The majority of school districts in the region continue the tradition of a school break week in February and April, but a discussion on January 9 showed Marion School Committee support for a study on the possibility of attempting a two-weeklong March break. Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet said the Sippican School Council discussed combining […] Read more »
With a tall stack of project folders towering before him, Mike King, chairman of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission, made the command decision to take public hearings out of order from the agenda in an effort to expedite matters before the commission. “Looks like we won’t be getting home before 9 tonight,” he commented to […] Read more »
The Rochester Board of Selectmen on January 14 approved allowing developer Steen Realty Development Corp to take the preliminary steps in the state permitting process to build 208 units on Cranberry Highway, a project known as a 40R affordable housing development. After a well-attended public forum on the proposed development earlier in January, selectmen and […] Read more »
Matters involving money are often tense. Add in pressure from an impending municipal budget season and consternation over a couple town employee raises well above the average 2.5 percent that municipal workers usually anticipate, and it might even start resembling the early rumblings of a bar brawl. Now you have an idea of how the […] Read more »
The two other defendants named in a fraud and embezzlement complaint against former CMWRRDD executive director Ray Pickles, Pickles’ wife Diane Bondi-Pickles, and former Carver health agent Robert Tinkham Jr., were back in court on January 14 with a request for dismissal of the nine fraud-related counts that allege the three conspired together to defraud […] Read more »
It was late into a long night of complicated cases being heard on January 15 when the members of the Rochester Conservation Commission were shown photographic evidence of illegal cutting taking place on property known as the Old Boy Scout Camp located at 0 Mary’s Pond Road. Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon displayed photos she […] Read more »
After a brief holiday hiatus, the Marion Conservation Commission tackled a full agenda on January 9, including the sticky issue of a conservation restriction (CR) violation at The Cove. Vice Chairman Shaun Walsh summarized the prior meeting’s discussion during which the commission gave residents of The Cove time to think about the violation of the […] Read more »
The developer of a proposed solar farm has filed a lawsuit against the Marion Planning Board for what it considers an “improper denial.” Solar developer ZPT Energy Solutions LLC filed a complaint with the Land Court on December 28 after the Planning Board denied the special permit request to construct a 21+-acre solar farm at […] Read more »
The Marion Board of Selectmen on January 15 endured the grunt work of preparing the numbers for a slew of proposed large-scale capital improvement projects to bring before the Capital Improvement Planning Committee on Thursday night ahead of Town Meeting. Representatives from CDM Smith, the Town’s engineering firm that holds the contract for designing and […] Read more »
A Rochester business was recently cited for selling alcohol to a person under 21, Rochester Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar informed the Board of Selectmen on January 7. Szyndlar told the selectmen – the governing authority that issues licenses to sell alcohol in town – that she received a letter from the Police Department disclosing that, […] Read more »