If you love the Rochester Country Fair, then it’s time to answer the call to volunteer to ensure there actually is a Country Fair this year.

During a discussion with the Rochester Board of Selectmen on January 8, Country Fair Board of Directors and Country Fair Committee member Kelly Morgado said, in light of a slew of committee resignations and a lack of volunteers, the future of the Country Fair is uncertain.

Not good for annual fairgoers.

Morgado said the Country Fair Committee desperately needs new members and volunteers, especially to help coordinate and facilitate children’s events this year.

“We need a lot of help,” Morgado said. “The outlook for the fair right now is very dismal. I’m not sure what, if anything, we’ll be able to do this year.”

Morgado said a social media campaign calling for volunteers turned up one person interested in helping out – many more are still needed.

As for the minor changes to the fairgrounds the selectmen approved, some fence maintenance will be performed, as well as the replacement of some rotten posts. Some vandalism from the fall will be fixed, and the food booth will receive some much-needed electrical upgrades. Furthermore, a structure known as the “cat house” near the Pine Street entrance will be moved to Gate C near the field, and the current small building at Gate C will be placed in the rear of the fairgrounds for storage.

“No additions, just rearrangement? Sounds good,” said Selectman Greenwood Hartley.

The motion to approve the work passed.

On the light side of the news, Rochester’s oldest resident, Marion (Henrique) Thomas, turned 101 on December 21. Thomas is the current holder of the Boston Post Cane.

In other matters, Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar acknowledged the Rochester emergency response employees and the Highway Department employees who worked throughout the recent storm, and she thanked them for a job well done.

“Having gone through other towns, they did a fabulous job,” said Chairman Brad Morse.

Nomination papers are now available to residents who wish to run for office for the 2018 Annual Election. The deadline to pull papers and return them to the Town Clerk’s Office is February 21. The last day to register to vote in time for the April 11 election is March 22.

As per the request of Selectman Hartley, the board will seek to reactivate a Capital Planning Committee and actively solicit members. Selectman Naida Parker said Town Meeting had adopted a bylaw to allow for such a committee, but it resulted in no interest by the public to serve on the committee.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen will be January 22 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

Rochester Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

Noise complaints brought to the attention of the Rochester Planning Board were addressed on January 9, with the board content to allow Wellspring Farm owners Holly and James Vogel to “self-police” by monitoring cars that enter the property for long-term idling, the basis for part of the complaints lodged by an abutter about noise emitted from the hippotherapy center.

Attorney for the Vogels, George Boerger, disputed the allegations that the idling of cars, which is prohibited in the Order of Conditions, would exceed a Massachusetts regulation on maximum noise levels, as abutter Cathy Mendoza alleges.

Citing a letter from an experienced sound specialist, Boerger stated that in the 30 years this specialist had been in the field, he never once heard of a noise complaint surrounding idling cars exceeding the noise limit. Even with seven cars idling at the same time, Boerger said, “That wouldn’t be a violation of the state regulation.”

Referring to another allegation of noise violations, that of therapists and clients conversing loudly, “Conservations between individuals is not a violation,” Boerger said.

“It’s people riding horses and people talking,” said Boerger.

Having acknowledged the complaints, however, Boerger said the Vogels have been trying hard to comply with the state’s noise regulation, as stipulated in the Order of Conditions issued by the Planning Board, by handing out letters to clients about idling vehicles and by providing a heated building for drivers and parents to utilize while they wait for clients’ 45-minutes sessions to finish, to mitigate the need to idle.

Two more “No Idling” signs have also been ordered, Boerger said, despite the state’s regulation permitting idling for the use of a heater, according to Boerger.

But Planning Board member Ben Bailey contested Boerger’s assertion that cars could idle in order to utilize the heater. He said he had the regulation in front of him on his iPad and that the regulation specifically stated that idling for heater use was not an exception.*

“Given the sensitivity to the area,” said Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson, “no matter what the regulations are, a little bit of self policing,” he continued, goes a long way. “You know when the people generally come in to pick up their kids,” said Johnson, adding that employees should approach anyone in the lot appearing to idle, “Because this is impacting you.”

