September 11, 2026
CLWC files Amicus Brief on August 21, 2026
For decades, Morse Brothers, a company with cranberry bogs that does commercial sand and gravel mining, has been mining on the shores of Monponsett Pond in Halifax, MA.
In 2022, residents decided they had enough: enough truck traffic through an Environmental Justice community on narrow country roads, mining in their drinking water aquifer, and destroying an archeological site known as the Whaleback. An acrimonious public meeting in fall 2022 led to two of three Boar
The Town issued two cease and desist orders – in December 2022 and July 2024 ordering Morse to stop illegal mining and apply for a permit. Morse applied, the Town granted the permit, but Morse did not like it so Morse sued the Town. Morse claims the mining is cranberry agriculture and exempt from permititng.
CLWC Urges Massachusetts’ Highest Court to Protect Towns’ Authority to Regulate Sand Mining
PLYMOUTH, MA — Community Land & Water Coalition (CLWC) has filed an amicus curiae brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Town of Halifax and Town of Halifax Select Board v. Morse Brothers, Inc., SJC-13911, urging the Court to preserve the longstanding authority of cities and towns to regulate sand, gravel, soil and loam removal. CLWC filed its brief on August 21, 2026.
The Halifax case has significance far beyond one cranberry operation or one town. At issue is whether Massachusetts municipalities can use their general earth-removal bylaws to regulate excavation even when the operator claims that the material being removed will ultimately be used for agriculture.
CLWC’s brief argues that state law has expressly authorized municipalities since 1949 to regulate or prohibit earth removal under G.L. c. 40, § 21(17), independently of municipal zoning authority. The Coalition warns that stripping towns of that power could leave communities without one of their most important tools for controlling the impacts of large-scale sand and gravel extraction.
“This case is about much more than Halifax,” said Meg Sheehan, attorney for CLWC. “Across Southeastern Massachusetts, communities are confronting large-scale removal of sand and gravel that can permanently alter the landscape. Towns need the authority the Legislature gave them to protect drinking water, neighborhoods, roads and natural resources. Calling sand mining ‘agriculture’ should not eliminate reasonable local oversight.”
CLWC’s brief describes the potential consequences of inadequately regulated earth removal: impacts to underground aquifers and shared water supplies, changes to stormwater runoff and topography, and loss of vegetation and wildlife habitat. These impacts implicate the health, safety and welfare of entire communities—not simply the use of an individual parcel of land.
Halifax itself argues that the public has a substantial interest in reasonable regulation of earth-removal operations associated with agricultural uses, including protection of public drinking-water supplies. The Town’s permit did not prohibit the earth removal; it allowed it subject to conditions intended to address environmental and neighborhood safety concerns.
The legal question is particularly important in Southeastern Massachusetts, where sand and gravel deposits, cranberry agriculture, forests, wetlands and drinking-water aquifers frequently occupy the same landscape. CLWC argues that the Legislature deliberately gave municipalities authority to develop local solutions to the harmful effects of unrestrained earth removal. The Coalition asks the SJC to preserve that authority rather than create an agricultural exemption capable of shielding substantial excavation from reasonable local regulation.
“Once a sand deposit is excavated and a landscape is fundamentally altered, those resources cannot simply be put back,” Sheehan said. “Local government is often the first—and sometimes the only—line of defense for residents living next to these operations.”
CLWC is a Massachusetts nonprofit grassroots coalition working to protect drinking water, forests, wetlands, rivers, streams, ponds and communities, with a particular focus on Southeastern Massachusetts.
Morse’s Legal Challenge to Earth Removal Permitting
CLWC’s legal brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court takes this head on. Read the August 21, 2026 Amicus Brief here. See the Court’s docket of the case here. The oral arguments before the Court is on September 11, 2026. It is open to the public and will be virtual.
About municipal regulation of Earth Removal. Halifax’s general bylaw prohibits earth removal due to its detrimental effects on water supplies, real estate values and the environment. See, General Bylaw, Chapter 144, “Soil Removal.” It prohibits earth removal on land zoned agricultural or residential unless the project qualifies for a permit. It states: “Section 144-1. Permit required. No soil, sand, gravel or loam removal shall be permitted in any area unless and until a permit has been granted by the Board of Selectmen.” There is a limited exemption for certain projects up to 1,000 cubic yards. IF the land is being used agriculturally, the landowner can apply for a permit to remove sand and gravel but it has to be “necessary and incidental” to the agricultural use of the land. To get a permit in 2016 for 50,000 cubic yards and when it applied for the 2022 permit for another 1.1 million cubic yards, Morse claimed the sand mining operation is “necessary” to build a bog and “incidental” to the existing use on the land. Neither is true: Morse cannot show it is necessary to build the bog or that the massive amount is “incidental”.
Morse has mined at least 165,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel the site but an accurate count has never been done.
Mining a Wampanoag Native American Site
Morse is strip mining a geological formation known as the Whaleback Ridge, a forested glacial esker.
The Whaleback is a known Native American Indigenous archeological site. The Whaleback’s hills are about 72 feet with peaks as high as 150 feet. The Whaleback has been studied for its archeological significance to the Indigenous people of the region, the Wampanoag Nation. Much of it has already been destroyed.
Listen here to the President of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe about the importance of the area.
Below: Morse strip mine, Halifax MA, January 2023.
Mining in water supply protection zone
Morse is strip mining in the water protection zones for the Town’s drinking water wells supplied by the underground aquifer. This is against the law. One Halifax public water supply well already tested at 15 ppt for PFAS, just below the EPA limit of 20 ppt. Residents ask what would happen if the wells tested above the EPA limit for PFAS as a result of all of the earth removal in town. Would they have to buy treated water back from Brockton?
Mining trucks through Environmental Justice neighborhood
Noise, dust, and vibrations from Morse’s truck traffic within feet of homes
The trucking route is through an Environmental Justice community. Residents suffer harm from excessive truck traffic on narrow country roads and safety concerns.
Morse claims it has a “portfolio of approximately 300 total acres of cranberry growing” includes bogs in Halifax, Middleboro and Hanson. Morse claims it is hauling sand from town to town for these cranberry operations and it is exempt from earth removal regulations as “agriculture.” In 2016 the Town gave Morse a permit for 50,000 cubic yards. In April, 2022 Morse applied for another permit to expand by 1.14 million cubic yards. Facing fierce public opposition Morse withdrew the permit application in August 2022. Morse and Ryco Excavating kept mining.
In November, 2023, the Selectboard gave Morse a permit for 20,000 cubic yards, phase 1 of the previously proposed 1.1 million cubic yard operation.
The money: skyrocketing value of sand and gravel
Morse is seeking a permit for 1,140,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel — about $15 million in revenue. The 20,000 cubic yards it recently mined is worth about $200,000.00
Morse’s controller testifies in a sworn affidavit that the Halifax bogs produce about 18,200 barrels of cranberries annually, worth about $820, 000 in annual total revenue. Multiple sources put the cost of production of a barrel of cranberries at $30-35 per barrel. For Morse’s Halifax bogs, the cost of production for 18,200 barrels would be about $546,000 to 637,000. This means cranberries from the Halifax bogs generate about $183,000 and $290,000 in annual profits. The controller testifies that Morse has a contract with Ovia Hannula Cranberry for “management contracts” that requires Morse to pay Hannula about $530,000 per year to manage the Halifax bogs, on the low end of a cost of production. Profits from sand and gravel mining of about $1 million per year for 5 years outweighs cranberry profits even in the best scenario at $290,000. per year.
Ten Residents Send Notice of Intent to Sue for Damage to the Environment Letter
On July 24, 2024, a Ten Residents Group send a notice of intent to sue letter to Morse Bros., Oiva Hannula Cranberry Co., Ryco Excavating and state agencies.
Read the full coverage of the cease and desist letter, an overview of the Whaleback glacial formation, the history of the cranberry industry’s connection to sand mining, and more, in this in-depth coverage by the Plymouth County Observer.
July 18, 2024
For the second time in two years, the Town of Halifax issued a cease and desist order to Morse Brothers to stop strip mining on the shores of Monponsett Pond. The Town issued a $30,000 civil penalty for mining violations. The victory is directly attributable to the relentless grassroots efforts of Halifax Community for Conservation Efforts
From the Board’s letter:
Multiple truckloads of earth have recently been observed leaving the property. In addition, you stated in an email message to Town Administrator Cody Haddad dated July 12, 2024 that approximately 2,500 cubic yards of material resulting from the prior screening of sand was being moved from the property.
Notwithstanding your assertions in the July 12, 2024 email message, the recent earth removal was not authorized by the Soil Removal Permit because Morse Brothers had already removed almost all of the earth authorized by the Soil Removal Permit.
By letter dated May 3, 2024, Attorney Rosenberg stated that 19,908 yards of sand/earth had been removed from the property during the period of February 12, 2024 to April 5, 2024.
Also, the Board of Selectmen hereby assesses a fine of $30,000 (1500 cubic yards x $20) against Morse Brothers for the recent earth removal, which was performed without a permit pursuant to the Soil Removal By- law and constitutes multiple violations of the Soil Removal By-law. Attached please find written notice of violation pursuant to M.G.L. c.40, §21D.
The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, July 23. They began by entering into executive session to discuss negotiations with the Assistant Town Accountant as well as to discuss strategy with respect to litigation involving Morse Brothers….. Selectmen Chair John Bruno said, “We were made aware recently that Morse Brothers had started or were engaged in trucking what we think is sand, gravel, or some such thing off of their property over the last week or so, couple of weeks, I guess. Once we were made aware of that we discussed with Counsel what to do and the result of that is that the Board has issued a letter to Morse Brothers constituting a cease-and-desist order and an assessment of a fine for multiple violations of the town of Halifax’s soil removal bylaw.” He noted that the letter, which he read during the meeting, had been sent on July 18. A portion of the letter read, “the recent earth removal was not authorized by the soil removal permit because Morse Brothers had already removed almost all of the soil authorized by the soil removal permit. By letter dated May 3, 2024, Attorney Rosenberg stated that 19,908 yards of sand/earth had been removed from the property during the period of February 12, 2024 to April 5, 2024.” The letter also noted that the total earth removal allowed by the bylaw was plus or minus 20,000 cubic yards. Bruno told those assembled that they had been advised by Counsel not to discuss the matter any further in open session.
February 5, 2024
Court denies Morse request for an injunction to stop Halifax from requiring an earth removal permit
January 26, 2024
Media Story here: Sand Wars in Halifax Continue reports the Plympton Halifax Kingston Express — Read the story here
December 2023
Town refuses to enforce zoning bylaw prohibiting mining in drinking water protection district
In late November, 2023 Halifax residents sent a demand for enforcement of the zoning law to the zoning officer of Halifax asking them to rule that the Board of Selectmen Nov. 16, 2023 permit to Morse Brothers, Inc. was illegal. In 2022, the former zoning officer said it was illegal. Yet in 2023, the new zoning officer said the mining was OK under the zoning laws. See the letter here: Halifax Zoning Enforcement Demand Nov 2023
Here’s the building inspector’s denial letter.
November 2023
Town grants earth removal permit, Morse goes to court claiming permit too strict
On November 6, 2023 the Board of Selectmen granted Morse a permit for additional 20,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel. They imposed permit conditions which Morse did not like so it sued the Town. Morse claimed the permit conditions interfere with their “agriculture.” The court denied Morse’s request for an injunction on 2/5/2024. See the court decision here. Superior Ct Denial Morse Motion for Injunction Judge Glenny-2-5-24
The November 6, 2023 hearing on the permit filled the Town Hall to near-capacity. About two dozen Halifax residents spoke against the permit. Not one member of the public spoke for the permit. The public’s concerns and information presented included:
Threats to public safety from truck traffic on local, unpaved roads
No benefit to Halifax but a detriment resulting in deforestation, taking earth from Halifax and moving it to another town, and adding 750 truck trips to already deteriorating and degraded roads
The impact of tractor trailer trucks on underground water and gas lines that lie only about 18″ below the road used as the trucking route. This includes concerns about a possible gas explosion or water main break from the pressure of the loaded trucks .
Safety of children, many of whom walk or ride their bikes on the road used as the trucking route
Mining in a water protection district — the town’s zoning law clearly prohibits mining in well protection zones
Does the Board have authority to issue this permit? Does it require a special permit first, as required because it is not agriculture under the bylaws
If this earth removal was for agricultural purposes the sand would be used on site but most but not all 20,000 cubic yards of earth will be removed from the site and likely out of town.
Where is the sand going?
In 2023, the company sought a permit for about 1.1 million cubic yards (see below). It withdrew the permit application in the face of fierce public opposition. Clearly the November, 2023 permit is just Phase 1 of Morse’s plan to excavate the entire 1.1 million cubic yards.
May 2023
Fifteen residents file lawsuit
On May 5, 2023, fifteen Halifax residents filed a civil complaint against Morse, Oiva Hannula Cranberry of Carver, and Ryco Excavating, Inc. and its related entity, Ryco Leasing and Repair, Inc. for “engaging in unpermitted earth removal on the property located at 250 Lignan Street, Halifax.”
The complaint is here. The residents asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the operation until the case goes trial and got resolved. Stopping the operation is necessary to prevent irreparable harm to the environment and residents. The injunction request is here. On June 21, 2023, Superior Court Judge Glenny denied the residents’ motion for an injunction siding with Morse, Hannula and Ryco. The Decision is here. The case was eventually dismissed.
Morse Brothers opposed the injunction and submitted the affidavit of the company’s controller, Brendan Moquin. It is very revealing: it says if Morse is prevented from sand and gravel mining it would be “catastrophic” to Morse’s business. The company makes elaborate claims about all the earth materials needed to maintain its bogs, but the numbers tell another story.
January 10, 2023
On January 10, 2023, the Halifax Selectboard held a meeting to hear residents concerns and address violations of a December 2022 cease and desist. The public, including members of the Halifax Community for Conservation Efforts, presented clear evidence of the violations. They described the threat to public safety from Ryco’s truck traffic, drinking water, nearby conservation lands, wetlands, and “outstanding water resources.”
A mother spoke about her fear of the safety of their children from constant sand and gravel trucks traveling through the residential street.
Residents spoke about damage to the Town’s street infrastructure from trucks: culverts in danger of breaking and dangerous road conditions. Residents reported Morse had unlawfully cut the tree buffer along the shore of Monponsett pond.
Residents explained Morse Brothers has dredged into the aquifer, exposing drinking water to contamination. The mining is within a Zone II Wellhead Protection Area, within Public Supply Watershed, within a Zone A and Zone C Surface Water Protection Area, within an Outstanding Water Resource Area, adjacent to Freshwater Wetlands. It is also adjacent to the Stump Brook Mass Audubon conservation land. Before Morse clear cut and strip mined the 15 acre site it was categorized as Prime Forestland.
At the meeting, Morse Brothers claimed that all the sand gravel removed was going to other bogs they own in Middleborough and Hanson. Residents reported Morse is filling their bogs in Hanson, Middleborough, and at 537 Thompson Street in Halifax with sand 3-4 ft deep. They asked, Why are they filling the bogs with so much sand? Moving earth out of the town without a valid permit, which Morse did not have, is illegal. While Morse attempted to claim an agricultural exemption from the permit requirement, this was not legitimate. Other bogs on the nearby sites are failing due to the high water table.
According to Halifax resident Jeremy Gillespie, “The issue really is, why are they taking the sand out of our water supply protection zones? When they received taxpayer funded grant money from the state for the Middleborough bog project, did they let the state know they’d be taking the sand from these water supply protection zones in another town, whose water supply has been noted as highly susceptible to contamination and abutting the shores of an impaired public water supply lake with an EPA enforceable TMDL?” Read more below about Morse’s taxpayer grants.
December 29, 2022
Town issues cease and desist to Morse and Ryco
Even though Morse withdrew the mining permit application in 2022 (see above) Morse and Ryco Excavating and trucking kept mining at the site.
In December 29, 2022 the Town Board of Selectment issued a Cease & Desist Order to Morse Brothers to stop sand mining. The Cease and Desist is below. Morse, Ryco and Hannula kept conducting earth removal anyway and violated the Cease and Desist according to residents and witnesses.
“The Board is asking that you stop any earth removal…” – December 29, 2022 Letter from the Town of Halifax Board of Selectmen
August 2022
Morse withdraws application to mine 1 million cubic yards of sand and gravel
In early 2022, Morse filed a permit application with the Town to remove more sand and gravel – 1.1 million cubic yards over 4-5 years from the Lignan Street area. Morse withdrew the application on August 12, 2022 when faced with public opposition. Morse claimed the huge operation was “incidental” to its cranberry operations.
In August, 2022, the controversy and backlash from residents about the illegal mining operation and expansion proposal resulted in the abrupt resignation of two of the Town’s three Selectboard members. The Chair was working for the company doing the excavation and trucking, Ryco Excavating. This was clearly a conflict of interest. The abrupt resignations were the subject of a Boston Globe article that however missed the point about the sand controversy.
