Berkshire Concrete Sues Dalton Board of Health
DALTON, Mass. — Berkshire Concrete has filed a second lawsuit against the town. This time against the Board of Health, appealing the fees the board imposed on the company.
On March 2, the Board of Health issued a $5,000 fine to Petricca Industries, the parent company of Berkshire Concrete, for creating a public nuisance by allowing sand and dust to leave the property and for failing to submit an adequate dust mitigation plan despite numerous orders.
This fine went unpaid and was not appealed. However, Berkshire Concrete did appeal the subsequent fine of $10,000. During a meeting on April 28, the Board of Health voted to uphold the fines.
Now the company is appealing the decision to the courts with a lawsuit filed in Superior Court on June 26 by attorney Jaan G. Rannik, of Cohen Kinne Valicenti & Cook LLP, on behalf of Berkshire Concrete.
The suit seeks the reversal and rescission of the decision and the fines issued to Berkshire Concrete by the building inspector and for a declaration that Berkshire Concrete's operations are lawful and do not constitute a public or private nuisance.
It also requests the court declare the following:
- That the Board of Health fines are improper because there has been no ongoing public nuisance from Berkshire Concrete operations after June 2025.
- The dust mitigation plan submitted by Berkshire Concrete complied with the letter and the "spirit" of the Board of Health directives regarding dust mitigation following the event;
- Berkshire Concrete is not required to reclaim the entirety of the parcel,
- Berkshire Concrete is not subject to the requirements of town's earth removal zoning bylaws.
The suit alleges that the board failed to follow state statutory procedures and that its decision to uphold the fines did not address Berkshire Concrete's arguments during the appeal process regarding the procedural deficiencies in the board's rulings.
Since the decision, additional improper fines have been imposed on Berkshire Concrete, the suit says.
The lawsuit claims that the board's decision was arbitrary and capricious and not supported by substantial evidence, citing the lack of an ongoing nuisance and arguing that the mitigation and reclamation work had been approved by the town, the Board of Health, and the building inspector while it was ongoing.
The board decision has caused and will continue to cause measurable injury to Berkshire Concrete and the board's orders are part of the town's larger effort to create leverage to impose conditions upon its gravel operations, the suit says.
The suit highlights the company's background in town dating back to at least 1947, predating the abutting neighborhoods and zoning bylaws. Since that time, the operations have involved a certain amount of dust particles leaving the property into the surrounding areas, the lawsuit says, and that in the mid-1960s, the surrounding properties were developed and houses were constructed in the neighborhoods now making complaints.
Berkshire Concrete acknowledged that from late 2024 through about March 2025, an elevated level of dust and sand particles left the property because of an "error in the angle at which a face was cut" on parcel 105-16.
This parcel has been described as the company's unauthorized dig site because of a clerical error in which the mining operation was in that location was on the map but left out of the special permit application so abutters were not properly notified.
"The error has since been corrected by reclamation of the relevant portion of the parcel," the lawsuit said.
During several meetings, local officials demanded that the parcel be reclaimed in its entirety because operations were done without a proper permit.
Berkshire Concrete claimed it remediated part of the parcel in June 2025, addressing the error. However, the company claims that complaints continued from 4 residents in two households in town, both located in direct proximity to 105-16.
"The owners of which are involved as leaders as the self-titled 'Dalton Clean Air Coalition,'" the lawsuit said, also highlighting that these houses were built between 1986 and the mid- 1990s, succeeding Berkshire Concretes operations.
Following the partial reclamation, Berkshire Concrete received a letter from the Board of Health, on March 12, 2025, to cease and desist its operations on 105-16 and to "immediately implement measures to abate the nuisance conditions by preventing dust and sand from leaving" the property, the suit says.
Berkshire Concrete asserts that it does not agree the elevated levels of dust and sand constituted a nuisance, however complied with the Board of Health's order and delivered an initial dust mitigation plan.
On Oct. 23, 2025, the board issued a letter to Berkshire Concrete ordering a new dust mitigation plan claiming that the one submitted was insufficient based on a review by town's consultant Berkshire Environmental Consultants.
"The criticisms raised in BEC's report are minor and technical rather and do not establish BCC's dust mitigation plan was insufficient to achieve the intended purpose or commercially or environmentally unreasonable," the lawsuit says.
"BCC's dust mitigation plan was sufficient and in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the directives of the [board.]"
The suit says Berkshire Concrete proceeded to provide a topographical survey and its standard operating procedures addressing dust mitigation measures in conjunction with its own environmental consultant.
Berkshire Concrete attempted to renew its special permit in March 2026, however after five meetings it was denied with Planning Board members reiterated recurring concerns: the company's lack of clear mitigation plans and ambiguous documentation outlining its work plans.
The suit against the Board of Health claims that the Planning Board improperly denied Berkshire Concrete's application for the renewal of its special permit, for which BCC had voluntarily agreed to apply beginning in 1992.
Berkshire Concrete is also in the process of suing the town and Planning Board over this decision. More information here. All stories surrounding this ongoing dispute here.
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