Rochester’s Planning Board Tuesday reviewed updated plans for the Special Permit and Site Plan Review application for a commercial building at 621 County Road that will include Megan’s Organic Market, a recreational-marijuana retail store and fielded concerns raised by the business’s nearest abutter.
Louise Hebert of 617 County Road asked when will the lit signage go on and be turned off and what will be the hours of operation.
The petitioner’s attorney, Jonathan Silverman, answered that all the parking-lot lighting will be cast downward and will turn off an hour after closing time to allow employees to safely leave work. The proposed hours of operation, he said, are from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.
Hebert grimaced in response. She noted that means the lights next door to her home will be lit until 11:00 pm, and she gets up at 4:00 am for work.
Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson offered the consolation that the panel reserves the right to revisit anything that becomes a nuisance issue that arises at a business it permits.
Silverman noted cannabis-retail shops are heavily regulated, more so than other similar retail businesses, and therefore they create less nuisance problems because of their mandated restriction such as against on-site loitering.
“It is inevitable that this is happening,” Hebert admitted. “I just want you to be a good neighbor.”
Planning Board member Lee Carr asked if the store name could be changed to make Megan’s Organic Market less misleading. People could visit the store assuming it’s a place where they can buy tomatoes, he said.
Other board members added their own recommendations that a reference to cannabis sales be added to signage. Silverman said other communities have been against seeing “cannabis” on store signs but that his client would “love” to comply by adding the reference to signage in Rochester.
The public hearing began with Phil Cordeiro of Allen and Major Associates, Inc., updating the board on the project’s design plan.
Megan’s Organic Market will be within a 7,500 square-foot building. Its part of the lot will offer 42 parking spaces. For the two abutting residents to the south, there will be a vegetated border that includes leaving in existing trees. North-side abutters will get a 20-foot vegetated buffer and fence.
Water will be provided through the extension of a Town of Wareham municipal water line. Fire suppression will be augmented by a dedicated fire hydrant on site.
Johnson said the board wants to see the security plan for the facility before voting on the draft decision. Silverman said this plan has been forwarded to Rochester Police and Fire departments, and he did not send it to the Planning Board because then the details of its security arrangements would become public records for any potential thief to see. Johnson agreed to ask the Fire and Police chiefs for a look at their copies of it.
The panel continued the public hearing until September 12 after approving the project’s two waiver requests: a reduced distance from the stormwater-treatment center of only 157.2 feet and a reduced distance between stormwater system and the sewerage system of 132 feet.
Elsewhere on its August 8 agenda, the board approved a Certificate of Compliance for the solar project at 0 Walnut Plain Road and Old Middleboro Road after Johnson reported that all disturbed areas appear to be vegetated and stabilized.
The board then approved a one-year extension of the Special Permit and Groundwater Protection District SP for the large-scale photovoltaic installation solar project at 0 Snipatuit Road.
Following this vote, the board accepted a request to continue until September 12 its public hearing into the Site Plan Review application for a tree and perennials nursery at 157 Vaughan Hill Road filed by Jennifer and Chuck Anderson.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 12, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco