Tailwater is a water retention pond located downstream from hydraulic structures such as dams and connected bodies of water. A tailwater pond will be an integral part of bog construction planned by Decas Cranberry Company at their 109 Neck Road property in Rochester.

Brian Grady of G.A.F. Engineering returned to the Rochester Conservation Commission on September 15 to discuss in greater detail this aspect and others of the massive agricultural project.

The tailwater pond and associated bogs abut Long Pond that is contiguous to Snipatuit Pond, placing it within the jurisdiction of the commission. The scope of the project will require several meetings with the commission before they will be able to accept the project and provide construction conditions.

On this night, the 23-acre tailwater pond’s capability to retain and recycle bog water was discussed. Grady said, “The tailwater pond is a small project area, and we don’t feel it will have any impact to Snipatuit or Long Pond or to Mattapoisett’s River Valley.”

Grady said the total bog area will be decreased by 3.2 acres, which translates to decreased water consumption. He said this site has been consistently used for agricultural activities for nearly 100 years and a long history provides sufficient data on water consumption.

That simple statement didn’t quite sit well with several commission members as they probed Grady for more details on the volume of water the tailwater pond will hold and the manner in which it will interact with Long Pond. He said the tailwater pond would provide water conservation when completed and provided additional data.

Commission member Laurene Gerrior asked about the dye test data in the multi-page narrative G.A.F. had written for the commission. She learned that the dye test is used to measure flow speed, especially when assessing the movement of chemicals through the bog system.

Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon said the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Supply Protection Advisory committee had aired consistent concerns about the river valley’s headwaters, Snipatuit and Long Ponds. With that in mind, she listed the items G.A.F. needed to provide for the next meeting on the project. Those items are: a document detailing best practices; water management act permit; pulling back the grading on one corner of the site; linear footage of the tailwater pond; and relative volume of the pond.

Farinon also suggested a pre-construction meeting with all involved parties to ensure that all expectations are met saying, “Being more conservative from the start is better on projects like this.”

The commission approved a continuation until October 6.

On a different note, Gerrior asked the other members if it was time to put out a call to the public for associate members. The commissioners agreed it was prudent to have people ready to step in and that being an associate member gave a person the opportunity to learn the ropes and ease into full member status. Farinon said anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a commissioner should contact her directly.

Farinon also announced an Open Space meeting scheduled for October 5 at 7:00 pm in the Rochester Memorial School at which time SRPEDD will give a presentation that will include the results of surveys sent in by residents. She urged the commissioners to attend the meeting.

The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for October 5 at 7:00 pm at Rochester Town Hall.

By Marilou Newell

It is no secret that the Town of Rochester website is a bit outdated when it comes to user-friendliness and accessibility of up-to-date information. Even some applicants for special permits and variances with the ZBA have received incorrect information from the website, said ZBA member Kirby Gilmore, which affects the efficiency of the application process.

But with a special fall town meeting in the sights of Town Hall administration, hopefully that will soon change with an article to request the funding to renovate the website and make anything from looking up meetings and events on calendars to checking local bylaws, even paying tax bills online, a reality for Rochester residents.

Town Administrator Michael McCue told the Rochester Board of Selectmen on September 14 that he intends to prepare an article requesting $7,000 to upgrade to the Virtual Town Hall model that surrounding towns, including Marion and Mattapoisett, currently use.

The topic had been one for discussion in the recent past, with selectmen wondering if anyone at Town Hall could possibly make occasional updates to the website, which McCue now determined is unfeasible.

“As it turns out, the website is actually, oddly enough, written in HTML,” said McCue. “It is not necessarily a user-friendly program.”

If upgraded to the Virtual Town Hall, McCue said he could manage the website, as well as the new administrative assistant.

“Any iPhone that we wanted to authorize could run it,” said McCue. “It’s pretty much plug and play.”

Currently the Town spends $250 per month for the current website service, with hourly rates for website updates and changes. McCue said, because of this, it is harder to make updated postings, which is predominantly why the Town does not.

“I think it would bring the town into the 21^st century,” said McCue.

McCue said the Town might also seek to add an article that would change the annual town meeting quorum of 100 back to 75, after the last annual town meeting took place without a quorum, unbeknownst to the town moderator or town clerk.

Also during the meeting, Board of Selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes, along with appointing authorities Town Moderator Kirby Gilmore and Finance Committee Chairman Kris Stoltenberg, appointed several applicants to the Personnel Board, including David Arancio, member of the ZBA, to serve as a non-voting town board representative member. The Personnel Board is now filled again.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for September 21 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

The Old Rochester Regional High School sports program will now offer girls’ co-op ice hockey now that the Old Rochester Regional School Committee has granted ORR Athletic Director Bill Tilden’s request he made the night of September 9.

The team will be a cooperative with the Towns of Bourne, Mashpee, and Wareham, and when Tilden first polled female students, 32 showed an interest with eight of them already playing ice hockey. Tilden said he had no other viable option to offer incoming eighth grade girls who are interested in playing ice hockey at ORR.

“And it’s a crime to say, ‘hey, just jump on the boys’ hockey team’,” said Tilden, adding that the parents of only one of the eight girls currently playing sports would have actually allowed their daughter to join the boys’ ice hockey team.

Tilden said Bourne approached him because they were short on players and were looking for another school to join the co-op, and that was his reason for approaching the School Committee that night.

“We want to give them the opportunity to keep on playing, instead of saying just jump on the boys’ ice hockey team,” Tilden said.

ORR Principal Michael Devoll said ORR boys’ ice hockey already participates as a co-op with Fairhaven and he supported the idea of starting a girls’ ice hockey co-op.

“I get excited about this because for seven years I’ve been talking about attracting the best students to Old Rochester,” said Devoll. Now that the committee approved the new sport, girls won’t have to go elsewhere for the ice hockey experience, he added.

In other matters, ORR teacher Megan Hall presented the committee with her idea to form an ORR chapter of the running group Dreamfar Marathon to be funded by the $1,200 Lighthouse Foundation grant she won this year.

Dreamfar is Hall’s intent to get at-risk and otherwise average students who have never run a race in their life to join the group to marathon train with the mindset that they can do it and will succeed.

“It not only involves the school, but it also involves the community,” said Hall. Over 30 different community members, Hall said, have volunteered to participate with the students, with support from the New Bedford YMCA.

The grant will pay for the race fees, Hall said, and student runners would participate in a 5K in December, a 10K in January, the New Bedford Half-Marathon in March, followed by the big one – the Providence Marathon.

“What an incredible concept,” said Dr. Elise Frangos, assistant superintendent.

Devoll, who will be running the marathon with the students, added that the program is not particularly geared towards current runners or members of the soccer team. He said he wants to see students who otherwise would not ever think they could run a marathon to join – the student who says, “Wow, I can’t believe I was able to do that,” as Devoll put it.

The next meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee is scheduled for October 14 at 6:00 pm at the ORR Junior High media room.

By Jean Perry

On September 14, Mattapoisett Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold brought before the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission a letter received from a local advisory group. That advisory group is the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee, a watchdog group with their eyes on the public water supply, protecting and enhancing this vital resource for the towns of Marion, Mattapoisett, Fairhaven, and Rochester.

Comprised of town employees whose backgrounds include engineering, environmental protection, public water supplies, and similar expertise, group members are appointed by selectmen, water/sewer or public works management. There are such familiar names as Barry Denham, Nick Nicholson, Jeff Osuch, Laurell Farinon, and Naida Parker to name a few.

Their concern, as noted in the letter that Leidhold asked ConCom to review, regards a Mattapoisett landscaping business’s alleged practice of taking water from public sources without a permit or any type of permission. Yard Boss had been told by the Town of Rochester to desist taking water from Snipatuit Pond. Now, Mattapoisett was experiencing that activity.

Leidhold said Yard Boss was using the water for their hydro-seeding service. She said there were concerns that backwash from their trucks and other equipment might be contaminating the fresh water drinking supply.

Leidhold also said the advisory committee has plans to submit articles for upcoming town meeting warrants for new bylaws that would further protect the public water supply. What the group wanted from the commissioners was their action in stopping the alleged offender.

“I don’t know if this is in our preview,” said commission member Peter Newton. “I think this is a DEP or Army Corps issue.”

Chairman Bob Rogers said, “I’m in favor of telling them to stop because they are not permitted to do so anywhere in town.” He added, though, that ConCom lacks the authority to issue fines should the landscaping company be caught in the act.

Newton said he would make some calls and do some research and added, “This is going to be a tricky one.”

The agenda also included a request by Ted Gowdy of AERIE Homes, part of the Bay Club development. Gowdy requested two certificates of compliance, receiving one and the other requiring signage denoting a no-touch zone before the COC could be issued.

Gowdy also asked the commission to consider the clear cutting needed for the completion of the Split Rock development without the use of erosion screening to help minimize labor costs. He suggested instead that delineation flags would suffice in keeping the logging operation out of the wetlands.

Rogers said that he believed erosion controls were necessary and further pointed out that the commission had been working with Gowdy on many matters, yet Gowdy had not yet completed a replication area that was needed before further work could take place.

“I want that replication done,” Rogers said. “No good can come from taking short cuts on the limits of work. This project has been allowed to go right up to the wetlands lines,” he declared. Gowdy agreed to complete the replication area and install erosion control fencing before allowing the cutting of trees for the completion of the Split Rock neighborhood.

Seabreeze Lane was again on the agenda with resident Joseph Anzaldi returning with updated plans for remediating wetlands that had been encroached at his 3 Seabreeze Lane home. Anzaldi was given a one-year extension of previously issued orders of conditions.

It was a different story for 4 Seabreeze Lane. Homeowners Daniel and Lisa Craig had also encroached into wetlands but on an enormous scale, approximately 21,000 square feet. They had met previously with the Conservation Commission but were unable to reach a compromise in the amount and manner of remediation they would have to provide. The commission wrote an enforcement order with the assistance of Town Counsel Brian Winter that will be sent to the Craigs. On this night, they fine-tuned the final language that includes a reference to allowing the reinstatement of a deeded community easement through the Craig property for residents’ access from Eel Pond.

On the matter of extending an order of conditions for the Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Department for work taking place on Cove Street, Rogers expressed his frustration that no one from the town or the sub-contractor, Tighe & Bond, was present that night.

“I’m disappointed that a representative from the town isn’t here,” said Rogers. “We asked them to meet with us.” But he concluded that the commission “should take one for the team,” issuing the extension until September 2018.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for September 28 at 6:30 pm in the Mattapoisett Town Hall conference room.

By Marilou Newell