The former site of a much beloved Boy Scout camp located on the shores of Leonard’s Pond is no longer used as such, but is part of one land owner’s dream – a dream that has, however, been more of a nightmare as of late. Jose Araujo purchased the more than 25-acre site with the […] Read more »
An article on the May 20 Rochester Annual Town Meeting Warrant will ask voters to decide on whether to maintain the elected position of town clerk or allow the Board of Selectmen to appoint a qualified candidate. Town Clerk Naida Parker will retire from her position after 35 years as town clerk, prompting Board of […] Read more »
Planning board meetings are the venue for holding public hearings on issues related to bylaws such as amendments, changes, or the inclusion of new bylaws. “But that doesn’t mean we have to sponsor them,” said Mattapoisett Planning Board Chairman Tom Tucker on April 1. The meeting agenda read, “Discussion and Vote On Sponsorship: Zoning Bylaw […] Read more »
There was no hesitation for the Marion Board of Selectmen in selecting the town’s next superintendent of the Department of Public Works – David Willett, with his “been there, done that” experience, as Chairman Norm Hills put it, in leading a department exactly where Marion hopes to go with its own DPW. It sounded uncanny, […] Read more »
Mattapoisett’s Board of Selectmen discussed the need to try and find new ways to offset expenses associated with providing specific services – services that, by and large, benefit individuals or business entities versus the community. On March 26, the selectmen and Town Administrator Michael Gagne began a conversation on fees currently collected for services rendered […] Read more »
Scott Snow, represented by G. deJesus of Prime Engineering, came before the Mattapoisett Conversation Commission March 25 meeting with a Notice of Intent application for a five-lot subdivision located at 6 and 8 Prospect Road and the construction of a private way named Parsons Lane. The scope of the proposed subdivision includes the movement of […] Read more »
Some Rochester Conservation Commission members think Jose Arujo is just trying to save money, while another commented that Arujo’s plan to make good for illegally clearing trees at the old Boy Scout camp is disingenuous. Still, if you set aside the initial aversion to Arujo’s proposal to put 5.3 acres under a conservation easement in […] Read more »
On March 21, the members of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals heard from property owners seeking a variance based on the hardship of high property taxes. Members of the Blake-Whitney family, longtime owners of a large two-family waterfront summer residence at 2 Ship Street, were seeking a variance to change the use of the […] Read more »
The Rochester Planning Board meant it on February 26 when it said it was done beating around the fallen bushes and voted to revoke the landscaping surety for incomplete work at the solar farm on Snipatuit Road. Exactly one month later on March 26, the board took that vote and rescinded it, satisfied that solar […] Read more »
Rochester voters will decide whether there will be a new Constable in town or if longtime Constable David Hughes will keep his paper-serving, town meeting-posting, car-repossessing position in the town’s one and only contested race in the April 10 Rochester Annual Election. But there’s room enough in this small town for two constables, and there […] Read more »