Bailey repeatedly referred to a “bag of apples” analogy he used to suggest the Vogels “open up the bag” and “count the apples,” symbolizing how they should fund their own noise study to prove their innocence, while attorneys would prefer to argue over “how many apples are in the bag.”

Boerger argued that funding a noise study simply to prove the allegations are false was “unreasonable.”

“We’ve done everything that you’ve asked us to do and we’ve exceeded that,” said James Vogel. “We will not guarantee that it’s going to be excellent and perfect. We guarantee that we will do the best that we can … that we will follow what you’re saying.”

Town Planner Steve Starrett said he located the Town’s sound meter and went to the Hiller Road facility to take some sound samples.

“I’m not an expert, I’ve just done some random tests,” said Starrett, adding that he consulted with the DEP over how to take samples and other pertinent details. What he found, he said, was that sound levels at Wellspring were in general no different than any residence.

The sound of the wind through the pine trees, he said, was enough to raise decibel levels 25 dB above ambient sound.

Over at Rochester Crossroads, Starrett said, he took sound samples of seven cars idling in a parking lot and recorded 52 dBs. “That’s only ten or twelve above ambient. You’re not talking huge numbers there.”

Vogel asked the board to finally close the matter, and Johnson seemed satisfied enough to allow the Vogels to go about their business while being vigilant of idling cars in the parking lot.

“We’ll continue to monitor, but for now it seems we’ll be satisfied with that,” said Johnson.

Also during the meeting, the board threw some shade at solar developer Clean Energy Collective, developers of a community solar energy facility approved and under construction off Mattapoisett Road.

In an attempt to not be like “one of those” solar farms in town that have violated Planning Board conditions, Clean Energy Collective representatives wanted the board to know that some elevation numbers were inaccurate, and the developer wanted permission to either build a screening berm higher to screen the panels of one section more effectively, or to allow for more intense blasting in order to bring the elevations into compliance with the plan of record.

Not okay, the board agreed. It’s not that simple.

During grading operations, workers discovered that an area of rock ledge was too hard and dense to continue to drill and would require blasting above and beyond what the Planning Board had approved.

The Historical Commission’s concern now is that the historical landmark “Devil’s Footprint” rock located at the site would be damaged with further blasting. The Order of Conditions mandated that best practices be followed to avoid damaging the rock.

However, if the incorrectly noted elevations were allowed to stand, and a berm height increase allowed, stormwater management systems would be affected.

Clean Energy Collective representatives believed both options to be minor changes to the plan, but the board disagreed.

After about an hour-long discussion, Planning Board member Chris Silveira’s suggestion that the developer explore another option of drilling deeper into the rock to see if it can then be hammered down looked like an attractive alternative to Clean Energy reps, given the strict deadlines for solar applications in Massachusetts.

A Cease and Desist Order that was issued to the developer will stand, but will allow for the continuation of drilling and hammering of the ledge rock; meanwhile, the developer will submit a parallel request to the Planning Board to re-open the public hearing, a more lengthy process, just in case the drilling and hammering does not pan out.

And as for the Devil’s Footprint rock, Johnson cautioned the developer, “It’s like the ‘Old Man in the Mountain.’ Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

The matter was continued.

In other matters, the Special Permit public hearing for a large-scale solar farm at 453 Rounseville Road was continued for one more meeting to allow for some final details to be addressed. The board issued its totals for a number of bonds and allowed abutters to ask questions about concerns on wells.

The Special Permit for a Back Lot filed by Madeleine Monteiro for 0 Walnut Plain Road was continued until January 23 at the applicant’s request. The proposed back lot would be located in Rochester, but accessed via an entrance located in Middleboro. The applicant may withdraw its application without prejudice should the Rochester building commissioner decide to issue a building permit based on review of Middleboro’s approved plan.

The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for January 23 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

*A review of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Title XIV Chapter 90 Section 16A does not reveal any direct reference to the use of words involving “heat” or “heater”, nor does it authorize idling for the use of heat; Section 16B does reference “heating” pertaining to school vehicles on school property, allowing for some prolonged idling of school vehicles to operate heating “to ensure the health or safety of a driver or passengers…” on public or private accredited schools.

