Briggs Makes Case to Changing AHT

            The Marion Affordable Housing Trust has seen recent turnover in membership, and longtime resident and developer Sherman Briggs took the opportunity to address the trust’s newer faces during the September 14 public meeting.             Citing his long-standing opposition to the town’s inclusionary-zoning bylaw that he says has never been utilized, Briggs said it has […] Read more »

Dual-Use Solar Project Continued

            A proposal for a two-phase construction of a canal canopy solar array and a dual-use energy array that will be used for renewable energy and agricultural purposes was heard by the Rochester Planning Board on September 14 without conclusion.             The new public hearing was opened solely to continue the application to the board’s […] Read more »

Village Street Project May Begin by Fall 2022

            The September 14 meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board was a long day’s journey into night with a number of agenda items being handled. None, however, will be more visible than the planned reconstruction of Main, Water, and Beacon Streets, as well as Old Marion Road.             Coming before the board were Eversource planners […] Read more »

Cottages Development to Appear on Warrant

            Multi-family developments are progressing in Marion, where the Select Board heard the case of Matt Zucker’s Route 6 Cottages development during its September 8 meeting.             Zucker’s re-zoning request from Residence D (which he can build by-right) to Residence E, he asserts, will allow him to build the multi-family development that he believes the […] Read more »

New Septic Finds New Support

            Barnstable County is keeping a database for new innovative/alternative (I/A) septic systems, namely those that include denitrification technology across Buzzards Bay as far as Westport, and Marion Board of Health member Dot Brown wants Marion in on that action.             Though Marion is part of Plymouth County, Barnstable County, she said, is focused on […] Read more »

Briggs’ New Case Raises Old Issue

            Given an opportunity to address the newer members of Marion’s Planning Board during the September 7 Zoom meeting, developer Sherman Briggs attempted to get the message across that the town’s current bylaws are discouraging developers from putting forth the projects most needed by a community concerned with dwindling scenarios in which seniors can avoid […] Read more »

Cable TV Contract Not Yet a Done Deal

            On August 31, the Tri-Town Selectmen met again to revisit and presumably vote for the Tri-Town cable television agreement with ORCTV and to accept the updated Old Rochester Regional School District agreement previously vetted during a July meeting.             The combined boards represented by Jordan Collyer and Jodi Bauer from Mattapoisett, Norm Hills and […] Read more »

Neck Road Solar Project Outlined

            Renewable Energy Development Partners, LLC came before the Rochester Planning Board on September 7 in a first of what no doubt will be multiple meetings to hammer out details on a new solar array project proposed for Neck Road.             Representing the developer for the Notice of Intent filing was Sarah Stearns of Beals […] Read more »

Numbers Crunched for House Plan

            A Notice of Intent filed by Kenneth and Darla Parsons for the reconstruction and site plan of single-family house and garage at 27 Dexter Road was continued to September 8, but not before substantial discussion that brought out calculators during the Marion Conservation Commission’s August 25 meeting.             At question was the 10-percent rule, […] Read more »

Town Meeting Warrant Reviewed

            The Rochester Board of Selectmen’s September 7 review of the Special Town Meeting Warrant with Town Clerk Paul Dawson and the Finance Committee was swift and, without committee Chair Kris Stoltenberg in attendance, did not carry official FinCom recommendations.             FinCom member Peter Armanetti attended via Zoom, as Board of Selectmen Chairman Brad Morse […] Read more »