MassDOT Denies Memorandum Language

            Mattapoisett Select Board Member Jordan Collyer, in talking Tuesday night about the opening of the Mattapoisett Bike Path Phase 1b, made his feelings very clear.             “The MOU is going to be the problem,” said Collyer, referring to a “memorandum of understanding” between the town and the state, in which areas of responsibility for […] Read more »

Giffords Lane Work Faces Wetland Violations

            Abutters criticized a proposal to replace a house at 694C Mill Street (end of Giffords Lane) but not before Marion Conservation Commission Vice Chairman Emil Assing aired his concerns during the commission’s February 22 public meeting.             S&S Ventures, LLC filed a Notice of Intent for reconstruction of a single-family house at 694C Mill […] Read more »

Facebook Post Deemed out of School

            The Old Rochester Regional School Committee’s scheduled discussion on committee-sponsored social-media accounts and access nearly resulted in the takedown of the committee’s Facebook page before a last-second support of a motion resulted in only a temporary shutdown pending internal review.             Committee Chair Michelle Smith read a prepared statement during the committee’s March 1 […] Read more »

Access to Town Counsel Debated

            Representatives of Rochester town departments and boards met Tuesday night to review the new policy on access to Town Counsel, section by section, to iron out the concerns of some board members.             Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson conducted the paragraph-by-paragraph review after Select Board Chairman Woody Hartley said the meeting had been scheduled […] Read more »

Bay Club Subdivision Reviewed

            Dave Andrews of the Bay Club Real Estate Holdings and engineer Bob Field of Field Engineering came before the Mattapoisett Planning Board on Monday night to request approval of a Form C Definitive Subdivision for parcels located inside the original 624-plus acres.             Original conceptual plans for the site in question were for the […] Read more »

Bylaw Changes Set for Town Voters

The Marion Planning Board was finally able to put a bonnet on the lengthy list of changes in town bylaws that will be brought before voters at the May 8 Annual Town Meeting.             The board, made up of Chairman Norm Hills, Eileen Marum, Andrew Daniel, Jon Henry, Alanna Nelson, Chris Collings and Tucker Burr, […] Read more »

Cell Tower Window Closed

            The Rochester Select Board Monday night told a group of residents who packed the Town Hall meeting room that the board could not help them with their concerns over a plan for a wireless communications tower on High Street.             On the night’s agenda was the question of overturning the Select Board’s right to […] Read more »

Harbormaster Seeks Manpower

            Deputy Harbormaster Adam Murphy went before the Marion Select Board on Tuesday night to discuss proposed Harbormaster Department fee increases for FY24. Vin Malkoski, the chairman of the Marine Resources Commission, was also on hand after writing a letter of support for the measures.             Murphy stressed that while the department faces serious financial […] Read more »

Literacy Assessment Underway in ORR Schools

            The timing of the wind-down of the local elementary schools’ two-year improvement plans and the Old Rochester Regional School District’s Vision 2023 plan with the emergence of a new, outsourced, literacy-assessment program is music to the ears of the Mattapoisett School Committee.             Darci Burns, PhD and Executive Director of Hill for Literacy, Inc., […] Read more »

One More Time for Bylaw Changes

            The proposed bylaw changes for the 2023 Annual Town Meeting will be trotted out to one more Marion Planning Board meeting, according to Chairman Norm Hills.             The draft summary of changes reviewed during the board’s February 21 meeting was nothing the members had not heard before, but Hills solicited questions and got some. […] Read more »