Before the February 5 meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission kicked off, Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon introduced two new members. Filling vacant slots on the commission and making their first official appearances were Lena Bourque and Kevin Thompson.

            Then it was on to the business at hand, continuing hearings, and opening a new one for another solar array project headed to Rochester.

            Coming before the commission was Pedro Rodriguez, Solar MA Project Management, LLC, Series XXXVI from New Milford, CT, along with Dan Wells of Goddard Consulting, LLC of Northborough and Austin Turner of Bohler Engineering, Boston and Southborough.

            The team described the project planned for forested lands abutting Old Middleboro Road and Walnut Plain Road as a 33-acre solar array field situated in over 140 acres. A service roadway was also briefly discussed.

            But the bigger issue this team faced was related to several easements they would need to access and develop the property, as Old Middleboro Road meanders through the site.

            During the nearly hour-long presentation, Farinon expressed frustration that the wetland delineations had not been completed yet in spite of numerous meetings with the developer and his representatives.

            “There’s going to be a lot of disruption just to get from the road to the site,” she said, disruption that will include jurisdictional areas.

            Wells said that most of the site is outside jurisdictional wetlands and buffer zones, but said that the National Heritage & Endangered Species Program had certified the entire acreage as a habitat of the endangered Eastern box turtle.

            Commission member Chris Gerrior recused himself from the discussion because he is an abutter, but still asked Wells what considerations were being made for the turtles’ movement post construction. Wells said a 6-inch gap in the chain link fence would accommodate their migrations.

            Gerrior also asked if ancient stone walls throughout the site would be left in place or if they would have to be removed. Carter said nearly all would be taken off the site to allow for the solar installation.

            Conservation Commission Chairman Michael Conway asked about the chemical composition of the panels themselves. Rodriguez said he would provide materials data sheets.

            During Wells’ presentation, he noted the need to identify and work with a group who could become the holders of a conservation restriction planned for many acres around the site. Farinon indicated that it would be a conflict of interest to suggest that the Conservation Commission be that party, given that the commission was also involved in permitting the project. She said she would provide contact information of land trusts and conservation groups in the area.

            Then came the question of when the project would begin. This question brought to the surface issues Rodriguez had been working through with legal counsel and the Town’s counsel regarding easements. He indicated that he had been working with Eversource for nearly two years and had reached a point where they agreed to a partnership. But that didn’t address the status of easements. Farinon expressed her frustration again, saying, “Wetlands for the access haven’t been flagged yet.”

            Rodriguez commented that he believed agreements were forthcoming regarding conveyance issues, but that didn’t sit well with Conway or Farinon.

            Farinon said she and others had already spent a great deal of time consulting with the team and advising them on how to move forward through the permitting process, but here they were without even the wetlands being delineated.

            “No one communicated to me … you knew you weren’t ready,” said Farinon.

            Conway suggested that a continuance until June might find the developer ready rather than monthly continuances that amounted to “a waste of time.” He said bitterly, “I’m sick and tired of all these continuances.”

            Wells asked that instead of waiting until June to return to the Conservation Commission, especially given that they have a meeting next week with the Planning Board, that maybe they should ask to re-open the hearing in March.

            Conway countered, “Sure, and if you’re not ready we can vote ‘aye’ or ‘nay’ on your project.”

            The hearing was continued until June 4.

            In other business, John Churchill, representing the conjoined Notice of Intent hearings for the properties located at Plumb Corner, 565 Rounseville Road, owned by Sophia Darras and Gibbs Bray, gave an update on the stormwater discharge design. He said that the original discharge pipe installed sometime in the late 1980s would be replaced with a system that allowed stormwater to be collected and recharged into the ground. Rainfall calculations were offered and he said he awaited comments from the peer review consultant Ken Motta of Field Engineering to complete changes that would update and improve the water discharge system.

            Conway said he had not received an answer to a question he had previously asked – whether or not the stream located near the discharge pipe fell under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

            Churchill said he had spoken to the EPA office and, since the project only disrupted a small area, it was not within their jurisdiction and did not require additional permitting.

