DEERFIELD — With a scope of work laid out, the Selectboard has approved a remediation plan for wetlands violations that occurred in the wake of emergency work done in July 2023.

Speaking to the Selectboard on Wednesday, Police Chief and Emergency Management Director John Paciorek Jr. detailed a $125,000 plan that will see the town remove material that was taken from drainage ways in the aftermath of last year’s storms, and left within the 100-foot wetland buffer zone on Hawks Road, the Fuller Swamp Brook, the North Meadows and the fields across from Richardson’s Candy Kitchen.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection recently issued a notice of noncompliance to the town for the wetlands violations. MassDEP received a complaint alleging the violations on Feb. 27, conducted an unannounced inspection on March 29 and then conducted an announced site inspection on June 10, according to the draft consent order.

The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, which is Chapter 131, Section 40 of Massachusetts General Laws, states “no person shall remove, fill, dredge or alter any area subject to protection under this section without the required authorization, or cause, suffer or allow such activity, or leave in place unauthorized fill, or otherwise fail to restore illegally altered land to its original condition, or fail to comply with an enforcement order issued pursuant to this section.”

Funding for the remediation plan will not directly impact taxpayers, as there is $43,000 remaining in the 2023 storm damage account and $85,000 in undesignated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. Work is estimated to cost $110,000, with $15,000 budgeted as contingency funds.

Paciorek said the town is working to do this in the “most cost-effective manner” it can for residents. The work that was completed, he added, was done to alleviate future flooding and allow easy access in the future if there were more issues, but those intentions accidentally ran afoul of the Wetlands Protection Act.

“We’re trying to strike that fine, middle balance,” Paciorek said of their plans, estimating they did millions of dollars worth of preventative and repair work for only about $600,000 in taxpayer money.

“I think we resolved a lot of water issues. … We got a dramatic amount of work done,” Paciorek continued. “We had some pretty good, 2-, 3-inch deluges [this year] and not even a hiccup up there, which is good.”

Retired Highway Superintendent Kevin Scarborough will serve as the project manager, while Raymond Burniske, William “Rocky” Rotkiewicz and David Gendron will operate the track trucks needed to complete the work. The Highway Department will assist as needed.

Work in each location varies, as Hawks Road is estimated to be brought back into compliance with just one day of work, while the Fuller Swamp Brook work is expected to take five days.

The North Meadows work, however, is estimated to take three weeks due to the 4,000-foot impact area. Deerfield Academy will handle the removal of soil and silt near Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, which stems back to July 2021 work that has largely eliminated flooding in that area of Routes 5 and 10.

Fertile material removed from the North Meadows will go to the Yazwinski, Savage and Williams families for use on their farms. Savage Farms has already removed some of the material and reused it on its fields. Material not suited for farm use will be brought to the Transfer Station.

“The farmers have been fantastic,” Paciorek said. “It’s amazing material.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.