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Petition to Avon Town Meeting
Council Order Concerning Blasting Rules (proposed Sept. 30, 2024) WHEREAS, when blasting occurs as part of a construction project or ongoing commercial project, state rules apply to monitor the effects on nearby properties; and WHEREAS, the state rules include monitoring for dust, noise, and vibration, but only for the immediate effects, and not for long-term effects of underground vibrations; and WHEREAS, the Conservation Commission and other Town agencies are empowered to additionally require monitoring and amelioration for long-term effects, in addition to the state rules; and THEREFORE BE IT ORDERED, that the Conservation Commission and other Town Agencies shall require monitoring and amelioration for long-term effects of blasting, as they deem appropriate for the situation at the time of permitting, and those agencies may change the requirements after permitting if a change in situation so warrants; and BE IT FURTHER ORDERED, that the Town of Randolph shall initiate a contract with a public adjusting company, independent of the commercial entity undertaking blasting and independent of its insurer to inspect properties, upon demand from property owners, to determine if long-term damages are caused by blasting, and what compensation should be due to said property owners from the insurer.
So many people in South Randolph have been affected by the blasting just across the border in Avon. And so few people in Avon know about it. We want to change that. Our testimony at Nov. 2 Avon Select Board meeting (1:50 to 9:15) Avon has a "Town Meeting" every few months -- the next one is May 7, 2024 -- and there's a petition process to get a "Warrant" for a vote by the Town Meeting. You can download the Avon blasting petition to establish a Warrant -- but what we're looking for is Randolph residents to describe the blasting damage -- that's the Randolph blasting petition. If you have a description of damage due to blasting, please take some pictures and send to jesse@jessegordon.com -- and please sign our petition with a description of your damage (use the back of the petition if needed, or send by email with subject line "Avon Blasting"). Please distribute the petition to your neighbors, and pleaase return to P.O. Box 448, Randolph MA, 02368. Councilor Gordon will present all the petitions and photos to the Avon Town Meeting in May (you can attend too, of course). The petition asks the Town of Avon to set up a fund to reimburse Randolph residents for the damages. That should have been done by insurance claims during the blasting, but whenever people had insurance adjusters visit, the insurance adjusters couldn't 100% connect the blasting to the observed damages. We'd like you to describe that too -- so we can present it to the people of Avon. This isn't a lawsuit -- it's an appeal to the people of Avon to be good neighbors. Hardly anyoe in Avon is aware of the facts here -- so we want to tell them. This also doesn't address the company who did the blasting -- that's T.L. Edwards Inc. -- because they followed the rules that the Town of Avon set up. Those rules didn't account for damages from repeated underground vibration from blasting, across the border in Randolph. So we want the Town of Avon to take responsibility for those damages, resulting from their rules. We're asking for a fund of $50,000. That's about $4 for each resident of Avon. It's not really enough to fix all the damage, but it would address a few damages. Mostly, it would establish the scale of the problem -- and if there's evidence of damage well over $50,000, we can ask to expand the fund next year. We're also asking for T.L. Edwards Inc. to administer the fund, including arranging for inspectors to visit homes in Randolph. The Town of Avon can't legally write checks to Randolph residents, even if the damage is substantiated by inspection, so we need an intermediary. Following is the text of the two petitions, and then our flyers to publicize them.... PETITION FOR AVON TOWN MEETING WARRANT ON COMPENSATION FOR BLASTINGTo see if the Town will vote to set aside $50,000 for compensation and settlement of damage claims to residents of Randolph whose homes were damaged by the Town-permitted blasting adjacent to the Randolph-Avon border; the fund to be administered by an appropriate entity set up by the T.L. Edwards company.
RANDOLPH PETITION FOR AVON TOWN MEETING WARRANT ON COMPENSATION FOR BLASTINGTo see if the Town will vote to set aside $50,000 for compensation and settlement of damage claims to residents of Randolph whose homes were damaged by the Town-permitted blasting adjacent to the Randolph-Avon border; the fund to be administered by an appropriate entity set up by the T.L. Edwards company.
What to do about the blasting?Jesse Gordon is organizing a "speaking session" at the Avon Select Board meeting on November 2 and invites you to attend. Bring photographs of your structural damage and let's show the people of Avon what's going on with their neighbors! "I hear from many Randolph residents about damages from blasting," says Jesse. "And I hear from the Town of Avon that T.L. Edwards isn't breaking any laws -- that means we need to change the law!" With your help, Jesse will propose a new law that requires T.L. Edwards to pay for damages in Randolph from blasting. The Avon Town Meeting next meets on Nov. 18. The Select Board can prepare a "warrant" for a vote at the Town Meeting, establishing payments for damages caused by blasting. "The T.L. Edwards site is near so many Randolph homes but far from almost all Avon homes,: says Jesse. "The people of Avon need to hear from the people of Randolph about blasting -- otherwise they just won't see the problem." Jesse invites you to attend:
See us on ACAM from the Nov. 2 Avon Select Board meeting
(video clip from 1:50 to 9:15)
Who's blasting in the Avon woods?The corner of Stoughton Street and Fitch Terrace has an Avon-required sign saying "Warning: Blasting Zone" -- what's that about? Actually, that's Randolph, not Avon -- the town line is 50 feet into those woods. The blasting zone is on the property of the T.L. Edwards Excavation company, a few hundred feet further in. The woods on the Randolph side are called the "Lokitis Conservation Area." Randolph Town Councilor Jesse Gordon knows those woods well: "15 years ago, I used to take my son and his friends bicycling on that trail, through the Excavation company site and the Avon Industrial Park, to D.W. Field in Brockton," says Jesse. "There was no ‘blasting' sign then -- that's a recent addition " Those woods have been a trash-dumping site for decades -- and now a blasting zone -- because we closed the Lokitis Conservation Area to the public. "This year, I got a grant to open up that park to the public. DPW moved one of the boulders blocking the entrance -- you can walk in now -- and I'll get a map posted later this year, like I got posted at the Blue Hills," says Jesse. "Lokitis is a 35-acre park -- the biggest in Randolph -- that we should use as a park, instead of trash and blasting." "I've asked the Avon Select Board to make Lokitis into a two-town park," says Jesse. "Let's keep our woods open for recreation, instead of being used for trash & blasting." Jesse invites you to offer your ideas to the Avon Board:
Join online via https://www.avon-ma.gov/board-selectmen (NOTE: the final URL will be posted here before Nov. 2 when the Avon Select Board posts it!)
Click to download Jesse's "Blasting Flyer"
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