After Rochester Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar said the town needs to cut $300,000 from FY25 to end up with a balanced budget, that goal has been reached and in fact exceeded. At the conclusion of Rochester’s Finance Committee on Monday, Szyndlar said, “$327,921 has been reduced from the FY25 budget, so we are able to […] Read more »
The Rochester Finance Committee made significant headway on Monday night in its effort to achieve the town’s half of $600,000 in requested FY25 budget trims, the other half to be made by the Old Rochester Regional School District. The committee was not able to nail down the $300,000 in cuts that it seeks, […] Read more »
Carlos and Jennifer Varnum may add a two-story garage and expand their house at 534D Point Road, but a by-right project became a public hearing for a special permit all because of a breezeway. The only case heard by the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on March 14 was a “quirky” one by […] Read more »
On March 25, the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission once again received a report on the status of The Bogs project off Acushnet Road, now owned by the Buzzards Bay Coalition. In recent months, excavation-site work and stormwater volumes had rendered stormwater control systems unable to handle drainage necessary to keep the water on site. Calls […] Read more »
Marion Board of Health member Albin Johnson asked Marion Health Agent Shallyn Rodriguez if the board’s proposed regulation, including a one-time usage of pencils in body-art businesses resulted in “any blowback.” Rodriguez, reporting to the board during its March 21 public hearing on amendments to the regulation “Guidance for Body Art Establishments,” said […] Read more »
Marion Conservation Agent Doug Guey-Lee received two, unrelated complaint calls on separate properties last month, both involving clearing activities in wetland areas. He addressed the Marion Conservation Commission during its March 13 public meeting to discuss a strategy on addressing the complaints, describing one of the properties as a vacant, rear lot. […] Read more »
Old Rochester Regional School Committee member Margaret McSweeny has the entire committee on her side of the MCAS debate, and a unanimous March 7 vote adopted the Thrive Act Resolution recommending that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) downgrade MCAS testing as the sole standard of public education and […] Read more »
Coming before the Mattapoisett Select Board on March 26 were members of the Mattapoisett Tree Committee and others with a singular message: The creation of a committee to oversee and facilitate not only community engagement but decision-making for the village road reconstruction project is necessary. The Tree Committee had asked to be placed […] Read more »
Planting Island resident Dianne Cosman was admittedly excited at the thought that the Marion Planning Board was about to finalize a bylaw for short-term rentals that would be recommended to voters at the May 13 Annual Town Meeting, but after another lengthy discussion on Monday night, the board was further away from consensus than […] Read more »
Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday reacted positively to a Notice of Intent application for work within the wetlands buffer zone at 532 Snipatuit Road to remove an existing houseboat and dock from the edge of the pond, demolish an existing house and construct a new, single-family home with associated site work, a new septic system, an […] Read more »