Halifax Conservation Commission Seats New Leadership, Flags Wetland Crisis at Old Summit Street

HALIFAX — April 14, 2026 — Halifax Conservation Commission reorganized its leadership and heard an urgent update on wetland contamination at 16 Old Summit Street in a seven-minute meeting Tuesday. John Guiod was elected Chair, Paul Doucette Co-Chair, and Edward Haworth Secretary, each by unanimous 5-0 votes, with nominations led by member Kathy Evans. The bulk of the meeting centered on a site visit to 16 Old Summit Street, where Guiod described illegal dumping throughout the wetland buffer zone, unauthorized backfill, an open excavation, and a row of intact glass storm windows perched near a 15-foot drop into the wetland — "just a terrible, terrible site." Member Edward Lane, who was also at the site, urged a phased cleanup approach using pickup trucks because ground conditions could swallow heavy equipment. The commission warned that engineering consultant Dave Klenert of Collins Engineering may abandon the remediation project if the property owners do not pay him for services already rendered. A discussion with homeowner Jack Selvaggio of 1 Seventh Avenue over an eroding retaining wall was tabled without a return date.