The members of the Marion Planning Board came together on a snowy, blizzard-watch Tuesday evening, to hold their meeting at the Marion Town House to discuss the master plan for the town, going into the future.
On the agenda was the idea of hiring a part time planner to start the effort on how the town will proceed.
“The town of Rochester has started this process, and has made great strides,” said planning board member Norm Hills. Hills noted in his comments that the town needs to plan for the future and can use Rochester’s efforts as one of many templates in how Marion should proceed.
Hills presented a proposed advertisement for a part time planner and asked for the approval of the board on the wording of the advertisement. The board approved the wording of the advertisement.
A dialogue ensued with member Ted North suggesting that the the board and town coordinate and hire a ‘town planner’ and share the cost. North suggested that the Planning Board work with the Board of Selectmen in the planning process.
“What the town really needs is someone to procure grants that support the master plan for the town,” said member Ted North.
The board discussed and debated the issue and agreed that the town needed to be coordinated, but, for now, the Planning Board needed to get a part time qualified person on-board to help with town planning in the short run. Board members said that the funds for a part time planner were available and that they wanted to proceed now rather than coordinate an effort with the Board of Selectmen.
In other business, the board heard from Brian Grady of GAF Engineering on behalf of Saltbox Properties LLC regarding properties located on lots at 22 Kabeyun Road. At issue were lot lines that had not been surveyed since the 1920’s when ‘meets and bounds’ were done by sight. Only two sides, the southern and the northern had recorded plans. Mr. Grady asked the board to agree to the boundaries to the east and west of the two lots, which are commonly owned and are to be joined into one lot.
At first, the board questioned the application. “Are we setting legal bounds on this property by voting on this?” asked board member Ted North. Grady explained that no buildable lots were being created and no parcels were being conveyed and the purpose of the Approval Not Required request was to finalize the undefined lot lines and register them with the Plymouth Land Court. Member Norm Hills noted that the parcels have a ‘for sale’ sign on them currently.
After much discussion, the board voted to approve the plans as presented.
Next up was a discussion of storm water calculations, as used by the Planning Board currently. Member Norm Hills presented a handout to board members which noted that the storm water run-off calculations currently used reflect old data and represent lots that encompass large parcels of land. Hills suggested that the board consider data that reflects a standard that is more applicable to smaller parcels, which reflect more of Marion’s basic residential nature. Board members complimented Hills for his work on the handout which detailed the age of the standards and updated data on rainfall as studied by the Northeast Climate Center.
After much discussion on the rain water run-off handout, the board agreed to have the town engineer, Field Engineering, review the current by-law and consider the Planning Board’s idea of adapting another, more up to date, rainwater runoff standard.
By Joan Hartnett-Barry
