Questions Raised Over Paving

The Mattapoisett Planning Board met on March 20 with an agenda absent any public hearings or discussions. But that didn’t mean business wasn’t conducted. Indeed, it gave the board members plenty of time to hear from Barry Denham as he updated them on the paving of Appaloosa Way, a short private roadway off River Road. […] Read more »

FY18 Sippican Budget Up a Mere 0.6 Percent

The FY 2018 school budget of $5,896,051 approved by the Marion School Committee on March 15 reflected only a $35,395 (or 0.6%) increase from last year, but committee members lamented that it did not include the part-time physical education teacher eliminated from the FY17 budget, and it also excludes the district’s request to add a […] Read more »

Suspicious Device Reported in Road in Marion

The Marion Fire Department received a call at 9:04 am on Friday, March 24, about a suspicious device in the middle of Pumping House Road off Route 105 in Marion. Fire Chief Brian Jackvony said firefighters secured the area, closed off the road, and viewed the suspicious device from afar using binoculars. What they were […] Read more »

Climate Resiliency Dominates Master Plan Discussion

The conversation during the Marion Planning Board meeting on March 20 centered on two elements of the draft Master Plan, facilitated by Ken Buckland, the former town planner and consultant for the town. Whether the board was discussing climate resiliency or open space – the two Master Plan elements under review that evening – the […] Read more »

BOS Says ORR School Comm Played ‘Emotions Card’

Having received calls of concern over the Old Rochester Regional FY18 budget, Marion Board of Selectmen Chairman Jody Dickerson on March 21 said it was time the selectmen went ahead and gave the public “the correct information.” “The School Committee has done a great job with their propaganda machine,” Dickerson said. “They’re entitled to their […] Read more »

School Choice on Track to Save Programs

After an over three-hour-long meeting with almost 200 parents, students, and educators (past and present) in attendance, the Old Rochester Regional School Committee voted to accept the less preferable fiscal year 2018 school budget – the one town administrators and officials forced upon the school district, saying the towns could not afford any more. With […] Read more »

Towns Blame Contract Costs for ORR Budget Woes

An exasperated Marion Finance Director Judy Mooney set the tone of the March 9 meeting of the ORR School Committee and Tri-Town town officials when she dug her heels in the sand, drew a line, and told the school committee it brought the school district’s financial problems on itself through poor contract negotiations with teachers […] Read more »

Beach Nourishment Planned for Goodspeed Island

On the eve of what many broadcasters were calling “snowmageddon,” the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission met for their March 13 hearings to consider applications for beach nourishment along Goodspeed Island’s coastal barrier. Representing two clients, Dave Davignon of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates presented the plans to fix erosion problems on two abutting properties. Fred Schernecker […] Read more »

Bike Path Easement Resolutions Pending

Mattapoisett’s Bike Path Committee has spend over two decades working through requirements set by state and federal agencies, local bylaws, wetland concerns, easements and, of course, funding – a true labyrinth if ever there was. Now in March of 2017, all that hard work and persistence is very close to making the next phase of […] Read more »

ZBA Unsure of Proceeding with Conversion Request

Town counsel for the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on March 9 was unable to give sound legal advice on how to handle an applicant’s request to deny the special permit request to convert to a two-family, with a subsequent request to approve a kitchen to be built in an addition built to be inhabited […] Read more »