Town Planner Nancy Durfee offered the Rochester Select Board a proposal on Monday to create a By-Law Committee that would rewrite and refine the town’s complicated zoning regulations.
The board informally agreed to this plan but stopped short of taking a formal vote until Durfee discusses the idea with other town boards.
Durfee said she envisions this as a small, four-member committee working to revise and correct problems within town zoning regulations. It could include a member of the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, herself and the building commissioner, she said. This could be the town’s best course of action, she said, “to get the changes we need for addressing problematic and confusing zoning regs such as those regarding accessory apartments.”
Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman David Arancio noted fellow Zoning panel member David Cutler has already served as a bylaw review committee chair. Arancio said he, too, is interested in revising to improve these regulations. But he asked the Select Board to not act on creating a bylaw panel so quickly.
The ZBA will be meeting with Durfee on Thursday, July 27, to discuss her plan, he said, adding it would be helpful to also have an at-large member who would look at town regulations through a different lens. “I’m concerned we’re not ready for this yet,” Arancio said.
All three Select Board members said they liked the idea of such a committee. However, they agreed they wanted Durfee to meet first with both the Planning Board and ZBA to refine her plan. Durfee said she intends to do just that.
Next, Health Director Karen Walega urged the Select Board to sign the Southcoast Public Health Collaborative Inter-Municipal Agreement and the Public Health Shared Services Grant that will allow the town to join the agreement.
Walega and the town’s public health nurse, Connie Dolan, explained the pact will allow Rochester to share healthcare resources across six area towns: Rochester, Westport, Mattapoisett, Marion, Lakeville and Freetown.
The initial grant was $300,000. A total of $132,000 has been added to that amount for 2024. A Shared Services coordinator, an administrative position, has already been hired. Shared inspectors will also be hired. The grant will fund salaries and other expenses.
The town, Walega said, will be able to hire a food inspector to replace one who is retiring. “We are a full-time department with a part-time staff,” she said. “We need this grant.”
The board agreed to sign the contract agreement after Walega explained the due date for documentation was technically July 1. But the town did not receive documentation until late June; then Town Counsel had to review it. “If we don’t execute this agreement soon, we’re out of the grant,” Dolan said.
“There is no downside here,” Select Board Chairman Paul Ciaburri said before the board signed on. “There’ll be no cost to the town.”
In other action, the Select Board approved a one-day liquor license for a Friends of the Rochester Senior Center fundraiser to be held on Thursday, August 24, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Senior Center on Dexter Lane.
The Select Board set its next two meetings for Tuesday, August 8, and Tuesday, September 5, both at Town Hall at 6:00 pm at 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco