Coming together to tackle some of the quality of life issues that impact households in Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester, the Tri-Town Boards of Selectmen met on Thursday night.

In attendance were: Town Administrator Paul Dawson, Steven Cushing, Jody Dickerson, and John Henry from Marion; Town Administrator Michael Gagne, Tyler Macallister, and Paul Silva from Mattapoisett; and Town Administrator Richard LaCamera, Brad Morse, Naida Parker, and Richard Nunes from Rochester.

The first issue discussed was the ORR school budget. Gagne took the lead on the subject matter and brought to the group the issue of shortfalls and opportunities for improving communication between the School Committees, Finance Committees, and the Boards of Selectmen. Collectively, they decided to have a summit meeting bringing together members of those entities in an effort to assist the school committee in delivering a more finely tuned budget to the towns. They felt that if the School Committees were advised of the realities of revenue projections and state funding earlier in their budgeting processes, it would make for a smoother system and foster greater cohesiveness with the town budgets. They set December 5 as a date to revisit school revenue and budgets with their finance committees and then invite school committee members to the discussions shortly thereafter.

Taking things a bit out of rotation, necessitated by Cushing having to recuse himself from an agenda item, the third item on the agenda was second up for discussion; upcoming state water management regulations. Henry laid out his suggestion that the towns need someone working with SRPEDD to be on the inside track of any state-mandated water regulations that seem to be around the corner. This was voted on, and Henry will work on pulling that together.

In an unrelated matter, but one also potentially involving SRPEDD, Henry spoke about the unsafe conditions of County Road. LaCamera said that the Rochester portion of County Road had been repaired. The group suggested to Henry that he should reach out to SRPEDD for traffic study data and assistance that could lead to securing some funding for repairs.

The final item the group tackled was upcoming negotiations with cable service providers. Noting that the current contract expires in 2016, they agreed to continue any future agreement as a Tri-Town body versus individual towns. Gagne and Silva, along with Dawson, emphasized how agonizingly complicated contract talks are with service providers. They agreed on the necessity of enlisting a legal expert who could assist the Tri-Town in the process of securing the best agreement possible.

By Marilou Newell

What is the Conservation Commission and what do they do?

Well, they protect our waterways and strive to keep human impact on wetlands, critters, and other wildlife in check.

A discussion was held regarding televising the Conservation Commission meetings. Member Steve Gonsalves, along with member Norm Hills, spoke and said that most other town meetings are televised.

Members said that perhaps certain vital issues, such as the environmental issue with the 40B project, would have made for informative broadcasts. The board discussed the issue, with the majority favoring televising the meetings.

Two back-to-back agenda items dominated the discussion at Wednesday’s Marion Conservation Commission meeting. At issue was the definition and delineation of an “intermittent stream.” The two properties, which abut the stream in question, are located at 456, 468, and 470 Point Rd.

The first, Blankenship Trust LLC at 468 and 470 Point Road, had a Request for Determination of Applicability to confirm that the stream running through the property in a northerly-southerly direction meets the definition of an intermittent stream.

Dave Davignon, of Schneider & Associates represented the applicant and provided maps and details of the area. The board wanted to revisit the site to determine the culvert and locate the stream in question.

Next up was a Request for Determination of Applicability for general maintenance of the pier and seawalls at 29 Water St. Work includes replacing stones that have fallen out of the abutments, grouting, and replacing rotted railings, decking, and timbers as needed.

Ken Michaels, of KM Building and Remolding Inc., represented the applicant and answered questions from the committee. “All work will be done at low tide and from the land,” Michaels said.

An approval was given to Hammett’s Cove Homeowners’ Association at Blackhall Court for a Request for Determination of Applicability after repaving the asphalt entrance driveway, sealcoating the cul-de-sac, and regrading the bluestone common driveways.

Also discussed, but delayed approval, was a request by Christopher Kmiec of 14 Aucoot Ave. to relocate a pile of large rocks. Mr. Kmiec, represented by Susan Nielson and Daniel Gagne of CLEngineering, proposed placing in a row a minimum of 15 feet from the bordering vegetated wetland line, and landward of an existing stone and masonry wall running near the line. The commission discussed the matter and wanted to revisit the area due to the thought that the realignment of the large stones might cause beach erosion to the beach area on have an impact on neighbor’s property.

Lastly, the board approved a Certificate of Compliance to the Kittansett Club for temporarily stockpiling fill materials along the landward side of a coastal bank at the driving range.

Minutes of the October 9 and 23 were approved. The next meeting of the Conservation Commission is scheduled for December 11.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

The evening’s agenda wasn’t very long, yet one hearing was anything but leisurely. The ongoing struggle to get Leisure Shores Marina, owned by Robert Ringuette, into compliance with local and state wetlands regulations came before the commission again. A previous hearing included a list of various documents the commission requested so that they could ascertain whether or not Ringuette’s operation was working toward alignment with various waterway laws. This continuation failed to produce those documents.

Represented by attorney Shephard Johnson, the applicant submitted various pieces of documentation meant to assuage the commission’s concerns about noncompliant activities. However, those documents fell short of what had been requested, according to Chairman Peter Newton and the members of the commission.

The specific areas of concern remained those of boat washing, scraping, cleaning, and Styrofoam floats that are falling apart and fouling the surrounding protected wetlands. These same concerns have been the main cause of consternation between the town and Ringuette for many years. But those have not been the only issues raised again during the course of the hearing – there was the possibility of illegal filling in of wetlands and parking of vehicles and boats in marshlands.

The back and forth between Newton and Johnson at times became rather heated as Newton repeatedly reminded Johnson of documented disclosures the commission needed that would prove conclusively the marina operation was moving towards compliance. However, the documents the commission did receive were far from forthcoming in detail. One letter, from the engineer who had previously delineated the wetlands setting flags around the property, failed to denote any in-field data at each location. In the absence of such scientific information the commission found they didn’t have any actionable data to work with.

Chairman Newton told Johnson that boat-washing activities had not stopped at the marina and that waste water was allowed to enter the protected waterways. Johnson cited state law saying that the statute of limitations that the board could work within was three years and that clearly the town knew about the marina work for more than a decade. Newton conceded that the town has known about illegal work taking place at the site, but countered that numerous actions had been brought against his client to no avail.

Johnson kept circling back to the time limitations, while Newton with the commission members elected to bring in outside peer review to settle the matter of wetland delineations. Johnson said that he felt the commission was escalating the matters before them toward litigation. But Newton said the commission was only a part-time board with part-time staff, so that requesting peer review was logical to establish historical wetland delineations.

“We asked at the last meeting for more information on the soil testing and wetlands encroachment that has occurred over time,” Newton said. “This project is very complex … the project would be best served by an outside consultant … we have a right to vote for an outside consultant.”

Bob Rogers of the commission offered to visit the marina and witness for himself and the benefit of the board members the conditions from his purview, “It’s the unpermitted activities that need to be addressed,” he told Johnson. Rogers was willing to help list all the areas of concern, but Newton felt the commission had done that on more than one occasion. “I’ve been to the site twice and [Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold] has been there three times.”

Both sides felt frustrated with the lack of forward movement during the course of the evening’s hearing. The commission voted to have the town’s agent pursue quotes for outside peer review of the marina, contingent upon the applicant’s willingness to pay for the services. “Let’s get everything on the table and resolve these issues once and for all,” Newton said. “Let’s get this marina up to snuff.”

From the audience, the commission heard from Korrin Petersen, senior attorney for the Buzzards Bay Coalition. She stated for the record, “The Buzzards Bay Coalition applauds the efforts of the commission in their efforts to secure remediation of the wetlands.”

The hearing was continued until November 25.

Other matters handled by the commission were a continuation of Mattapoisett Shores Association request for permission to move forward with beach nourishment into perpetuity. Newton and the commission members were uncomfortable committing the town and future commission members to such long-range agreements in the absence of a plan for storm-water runoff and erosion. The issue of runoff and erosion had been brought to the applicants by their engineer Walter Galuska of Tibbetts Engineering. Galuska said that he brought those issues to the association, but they would be unable to act on anything until their first meeting in June of 2014. A compromise was reached after some discussion. The commission will allow one beach nourishment and the association will need to come back with a plan to address erosion and runoff before additional nourishments can be allowed.

A certificate of compliance was issued to Fadi Heneine of 65 Fairhaven Rd. Agent Leidhold gave her brief report, which included an update on Good Speed Island. She told the commission that the DEP is in the settlement stages at this point in time.

The next Conservation Commission meeting is scheduled for November 25 at 6:30 pm.

By Marilou Newell