Medford Conservation Commission Issues Compliance Certificate for Family Devastated by COVID

MEDFORD -- June 17, 2020, Medford Conservation Commission closes a dormant 20-year-old wetlands file for a family upended by COVID-19. The commission voted unanimously Wednesday to issue a certificate of compliance for 107 Grover Road Extension, DEP file 215-0101, after staff confirmed no work had ever been performed under the original order of conditions. Applicant representative Mike LaRosa told commissioners that property owners Horacio and Luigia Petrusillo had filed the original order roughly two decades ago for a planned home addition that was never built, that Horacio died from a COVID-related illness about a month before the meeting, and that Luigia had recovered from COVID-19 and is now in assisted living, leaving the family to sell the home to cover care costs. A separate complication arose when LaRosa disclosed, with roughly 15 minutes' notice, that an adjacent lot carries a superseding order of conditions from 1995, DEP file 215-83, which must be cleared through the state DEP rather than the local commission; DEP specialist Heidi Davis provided her contact information and directed LaRosa to submit Form 8 directly to the state. The commission also announced it will hold a formal vote at its July 15 meeting to select a new chair, after Chair Katie indicated she would step down in August.