Grant writer Pamela Marean briefed the Marion Board of Selectmen Tuesday night on the status of the town’s exploration of acquiring GIS software services for land use issues.

“Anecdotally, we know that it will save a lot of time, save a lot of money, and save a lot of effort,” Marean said. “But I would have to say more than that to secure the grant. I would have to spell out how what we propose to do would enhance services and reduce costs.”

Marean explained that her inquiries thus far have yielded little in the way of concrete decisions, as purchasing GIS software, licenses, and resources is not a prepackaged proposition.

“When I ask what is available to us, it’s a matter of, well, what do you want?” Marean said. “When I ask what a grant can afford us, it becomes a matter of, well, what do you need?” Marean said that services exist enabling the town’s analysis of habitats, bodies of water, roadways, and more, but that Marion could use a potential grant to “enhance those layers of information that are already available to us in maps to get custom programming based on what the town wants.”

Marean added that Rochester is “very interested in collaborating” with Marion on GIS acquisition and use, while she has heard that “Mattapoisett is looking for a more complex system.” She said that training and licenses alone could cost upward of $25,000.

The application deadline for the GIS grant is November 20. Marean said that she is seeking a “list of the people I should talk to” in terms of focusing Marion’s needs to inform her grant proposal. Marean said that Building Commissioner Scott Shippey has been “very vocal about how a GIS system would greatly enhance his ability to do his job.”

The Selectmen advised Marean to speak with the Conservation Commission, the Planning Board, the Police and Fire departments, and, most urgently, John Rockwell, who is fluent in GIS software and an expert on Marion land use issues. Town Administrator Paul Dawson said he would invite Rockwell to the Board’s next meeting to discuss the grant.

Later in the meeting, during his report, Dawson updated the Selectmen on the town’s plans to bid out private ambulance services for the town, “strictly to get pricing and be prepared” pending a fall Town Meeting vote on Marion’s EMS budget. He also noted that the town has begun interviewing candidates for its new Facilities Manager position. Meanwhile, Dawson said that public drinking water has re-tested “perfect” after the recent discovery of “slightly elevated” counts of coliform bacteria. He closed by telling the Selectmen that Marion has yet to receive approval of a $1 million MassWorks grant crucial to its Village Area Capital Improvement Project, but that indications are positive.

“We continue to be frustrated with the lack of a response,” Dawson said. “We will continue to push [for a response], as we need to get this resolved so we can get the contracts signed.”

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Selectmen approved:

A sewer connection application at 170 Wareham Street;

One-day wine and malt licenses for a Buzzards Bay Habitat for Humanity event at the Music Hall on December 5 and a Gleason Family YMCA Wine Tasting fundraiser at the Music Hall on October 18; and

One-day all-alcohol licenses for a VFW #2425 event on October 5 and a wedding reception at the Marion Social Club on October 27.

The Selectmen also commended outgoing public servants Nicholas Grace (Marion Affordable Housing Trust) and John Crosby (Carver-Marion-Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District) for their years of invaluable work on behalf of the residents of Marion.

By Shawn Badgley

“The wetlands are our most important open space!” Brad Hathaway made this statement during the monthly meeting of Mattapoisett’s Open Space Committee. The focus of the meeting was ongoing refinements to a drafted master plan, work that is required every five years in order for cities and towns to petition the state for funding projects.

The section covering “Environmental Problems” was up for the night’s discussion and modifications. When the group came to the paragraphs outlining the impact of development on open space the following sentence generated several comments: “While many communities require construction setbacks to wetlands through a local Wetlands Protection bylaw, Mattapoisett does not.”

Hathaway opened with his well-honed statement, one that he has been stating and restating for the past 48 years. He went on to say, “I can’t do this anymore … someone else is going to have to do this.” He said that several years ago the Conservation Commission, chaired at that time by R. Tyler Macallister, drafted a set of wetland protection bylaws. Those were to have been brought to Town Meeting for public vote. For undetermined reasons, those bylaws have not been presented at Town Meeting to date. Hathaway conceded that that document was not perfect and left room for future modifications. However, he said that at least having a set of bylaws, ones that could have been used as a working document would have been better than nothing.

Barry Denham spoke up, saying that the Conservation Commission works hard to protect wetlands but that oftentimes the applicant goes to the DEP and receives the green light for their project. Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold noted that if there were wetland protection bylaws then the DEP would have not jurisdiction, in their absence a DEP ruling holds.

Earlier in the evening, Leidhold noted that the master plan brought together a number of agencies, committees, and commissions in town such as shell fish warden, herring superintendent, harbor master, Planning, Conservation, tree warden, Board of Health, Marine Advisory, and others. With that in mind, the assistance needed to craft and complete the master plan draws on a wide pool of expertise.

In attendance were Highway Supervisor Barry Denham, Harbormaster Jill Simmons, Water and Sewer Supervisor Nick Nicholson, Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold, Community Preservation Committee Chairman John DeCosta, as well as Bonnie Desousa and Brad Hathaway.

Over the course of the coming months, the committee will continue their work on perfecting the language in the master plan, hoping to be finished by spring.

In the meantime, Hathaway is hoping that someone will pick up the ball and run with it so that in the coming years Mattapoisett will have wetland protection bylaws that will provide clear guidelines for safety for these sensitive areas.

By Marilou Newell

Working off of a document prepared by member Rico Ferrari synopsizing its findings so far, the Planning Board’s Solar Bylaw Subcommittee met again on Monday night to come up with a recommendation in time for fall Town Meeting.

On this occasion, Ferrari and Steven Kokkins were joined by Planning Board member Ted North, a Solar Bylaw opponent, while the Energy Management Committee’s Jennifer Francis attended, as well.

Ferrari said that he viewed his work – which lays out broad courses of action on the Solar Bylaw ranging from full approval to full rejection, sort of a Choose Your Own Public Policy Adventure – as a potential recommendation in and of itself.

“When we voted 4-3 to let the town decide, that was an indication to me that we’re not prepared to issue a recommendation on this,” said Ferrari, referring to a recent full Planning Board meeting. “At this point, every person at Town Meeting needs to make up their own mind about what they want to do without our influence.”

Kokkins acknowledged Ferrari’s point, but argued that the voters expected a recommendation.

“I don’t think that presenting just paths and the consequences of those paths wouldn’t really be well received by the public,” Kokkins said. “They are looking for, well, I can’t say guidance –“

“It is guidance,” North interjected.

By night’s end, it was more evident than ever that the Subcommittee’s – and, in turn, the Planning Board’s – recommendation will be for voters to amend the Solar Bylaw on the floor of fall Town Meeting and eliminate the Solar Farm portion of the policy. This recommendation could include a provision to develop an overlay district for commercial solar farms in time for consideration at the annual Town Meeting in the spring.

Kokkins and North agreed that the overlay districts would provide “zoning certainty,” but Ferrari and Francis asserted that the language in the Solar Bylaw provides as much currently, and that complicating the process any further could alienate interested parties and place an undue burden on town government.

“I keep going back to that,” Ferrari said, “to say ‘why do we need it?’”

“Why bother with this work to begin with?” Kokkins replied. “Because it’s meant to apply now and in the future. Property lines can change; ownership can change. Whatever the situation is today may not be the situation in the future.”

“What’s next year’s favorite commercial project, and the year after that? That’s the purpose of zoning,” North concurred. “People have to understand that there’s no inherent right to do with your property whatever you want.”

The Planning Board is next scheduled to meet on Monday, October 7.

By Shawn Badgley