The Rochester Planning Board Tuesday held a public hearing at the COA packed with very vocal residents on a proposal to rezone lots on Mary’s Pond Road and County Road from Residential to Limited Commercial.
The board was poised to approve passing the amendment to rezone four lots at 0 Mary’s Pond Road, 711 Mary’s Pond Road, 475 Mary’s Pond Road, and 35 and 73 County Road on the Spring Town Meeting Warrant even as abutters voiced arguments against it that focused on what the changes might do to their neighborhood.
Chair Arnold Johnson began Tuesday’s meeting by explaining that the goal is to better protect Mary’s Pond with lighter development than multiple houses. The owner of the largest Mary’s Pond Road property has expressed interest in building 12 single-family homes there. The rezoning to Limited Commercial could help that developer make other choices and give town boards more control on what goes in there. He said this is a proactive step to limit housing development there. He noted owners of existing lots in the area will not lose their rights. He explained it provides a potential developer with other options. Because two lots were removed from the original proposal and another was added at the board’s last meeting, the hearing had to be re-posted and conducted again.
Residents responded by bombarding the board with concerns about the change’s impact on their area of Mary’s Pond Road. “Will this truly strengthen the town against housing development on the pond?” one resident asked. Johnson answered “yes, it will.” Jackie Souza of 507 Mary’s Pond Road asked if one of these lots was behind her home. After being shown the zoning map, she told The Wanderer she was not happy at all with what she saw.
“Why not take the Marion Road bogs off the re-zone?” a resident asked. “Keep Rochester as a farming town,” she said.
Johnson said the developer has expressed his intent to not farm the bogs but build on them.
“The town has to have additional options available,” Town Administrator Cameron Durant answered. “less environmentally impactful ones.”
Another resident argued that the zoning change move is reactionary rather than proactive. It’s reacting to one developer and is like spot zonings she said.
Another asked if the eight parcels would go to town meeting separately so voters can choose or as one ‘all or nothing’ proposal. Johnson said before voting on moving the plan to Town Meeting that the board would break up the parcels into separate warrant articles.
In other action, the board approved the Site Plan Review permit for a plan to create a second home lot from an existing 5.25-acre parcel at 314 Neck Road.
The board advanced to Town Council for their approval a proposed new Planning Board regulation that places special conditions on land swaps within subdivisions.
The board continued until its next meeting its hearing into a modification of the Definitive Subdivision Plan permit for the previously approved Snipatuit Pond Estates at Gerrish and Bishop Road. It is a proposal to swap two parcels of open space to create a 3.578-acre buildable lot on one of them.
The board also continued to its next meeting the Site Plan Review hearing on a proposal to clear and re-grade land behind Town Hall for an 8,220-square foot parking lot.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be Tuesday, March 24 at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco