This letter aims to provide a full picture about the “lawsuit” referenced in recent Your View letters about Select Board Chair [Richard] Quintal’s April 29, public comments. The lawsuit is a “Citizen Suit” case brought by 20 “persons” as plaintiffs. Community Land and Water Coalition (CLWC) is only of the 20 plaintiffs – not the only one as some letters suggest. The citizen suit law (“Chapter 214, Section 7A” of the General Laws) gives a group of “at least 10 persons” the legal right to bring a case to prevent “actual or probable” damage to the environment when the activities violate an environmental law. A corporation is a “person” under the Citizen Suit Law. CLWC is a corporation that joined 19 individuals to bring the case.
The case concerns the sand mine at 71 Hedges Pond Road, the Cedarville Conservation Area. The defendants are the Select Board, Plymouth Foundation and Standish Investment Group LLC. Through the lawsuit, the More Than 10 Residents Group seeks accountability and remedies for the town’s actions that transferred the conservation land into the hands of the Plymouth Foundation for $1. The lawsuit claims the town and others violated Article 97 of the amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution that protects conservation land. The law requires a public process and two-thirds vote of the Legislature before conservation land can be sold or put into another use. In addition, the Select Board was required to put at least 135 acres into conservation before selling the Cedarville Conservation Area. The board did not get the two-thirds vote and did not put the 135 acres into conservation, among other violations.
The More Than 10 Residents Group is represented by Caroline Smith Esq. of McGregor, Legere and Stevens, an environmental firm in Boston, not me. Mr. Serkey’s letter inaccurately states I have been or am a lawyer for the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance. This is not true.
On May 2, 2025, the More Than 10 Residents went to Court for an injunction to stop the environmental damage. The Obery Street courtroom was packed with Plymouth residents and others supporting the case. The judge has not issued a decision yet.
CLWC is a grassroots group that provides information and tools for the public to engage in education advocacy to protect our land and waters. The citizen suit law is one of those tools, and a powerful one.
– Meg Sheehan