            Conway and commissioner Daniel Gagne were not fully in agreement, believing that Churchill had only discovered the EPA’s requirements during construction, not after the fact when discharged water would flow into the abutting stream.

            Churchill said he was sure he was correct and that Motta had not commented on that point either, but Churchill provided contact information to Conway for his own follow-up.

            The hearing was continued until February 19.

            Also continued until February 19 was a Notice of Intent hearing for Borrego Solar Systems for a solar array field proposed for 75 Vaughan Hill Road, and a Notice of Intent filed by Schoen and Bonnie Morrison, 15 Cranberry Highway, for the conversion of an office building to a daycare and event center.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for February 19 at 7:00 pm in the town hall meeting room.

Rochester Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

            State Representative Bill Straus gave his word to the Marion Board of Selectmen on January 30 that as the town’s legislator and one who regularly “bumps” into the governor, he would advocate for the full $2 million share of a state bond bill to be granted to the Town of Marion to assist in the cost of upgrading its wastewater treatment facility.

            The three selectmen met with Straus during an early morning Wednesday meeting to talk about the Sewer Enterprise Fund’s $18,805,000 outstanding debt and the additional $2,500,000 debt to be issued in fiscal year 2020 to cover the cost of the lining of the wastewater treatment plant’s lagoon 1 and associated plant upgrades.

            According to a handout provided by the board, Marion’s 1,692 sewer ratepayers in 2018 generated $2,768,807 in revenue, covering the $2,422,601 in expenses, of which $1,321,214 is debt service. For every $2 million of debt, the average annual sewer bill goes up by 4% to 7% depending on the interest rate. What’s more, the selectmen anticipate having to spend an additional $5 million in wastewater upgrades over the next few years just to satisfy the immediate mitigation measures mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

            “All this is going to drive up sewer rates because it’s going to drive up debt service,” said Selectman John Waterman. “What really concerns us is this is really going to go up from here … and it’s going to drive up the sewer rates and it’s already a hardship.”

            Which is why selectmen are hoping Straus can assist them in getting a $2 million piece of the state’s $1 billion pie served up specifically for capital, with a portion of it reserved explicitly for projects like this in municipalities located on Buzzards Bay.

            “[For which] Marion is eligible under the terms of the statute. … No one else qualifies under these terms, and we wrote it that way,” Straus said, “for resiliency projects under this, and we will be asking for the full $2 million under the bond.”

            In the meantime, however, the Town must have its $2,500,000 lagoon 1 lining project completed by December 1 of this year, and if – with an emphasis on the uncertainty of the outcome – the Town is allotted $2 million or any amount less than that, funding won’t be available until at least July 1 at the start of fiscal year 2020. The contract for the project will be awarded to the winning bid within a month’s time and signed so that construction can begin in the spring in order to meet the December 1 deadline for completion.

            Straus added that the governor just about two weeks ago announced a new tax the state will impose on real estate transactions to fund a program for towns to address climate change related storms resiliency.

            “I’m not in any way suggesting you wait for that,” Straus said, given the time constraints on Marion’s impending projects. For now, Straus told the board, “My suggestion is we think in terms of an initial meeting of some sort within the month at a higher level at the Boston office. … The timing is good in terms of, traditionally, this is the time over the next two and three months when the administrator of finance is weighing requests for bond proceed money from all the agencies. This is the time those numbers are being collected.”

            The state will not announce bond proceeds to state departments until at least April, Straus stated.

            “Obviously, you need things earlier [than April]. I’m going to predict that … you’re going to have to be committing to the contract, and at the same time saying we’re hoping to get this $2 mill fed into the ledger, but you have to operate as if it’s not going happen. You just have to move ahead.”

            “In a perfect world,” commented Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson, “everything goes just the way we want it to go.”

            “If [the state] identifies this project they’ll say, hopefully, the full $2 million will be available … some time during fiscal year 2020,” Straus said.

            “With all the things on that list,” Waterman wondered, “how does he (the governor) know [Marion’s project] is the one that he needs to keep on the list?”

            “How do we get to him?” Finance Director Judy Mooney asked Straus.

            “People bump into him, I assume,” said Straus. “I will be very active. I’m sure [Senator Marc Pacheco] will as well. It’s right to say – to the extent that other people who feel they have relationships [with the governor] – if they can say Marion is in need, they should.”

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

            As is the case on many local boards and commissions, those volunteering their time to aid municipalities in such important matters as subdivisions do not always possess technical backgrounds or experience in complicated issues such as soil analysis or threshold rainfall depth for groundwater saturation. Yet, given sufficient total immersion through the public vetting process, crash courses if you will, these board and commission members absorb knowledge. And then there are the peer review consultants who are hired by the Town and paid for by the applicant to oversee weighty technical matters on behalf of the towns.

            But some town board volunteers are, in fact, lawyers, contractors, and engineers bringing with them vast understanding and experiences; thus, the ability to grapple with construction-related impacts on neighboring lands.

            That was the case on February 4 when the Mattapoisett Planning Board invited Richard Rheaume of Prime Engineering to informally discuss, one more time, Scott Snow’s proposed Form C Subdivision Plan for parcels off Prospect Road now dubbed Eldridge Estates.

            Snow and Rheaume have both been before the Planning Board during previous meetings going back nearly a year. With each meeting, the applicant and his representative have presented at least two subdivision conceptual layouts, finally deciding on the one that will ultimately see the property divided into five lots – three existing and two new.

            The topic of stormwater runoff has been a slippery one for Rheaume, with the primary issue of rainfall saturation and runoff including methods for calculating water flow being questioned by board member Nathan Ketchell, himself a civil engineer.

            As the other board members listened intently, Rheaume explained how he had used two methods to demonstrate that the stormwater runoff from the proposed subdivision would not increase the amount of water flowing across abutting properties via a stormwater management system.

            Rheamue said he had used Technical Paper 40 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other methods also recognized by NOAA, for the purposes of hydrological modeling of 100-year storms and other timeframes.

            Rheamue explained that with the NOAA model, in a 24-hour period, during a 100-year storm, 8.42 inches of rain would be discharged from the Prospect Road subdivision, while the TP40 standard calculated the rate to be 7 inches.

            Rheamue also said that such matters would be further studied by the Conservation Commission when the application came before that governing body. He explained that the plans included the construction of a swale along the southerly edge of the property to deflect stormwater running in that direction to a detention pond.

            For more than an hour, Ketchell and Rheamue discussed water flow, with Rheamue concurring that stormwater would not necessarily increase but that flow would; therefore, it would be collected in the detention pond where it could be discharged slowly into the ground. He also said that any existing stormwater problems on abutting properties would not be solved with stormwater plans being drawn-up for his client’s project.

            Planning Board Administrator Mary Crain said that G.A.F. Engineering would be the peer review consultant for Snow’s filing.

            A date of March 4 was set for the applicant to return with a plan of record and the formal public hearing is planned for March 18 if the applicant files in time. The project was granted an extension until March 31.

            Also coming before the Planning Board was David Andrews of Bay Club, LLC with a request to extend the existing roadway covenant that is expiring.

            This time board member Janice Robbins, an attorney with a background in real estate law, questioned the language in the covenant and wondered how the Planning Board could grant the request in the absence of technical reports on the completion of the roads in questions.

            There was some discussion on the manner in which the massive subdivision’s documents were executed with Andrews saying that former Highway Surveyor Wes Bowman and former Water and Sewer Superintend Nick Nicholson had overseen the roadway construction for years. Crain said that more recently the current department heads had been following up, but that written reports were not submitted.

            In the end, Robbins was successful in gaining an agreement that six lots would be held versus two as part of the awarded extension.

            The board members also confirmed a previously agreed upon surety reduction for the Bay Club neighborhood of Shagbark from $250,000 to $50,000.

            And lastly, Crain said that the Split Rock neighborhood within the Bay Club subdivision was not up for renewal or extension until later this year.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for March 4 at 7:00 pm in the town hall conference room.

Mattapoisett Planning Board

By Marilou Newell