The Rochester Conservation Commission met April 7 to review the Notice of Intent to sell for other use a 116-acre plot of land located on Snipatuit Road.
The commission voted unanimously to pass on the Town’s Right of First Refusal for the $485,000 plot of land, citing the high price and the availability of other parcels of land in Rochester as the reasons for the refusal.
“It’s a lot of money. It’d be a hard sell at a town meeting,” said Conservation Commission member Kevin Cassidy.
“We also have other properties that are on the horizon that are key pieces,” Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon said.
The commission discussed the possibility of working with whoever decides to buy the property to create an easement at the back of the property in the future.
Farinon updated the commission on the status of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Stormwater (MS4) permit requirements. Farinon believes that Rochester is eligible for a waiver from the new requirements, which impose more rigorous testing of the town’s stormwater systems.
“A new draft permit just came out … and we are in an area that’s been designated … an urban area,” said Farinon. “When the program started a number of years ago … we looked into it further and found that we could apply for a waiver, and did apply for a waiver, and did receive a waiver.”
Farinon is currently working a waiver proposal letter and said they are just waiting on some more specifics.
“Not that the town doesn’t care about pollution of waters because we do, but the requirements are getting more and more stringent for sampling and a lot of stuff,” said Farinon. “It will cost a lot of money. We simply shouldn’t be in the program.”
Farinon also brought up that there are Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program (BBNEP) grant opportunities approaching. These particular grants would add up to $40,000 dollars and would be divvied up between the 16 towns around Buzzards Bay that are eligible to apply for a fraction of this money.
“It’s directed towards wetlands protection and land acquisition. I know there’s a lot of interest in it,” Farinon said. “I would like everyone to put their heads together so we could come up with the best project idea.”
Farinon said there is still time for these grant proposals, which are due in mid-May, and she would like to see it discussed further at the next ConCom meeting on April 21.
If Rochester is successful in securing some of this grant money, it could be used for a number of conservation efforts around the town including land surveying.
“Our open space plan is going to expire in October,” Farinon said. “And we’ve had some interest from people … who are willing to sit on this committee.… We’re going to need some money.”
An open space plan is a report that must be delivered every five years to the state, which details a town’s plan for using its open space. One of the prerequisites of this plan is an up-to-date survey of the land, which Farinon said the town needs.
The costs associated with the survey include printing copies of the results of the survey, distributing them to residents of the town, and holding public forums on the results, as well as the cost of the survey itself.
“With budgets the way they are now, they’re extremely tight,” she said. “We (beg and borrow) to help, not just ourselves, but to get a number of things done.”
The plan is necessary for many reasons, Farinon said, but one of the primary reasons is that, without one, that town becomes ineligible for certain state-funded grants.
To help with the plan, Farinon said that the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) awarded the commission a grant to help take care of some of the technical aspects of the plan. The value of the work from the grant is estimated at $12,000.
Other topics of business included the unanimous recommendation from the Board of Selectmen to reappoint Christopher York to the Conservation Commission.
The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for April 21 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Andrew Roiter
