Halifax Conservation Commission Tells Lakefront Homeowner to Hire Engineer Before Any Erosion Work

HALIFAX -- April 28, 2026, Halifax Conservation Commission presses for formal engineer filings on two troubled properties while floating a 30 percent fee hike. At the April 28 meeting, Chair John Guiod and the two other members present, Secretary Edward Haworth and Member Edward Lane, told Jack Selvaggio of 1 Seventh Avenue that his engineer must present a full Notice of Intent before the board will approve any retaining-wall or temporary erosion-control work on his lakefront property, where a 40-degree slope is exposing the foundation. Dave Klenert of Collins Civil Engineering Group, retained just five days earlier by the owner of the long-troubled 16 Old Summit Street parcel, presented a preliminary wetlands-restoration plan calling for hand-removal of roughly 10 feet of fill and suspected lead-paint-contaminated debris, slope restoration to a 3-to-1 grade, and a three-year indigenous-species replanting program; Klenert said he expects to file the Notice of Intent within three weeks. Haworth said he wants flaking paint at the Old Summit site tested for lead before disposal. Guiod also said he had spoken with Town Administrator Steve Solbo about raising the commission's fee schedule, frozen since 2009, by an estimated 30 percent, a proposal he will bring to the full board at the May 12 meeting.