Rochester’s Planning Board on Tuesday informed the owners of the Village at Plumb Corners housing development that they may have to be billed for the town having to plow snow there during February’s Blizzard of 2026.
In a hearing filled to standing-room-only capacity with Village at Plumb Corners residents, officials revealed the town responded to telephone calls complaining the development was not being plowed during the historic storm. One such complaint came from a resident who needed a delivery of vital cancer medication. Even though it is a private development and the town is not responsible for snow plowing, the town sent its own equipment to clear the Village entrance.
Chair Arnold Johnson said the hearing was being held because Village at Plumb Corners is still an “open” development; it has not been finished. Its owners may have violated its Special Permit by not handling the development’s snow plowing responsibility, a permit condition. “We could bill the project or call in a part of your bond,” Johnson told the development’s representatives. He added, however, that the Select Board members have the authority to bill the developer; the board will vote on this in a week.
Before this conclusion, Village at Plumb Corners representatives Lindsay LaPointe and Chad Dunlevy said they worked as hard as they could to keep ahead of the snow plowing during that storm. “It was a lot heavier than expected,” Dunlevy, the facility manager, said, adding the equipment on hand did not match the storm’s intensity.
Town Facilities Manager Andrew Daniels, who responded to the Village with a town truck, said what he saw. “It was multiple hours since it had been passed through,” he said. “It was a dropping of the ball. I never saw anybody when we were in there.”
The residents in attendance were more sympathetic. “I think they did the best they could considering the extent of the storm,” one said. “They did a pronominal job considering what was going on,” another said.
“We have bigger developments than this, and we didn’t get calls from any of them,” Johnson said.
In other action, the board continued to its next meeting its hearing into a modification of the Definitive Subdivision permit for the previously approved Snipatuit Pond Estates at Gerrish and Bishop Road, a proposal to swap two parcels of open space to create a 3.578-acre buildable lot on one of them. Johnson told developer Robert Pellegrini he would like to see a Conservation Restriction on both lots as a condition. Pellegrini said he preferred a continuance to discuss what this condition would mean to his project.
The board continued the Site Plan Review hearing on a proposal to clear and re-grade land behind town hall for an 8,220-square foot parking lot to its April 28 meeting after Johnson objected to details of the proposal. A parking lot surface of pea stone won’t last against snowplow weather, he said, and he had doubts about the direction of drainage. Project representative Rick Charron said pea stone is a way to save money; it can be moved and upgraded later. Johnson said this would only add to the expense of the project. “And I don’t see the immediate need,” he added.
The board also opened but eventually continued two Site Plan Review and Special Permit hearings for High Street Solar 1 and 2 at 0 High St., both of which propose a ground-mounted solar array to include a battery storage system on High Street. One notice is for lots four and five. A separate notice is for lots 6, 16, 17, 35, 21. 20, 22 and 35.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco