John Rockwell may be sailing abroad, but that isn’t stopping the chairman of the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission from connecting for scheduled public meetings via a Zoom connection.
When MOSAC connects online Thursday, December 2, the commission will be looking to produce a representative to the town’s Community Preservation Committee.
In the meantime, the commission’s November 4 meeting addressed a few lingering project-related matters made slower by the massive cleanup in the wake of the late-October storm that knocked the power out of the vast majority of businesses and residences.
Rockwell said that MOSAC has funds to finance clearing of the first 1,000 feet of the Point Road Path, but a discussion with Jody Dickerson of the Department of Public Works painted a bleak picture.
“All the tree-clearing, brush-clearing people sort of have their hands full so it’s not realistic to have the DPW involved any time soon,” said Rockwell, referring to a town-wide clean-up effort.
The answer for now is for MOSAC to turn its attention to private enterprise to hire out clean-up help for the month of December and then proceed on a month-by-month basis. Rockwell figured that perhaps December might allow the committee to see the second thousand feet of the path also staked out.
Another area affected by storm debris is the Great Swamp Area off Joanne Drive, where Rockwell says G.A.F. Engineering was working on design and permitting for the fire road improvement.
“The trees are so bad that, until that road is improved, they’re not going to get any equipment back there,” he said. “David Jenney was kind enough to volunteer to do it, and it’s all a mess again. … Most of our maintenance meetings now are just getting trees cleared.”
MOSAC member Amanda Chace agreed that the committee’s projects are “at the back of a very long line in terms of getting stuff cleared.”
Rockwell also alluded to a meeting with Dickerson at Grassi Bog where cutting has been needed. “I hope we don’t have any more storms so DPW can catch up,” he said.
One place where Rockwell was able to report progress was in MOSAC’s new Open Space Map. Noting his “obscure” colors, Rockwell acknowledged his map-design shortcomings in good humor.
“The master mapmaker at the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program has also pointed out to me on more than one occasion my maps are terrible,” he said.
So Rockwell requested the National Estuary Program map designer remake her 2016 map with 2021 data that Rockwell furnished. MOSAC members much prefer that map, and Rockwell said that Town Planner/Conservation Agent Doug Guey Lee told him a large printer would only need an ink cartridge on back order to produce the new map.
MOSAC’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 2, at 7:00 pm via Zoom.
Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission
By Mick Colageo