Dover Board of Selectmen Adopts Stormwater Rules, Moves to Fix Groundwater Bylaw Flaw

DOVER -- March 25, 2025, Dover Board of Selectmen adopts stormwater regulations and opens town meeting warrant to fix a 32-year-old groundwater bylaw gap. The two-member board, Chair Robin Hunter and member Dave Havlin, voted unanimously Tuesday to enact permitting rules implementing a bylaw approved by town meeting 120-46 in May 2024, requiring a new Chapter 159 highway department permit for land disturbance of 5,500 square feet or 25 percent of a lot, whichever is smaller. The board also reopened the May 4 annual town meeting warrant to insert a single corrective amendment after Town Counsel Nina Chering Cook determined that Dover's 1993 groundwater protection bylaw contains no grandfathering provision, leaving the DPW fuel island, Dover Mobile gas station, and potentially Dover Automotive in technical violation. A planned capital request to replace the existing DPW fuel island has been deferred to a future town meeting as a result. The board separately approved not-to-exceed $4,500 in additional architectural services from Fenick McCready for the delayed community center project, where a temporary certificate of occupancy from contractor M.O. Conor Contracting is targeted for mid-April.