June 2022
Public hearing on Morse’s application for 1,140,000 million cubic yards of sand and gravel
The Halifax Selectmen met in-person on the evening of June 14. There was a public hearing for earth removal for the Morse Brothers’ cranberry property. Selectman Alex Meade said, “I remember most of the residents’ concerns were about the roadway itself and dust control. Since then, we’ve had questions about runoff from the trucks so leaking hydraulics things like that. I don’t know if you plan on putting in some kind of catch basin filters in?” “Certainly, we would be willing to talk about that,” the Morse Brothers representative said.
Meade said he would like to have a clear-cut definition of what the expectations are for the road condition as well as dust control. The spokesman said that the earth removal was necessary because the current layout is not conducive to newer ways of growing cranberries. “The things that we are talking about make sense for cranberry production. If we change the property to the new way, it now becomes a highest and best use for that property… there are good things for the town, there are good things for the grower… at the end of the day, we just want to coexist,” he continued.
They showed maps of the property to the residents present for the hearing and said that they were also available at Mass Mapper under Zone 2. Residents spoke about their concerns including home depreciation and the safety of children. One resident said that they already deal with being inconvenienced in September and October but said that was just part of the cranberry business. He said, however, that this was different and would cause disruption for years. Another resident said that he worries about the environmentalimpact of the properties surrounding the one in question including walking trails leading into Burrage. Another resident asked that the official abutters list be expanded to include more properties. Someone else expressed concern about the ability of first responders to get through to homes given the heavy truck traffic which was described as sounding like an “earthquake.”
The Selectmen agreed to do a site visit and then revisit the project in early August. “I don’t think we are at a point in this project to vote either way,” Selectmen Chair Ashley DiSesa said. [DiSesa works for Ryco and subsequently resigned from the Board]
April 2022
Morse applies for permit to expand sand mine
In April 2022, Morse applied to the Halifax Selectboard for a permit to remove 1.14 million cubic yards of sand and gravel to create “cranberry bogs and water supply ponds.” This would entail about 35 truck trips on week days for 5-6 years. It would level the Whaleback esker and mine in the aquifer. The total site disturbance is 67.1 acres.
Town’s report on Morse Brother’s earth removal permit application for 1,140,000 cubic yards on the Whaleback Ridge
Makepeace’s Redbrook expansion around Deer Pond will obliterate at least 25 acres of pristine forest. Is this necessary? Is this the type of “green” and “sustainable” development that AD Makepeace promised Plymouth and surrounding towns in the early 2000s when it announced plans to develop its vast landholdings – about 10,000 acres? Has Makepeace met its obligations for conservation of land?
Deer Pond & Native American Site
The Deer Pond area contains evidence of Native American use and occupation of the land during the Late Archaic Laurentian period, about 5,000 to 4,000 years before present time. A archeological study done as part of the “MEPA” environmental study process for Red Brook included an archeological study done by a consultant paid by AD Makepeace. The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is the state agency responsible for deciding whether archeological sites like this can be destroyed or must be preserved when a development is proposed. This is one of the many sites that MHC signed off on allowing Makepeace to destroy the archeological evidence here. MHC operates in secret with developers like Makepeace. The Deer Pond archeological review process should be reopened to comply with today’s expectations for social justice and environmental justice. All Wampanoag tribes should be given a full and fair opportunity to have input on whether this site can be destroyed. The MHC protects archeological sites containing the history of the colonists – but does not treat Native American sites equally.
Below: Excerpt from the MHC Form D, Archeological Survey form for “Prehistoric Sites”, November 7, 2005
Plymouth’s Selectboard waives right to purchase Deer Pond land
Under another special deal, the Town of Plymouth is allowing Makepeace to keep its undeveloped land at Red Brook in “Chapter 61” so Makepeace can save on real estate taxes. When a landowner benefits from Chapter 61, the law says that if the landowner wants to remove the land from this preferential tax category and develop it, the Town has the right of first refusal to buy the land. In August, 2023, AD Makepeace gave the Town the “right of first refusal” on the Deer Pond area as required by law. What did the Selectboard do? Basically, behind closed doors waived the right of first refusal. In order to keep this decision out of the public view, the Board lists “map and lots” on its agenda, without fully informing the public of what the agenda topic really is — giving up the public’s right to buy open space. In this way, the Selectboard goes along with preferential treatment for Makepeace, without full public disclosure. Is the Selectboard fully informing the public and providing an opportunity for public input?
Here is Makepeace’s right of first refusal letter dated August 25, 2023.
