After months of deliberations, Shawmut Associates LLC got the green light on Tuesday to redevelop the C&D Waste Recycling Facility at 50 Cranberry Highway, which will more than double the square footage of the current structure – itself slated for demolition – while making the site one of the highest-producing recycling centers in the region.

Representatives for the new company, Zero Waste Solutions, said it will recycle 95 percent of the materials that come through its facilities and start construction in August.

“I want to thank the people of Rochester and the members of its boards and commissions,” said Michael Camara of Shawmut parent company ABC Disposal Service Inc. “This is a game changer. It will put Rochester and Massachusetts on the map and set the new norm for waste management and recyclables.”

Board members Ben Bailey and Susan Teal recused themselves from the vote, which had to be a supermajority for approval. Five of the five voting members supported the applicant after plans were revised to satisfy conditions. The public hearing had closed earlier this month.

Elsewhere on the agenda, Conservation Commission Chairman Rosemary Smith – speaking additionally as a member of the Open Space Action Committee – and Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon shared with the Planning Board their vision for the Community Preservation Act, which they plan to present at Fall Town Meeting.

The CPA is a state law passed in 2000 that allows communities to establish a local fund to support affordable housing, parks and recreation (including athletic fields), open spaces and historic resources. Those municipalities that do adopt the act – currently 155 across Massachusetts – also receive a percentage of matching funds from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund each year.

Participating towns and cities raise CPA funds through a surcharge on property taxes. Smith said that the Rochester article would ask voters for a 1.5 percent increase (3 percent is the maximum), an average of $47 per homeowner annually, according to Smith’s calculations.

The town defeated the measure in 2006, and the majority of Planning Board members expressed their own distaste for the CPA and skepticism that it would meet a better fate in 2013.

“I helped with the Open Space plan, and I’m a proud member of the Rochester Land Trust, but I’m concerned on several points,” Chairman Arnold Johnson said. “It’s a tax on the tax. I personally think there’s going to be a backlash.”

Bailey was adamant in his opposition.

“You’re forcing more money out of people’s pockets to fund projects they don’t want,” he said. “Even it is only $50, why do I want to pay another tax? This program is very overreaching.”

Other members called the CPA “wasteful” and a “hurt to residents in a rough economy.”

Teal was the Planning Board’s lone supporter of the CPA.

“Had we gotten in in 2006, the funds would have paid for the Town Hall renovations, the Dexter fields, a lot of projects,” she said. “Rochester would be way ahead. It benefits all of us. Nobody wants to pay additional taxes, but we do want additional services. It is a functioning mechanism.”

Johnson and others argued that voters end up approving those projects almost without exception at Town Meeting, while CPA-funded projects would be hand-picked by a board.

By meeting’s end, the tone had softened, with Johnson suggesting that the Open Space Action Committee ask residents attending the upcoming Country Fair what they think, while Board member John DeMaggio asked if they would consider a 1 percent surcharge instead of 1.5 percent. Smith and Farinon thanked the Planning Board for its feedback.

By Shawn Badgley

The Mattapoisett Board of Health has closed the Leisure Shores Beach due to high bacteria count. The beach us scheduled to be retested today and could be reopened as early as Wednesday.

Mattapoisett’s Conservation Commission will issue a cease and desist letter to Robert Ringuette demanding that certain activities at his Leisure Shores Marina stop immediately. Those activities are scraping, power washing, painting, and similar work that is allegedly causing chemical discharge in the surrounding marshlands.

The board members, conservation agent, and building inspector all concur that longstanding issues at the site have not been easy to mitigate with Ringuette. It was also noted that several agencies from DEP, Army Corps of Engineers, Conservation, and Building will need to be involved to resolve any impacts from Ringuette’s business activities.

A letter that had previously been sent to Ringuette has gone unanswered to date. In spite of the difficulties the governing agencies have experienced, the Conservation Commission is united in addressing the newest problems post haste.

In other business, a hearing with Daniel Oliver, 40 Water St., to construct a deck and float across protected wetlands areas was heard for changes and amendments imposed upon the project by the Army Corps of Engineers. After reviewing the modest changes from the original order of conditions, the board approved the changes. The Corps requested changes to the original plan to allow for the regeneration of eel grasses and other wetland vegetation in the future.

A request for determination of applicability filed by Philip Spillane, a cottage located at 9 Oliver St., for construction of 14-by-26-foot addition on sono-tube footings was continued until July 8. The mapping the applicant used was not accurate, and newer maps situate the property in question within a velocity zone or V zone. As described on the Mass.gov website:

The two primary types of flood zones (or special flood hazard areas) included in the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act regulations as Land Subject to Coastal Storm Flowage are velocity zones and A-zones. Velocity flood zones, also known as V-zones or coastal high hazard areas, have been identified by FEMA as areas “where wave action and/or high velocity water can cause structural damage in the 100-year flood,” a flood with a 1-percent chance of occurring or being exceeded in a given year (See 100 Year Floods Don’t Come on Schedule, on page 15). Because of this potential for damage, stringent regulatory requirements seek to ensure that work and construction in V-zones will minimize environmental and structural impacts, as well as economic loss. A-zones are areas inundated in a 100-year storm event that experience conditions of less severity than conditions experienced in V-zones, for example, wave heights less than 3 feet. Since FEMA flood zones may experience dangerous storm-generated wave action and surges, an accurate determination of the spatial extent of these zones is vital to understanding the level of risk for a particular property or activity.

The applicant is to return for the July 8 with plans that reflect the correct zone category.

Notice of intent filed by James Neely of Rock Street for building a single-family dwelling with an attached garage was also continued. The location is in a coastal flood zone, however, the design is not required to contain compensatory storage that was added to the plans presented. Plans will be resubmitted with that change, as well as drainage mapping and dewatering plans. Continued until July 8.

A request for certificate of compliance filed by Peter & Carol Simmons, 12 Melissa Anne Ln., was approved.

The board also ratified an emergency certificate issued to the Mattapoisett Water & Sewer Department for repair of exposed pipe at the intersection of Point Connett and Peace’s Point. The pipes were exposed after repeated winter storm waters eroded the surrounded soils.

Building Inspector Andy Bobola requested the board consider adding one or two additional Conservation Commission members to beef up the number of board members available to provide expertise and any quorum problems which might surface from time to time. He submitted a letter he received from Town Counsel, Brian Winner. It was noted that a Town Meeting vote would not be required to appoint new board members, but might if those new appointees were to have voting responsibilities. The sitting board will review Winner’s letter and Bobola’s request, deeming it was worth consideration.

The next Conservation Commission meeting is scheduled for July 8.

By Marilou Newell