Rochester Planning Board

By Jean Perry

The Marion Board of Health and the “more mature” members of the Planning Board are joining forces on the recreational adult use marijuana front, pushing forward together with the Zoning Board of Appeals to get voters to approve a temporary moratorium on commercial marijuana establishments.

Planning Board Chairman Eileen Marum and Town Planner Gil Hilario attended the Board of Health’s January 9 meeting to introduce the board to the Commonwealth’s recent release of a draft regulation on marijuana distribution, ahead of the official deadline for a finalized regulation on March 15.

Marum informed the Board of Health that the Town’s Medical Marijuana Zoning Bylaw will be repealed on December 31, 2018, adding that oversight of marijuana distribution and sales will fall under the recently established Cannabis Control Commission.

“It’s imperative to get together to protect our citizens and make sure we don’t have any diversions of marijuana that could trickle down,” Marum said. “We’re just looking to get a moratorium so that some marijuana establishment wouldn’t be able to come in to the community and use our land or any of our structures … to put in their marijuana business, whether it be the propagation, harvesting, selling, whatever.”

Marum indicated that the entire Planning Board is not in favor of a moratorium, or of banning marijuana establishments, in Marion. Some members, she said, are “kind of enthusiastic about having marijuana.”

“Some of the more mature people on the Planning Board are not so enthusiastic,” said Marum. “They don’t think it’s a very good idea.”

According to the 2016 Annual Town Report, there was only an 11-vote split in the Marion voters’ approval of legalizing recreational marijuana: 1,626 in favor and 1,615 opposed.

Which is nuts, said Board of Health member Betsy Dunn, but she conceded that when it comes to a special town meeting, “We have to do what the Town says.”

An 11-vote advantage – “That isn’t very much,” said Marum. “But a win’s a win,” she added. “That just goes to show how the town is split – and people may change their minds.”

The Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing pertaining to a tentative moratorium on marijuana establishments for February 5 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House, and joining the board will be members of the Board of Health and ZBA to discuss what direction the Town would like to go in terms of a draft of its own.

“Bear in mind that … you can’t do too much, because this is still a draft,” said Marum pointing to the Commonwealth’s December 21 draft, “but we can make our own draft. We can start to think about what we want in our own bylaw.”

Hilario mentioned some of the common approaches some other towns are pursuing, including simply modifying the town’s existing medical marijuana bylaw to include recreational marijuana facilities.

“It’s too early to say,” said Hilario. “More research is needed. It’s too premature.”

Marum told the board that while jurisdiction over recreational marijuana facilities falls under the Planning Board and not the Board of Health, “As the chair of the Planning Board, I would like input from the Board of Health. I think it’s very, very important. It’s going to touch everyone in the community and it’s going to impact their health … and you’re going to be coming at it from a health perspective.”

Having said that, Board of Health member Jason Reynolds proposed that the Board of Health table its discussion on banning menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco until the spring in order to focus the board’s efforts on recreational marijuana.

“I want to be able to give this our time and energy, but we’re up against a real deadline when it comes to marijuana, so I think we should focus on that, and when that is done, we can take up the flavored tobacco issue,” said Reynolds.

Agreed, said Dunn and Board of Health Chairman John Howard.

Under the advisement of Cheryl Sbarra, senior staff attorney and director of the Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program and Chronic Disease Prevention Program for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, the board decided to remove flavored tobacco from its future meeting agendas under the ‘discussion’ and ‘old business’ sections unless the board actually intends to discuss it.

Before that happened, though, Nicholas John from the R Street Institute addressed the board one final time, advocating for the use of non-combustible nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and vapor devices as smoking cessation products for adults trying to quit smoking traditional combustible cigarettes.

John again urged the board to embrace smokeless nicotine products as a smoking cessation strategy rather than opposing them and advocating prescription drugs for quitting smoking.

“People should be able to make the decision to use and have access to the products that work best for them,” said John. “Pushing people to pills … is not a sound approach to public health, and I sincerely urge this board to consider the value in e-cigarettes and certain vapor products…”

Once the discussion closed, Howard suggested, “It will be reopened some time later, so in the meantime, no votes…”

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for January 23 at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Health

By Jean Perry