The Mattapoisett Conservation Commission has seen some very long meetings, but the June 8 session rivaled all others. Starting on time at 6:30 pm, it was after 10:00 pm when they finally wrapped up, causing one resident who had waited the entire evening to speak to the commission to announce, “It is now an hour and a half past my bedtime, so I’ll have to address you from my written notes,” not wishing to trust his memory.

The hearing that inspired the lengthiest discussion was the remediation and restoration plan offered by Daniel and Lisa Craig, 4 Seabreeze Lane, in their Notice of Intent filing.

Representing the Craigs, Brandon Feneuf, president and founder of Ecosystem Solutions, Inc., explained in finite detail the proposed compromises the Craigs were willing to offer the town to compensate for encroaching into the ‘no touch zone,’ and for exceeding permitted lawn space from 10,000 to nearly 22,000 square feet in this subdivision.

What Craig offered was restoration of 992 square feet of wetlands within the buffer zone and an additional 12,334 square feet of lawn to be returned to a more natural state. But the members of the commission were conflicted on how they could accept the plan.

In 2007, Craig was issued a Certificate of Compliance. However, at that point in time, the manicured lawns had not been planted. The property was comprised of uplands and wetlands vegetation, the majority of which was to have remained in its natural state as per the agreement the developer had with the town and with the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

Speaking on behalf of the BBC, Korrin Petersen, senior attorney stated, “The coalition wants to see all lawn turned over once and seeded with native plantings and return of the 75-foot no touch zone.” She pointed out that Craig’s plan only returns 59 percent of altered area to a more natural state instead of 100 percent, saying, “It sets a bad precedent for the town.”

Petersen told the commission that only 10,000 square feet was originally approved for lawn area for all parcels in the subdivision, but the Craigs had exceeded that. In addition, information on the septic system had not been received and the stormwater swales needed to be restored.

Commission members Peter Newton and Tom Copps said they were unwilling to overturn a previous board’s restrictions and were not comfortable with the plan.

“They may go to the DEP,” said commission member Mike King. “[The] DEP may see this as a reasonable plan.”

Newton countered, “I need more time to wrestle with this, but we shouldn’t make our decisions based on fear of the DEP.” He continued, “We have a state law we are obligated to uphold. Where do we draw the line? Isn’t it easier for everyone to say the line is the line?” He made the point that all applicants and applications were dealt with equally with the implementation of the Wetlands Protection Act.

Resident Cheryl Belknap, 34 Fairhaven Road, asked, “Why do we have rules if people are allowed to come in and ask for forgiveness later?” Chairman Robert Rogers replied, “We do the best we can, that’s all we can do – it’s always a negotiation.”

Belknap also said that an easement exists on the Craigs’ property to allow all the homeowners in the subdivision access to the water, but, over time, the shell path had been removed.

Feneuf was asked to return on June 22 after conferring with his clients to determine what the next steps might be in trying to resolve how much of the Craigs’ property will be returned to its original condition, which types of plants to be used, and other considerations.

In other business, the continued hearing for the private pier proposed by Jay and Julie Duker of 112 Aucoot Road met with another series of questions and concerns from both the commission and residents.

Doug Schneider of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates explained to the commission that the pier construction had changed since the previous hearing due to the discovery of sub-surface ledge. He now proposed a combination of pilings and steel rods driven into the bedrock to support the extended expanse.

But it was the movement of the barrier beach that had the commission and resident Brad Hathaway concerned about the wisdom of the construction.

Hathaway said, within the last year, the beach has moved 30 feet and, in recent years, as much as 100 feet. He said that if a storm came through a breach in the barrier beach, it could leave the pier unreachable, rendering the structure useless. He supported his concerns by adding, “There are five piers in Mattapoisett to the south and none of them are in the sand flats.” He continued, “What has happened – barrier beaches used to be sacrosanct!”

The application was continued until June 22 at which time Schneider will return with answers regarding shearing potential of the metal rods and a full performance report for the pier itself.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for June 22 at 6:30 pm in the Mattapoisett Town Hall conference room.

By Marilou Newell

Making Good Friday an early dismissal day at Sippican School instead of a full day would be a fair compromise, thought Marion School Committee member Christine Winters, given the higher-than-usual absentee rate this past April 3 when Tri-Town schools opened their doors on the religious holiday for the first time in recent history.

The committee was split on the idea, finally deciding not to act and to wait a year before revisiting the idea, but not without an ardent back and forth of opinions.

Winters proposed the half day as a way of reaching a middle ground between those who want school on Good Friday and those who oppose. Newly elected Chairman Christine Marcolini was first to disagree, then joined by newly elected Vice-chairman Kate Ellen Houdelette. Winters thought that trying it as an early release could be a test run to see if attendance would improve next year.

“We can try, it’s certainly within our purview to do it,” said Winters. “And given that it’s a half day, it may be easier to get substitutes. Is it worth a try?”

Marcolini asked if straying from the Tri-Town district-wide decision to keep Good Friday as a full day of school would “rock the boat.”

“That isn’t going to be well received with our sister communities,” said Marcolini.

But, you are your own committee, said Superintendent Doug White. “By law, you have the ability to manage your own school district.” Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet voiced her preference for the half day over the full day, since teachers reported the full day was overall an ineffective teaching day with the high absentee rate.

“Teachers taught, but they knew several students were not going to be there,” said Rivet. “You want a day that they’re there with a full curriculum. It was not the sort of day that I would’ve liked it to be.”

Houdelette said she thinks attendance would be even lower if decreased to a half day.

“Half days are sometimes questionable, at best,” said Houdelette. She said she sees both sides of the argument, but in her talks with area parents, the majority appreciated having school on Good Friday, which is easier for working parents, she said.

“I feel like, you stick to your guns a little bit,” Houdelette said. “I hate letting teachers down … but, personally, I’m not willing to do a half day.” She suggested reassessing next year.

Marcolini concurred, but new School Committee member David MacDonald disagreed. He said there were a number of reasons why he disagreed, specifically saying, historically, the day has been a holiday.

Speaking as a teacher herself, committee member Michelle Oullette said, “If absenteeism is high that day, it hurts us.”

“And I don’t think it could be any worse than it was last year,” said Winters in favor of the early release.

Houdelette said establishing Good Friday as a half day would muddy the data the committee is seeking to collect to later assess the matter. For Houdelette, going from a full day to a half day would provide inconsistent data. She said she did not think making it an early release day would necessarily increase attendance.

Winters referred to the past district-wide decision to give students the day before Thanksgiving off after assessing lower attendance data, pointing out that the threshold held to make the decision was much lower than the absentee rate for Good Friday this year.

“If we’re going to do this, then the same threshold has to apply,” said Winters.

Marcolini, seeing there was no united unanimous front amongst the committee to move forward with the half day, urged the committee to close the conversation until next year.

“But [with Thanksgiving], we did have the data on attendance for year after year,” said Marcolini. “If the attendance is poor again … then I think we can more safely say this is a pattern [or] this is just a blip.”

Assistance Superintendent Elise Frangos suggested the committee devise a “religious accommodation plan” as other school districts have done to establish concrete policy on the Good Friday full school day.

“It protects kids from being held to any assessment … and won’t be held against them,” said Frangos. “To say you cannot miss school on that day and be hard and fast about it can become a tricky issue.”

Also during the meeting, Rivet said she is still watching class sizes for kindergarten and Grade 3 closely as new families move into the new 40B housing development. Kindergarten is up to 54 students total, and Grade 3 is up to 70. Rivet said she expected Grade 3 to reach 71 by the coming Friday.

“Both of those grade levels are big watches at this time,” Rivet said. When asked if this was usual around this time of year, Rivet said no.

“Usually we have none other than kindergarten coming in for registration,” said Rivet. “This has been a little bit unusual.”

The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is September 2 at 6:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry