A new, state-of-the-art waste management facility could be in Rochester’s future after a group of planners presented a preliminary plan outlining the entire project.  The presentation was made at the Rochester Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting on Monday, December 17.

ABC Disposal, a New Bedford-based disposal service company, bought a processing facility in the Rochester Industrial Park at 50 Cranberry Highway at the beginning of 2012.  Now, they plan to demolish the existing building and replace it with and 89,000 square foot building that will handle the town’s recyclable and consolidated waste utilizing the most sophisticated technology.

‘There will be nothing like it in the world,” said Michael Camara, Vice President and General Manager of ABC.

The technology inside of the building will make it easier for residents to recycle.  Instead of having to separate recyclables from non-recycleables, residents will be given a 108-gallon bin in which they can throw everything they care to discard.  The technology will do all of the separating.

The machine will process an impressive 35-ton gallons per hour.  The building will also be powered by 36,000 square feet of solar panels, making it even more environmentally-friendly. The developers will completely revamp the storm water disposal system.

This style of building has been increasingly popular in Europe in California, but has yet to become prominent on the East Coast.  After construction, the facility is expected to create 35 jobs initially and will increase over time.  Camara said Rochester residents will have priority over those jobs.

Camara, as well as Greg Wirsen of Green Seal Environmental and William Rhatigan of EcoTac,who are helping plan the project, have met with the Conservation Commission for some preliminary discussions of the project.

“We just want everyone to know what’s going on,” said Wirsen.

The three men will return in January with more specific project plans to present to the Board.

“This sounds like it has a lot of potential,” said Selectman Naida Parker.

In other news, the Marion Board of Selectmen and members of both the Marion and Rochester Boards of Health discussed possible changes to the join Health District status. As it stands right now, the towns are in a Regional Health District, but the Selectmen and Town Administrators from both towns feel like the towns could save money by becoming a joint district. By making the change, the towns could see $10,000 in savings annually.

But the Boards of Health in both towns are concerned that becoming a joint district, or an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA), would not be a wise decision. Jim Perry, an attorney representing the Board of Health, explained that a Health Agent who works in a Regional Health District, reports to both town separately and is unrestricted.  Under the IMA, she would have to be an employee of one town or the other, giving one town the upper hand on service and making one town pay more for salary.

The Town Administrators argue that with the IMA, they could save a lot of money on Liability Insurance and Workman’s Compensation.  Furthermore, LaCamera stated that Rochester shares a variety of its employees with other towns and it has never posed a problem.

“We are spending all of this extra money we wouldn’t have to pay with an IMA,” he said.

While the current Regional Health District has been in place for 30 years, the Boards and Town Administrators are open-minded to saving money during the trying economic times.

“If there’s an opportunity for us to save money, we need to explore it,” said Marion Selectman Stephen Cushing.

“We just want to take something that is working well and reorganize it,” said Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson.

These groups will meet again in January to further discuss the issue.  A vote at the Spring Town Meeting is needed to complete the transition.

“Look very carefully at what you have before you throw it all away,” said Dr. John Howard of the Marion Board of Health.

LaCamera updated the Board on the project to renovate the exterior of Town Hall. LaCamera decided to discard the bid for the lowest amount of money.

“I was not happy with the references,” he said.

Instead, he went with the second lowest bid from Southeast Construction. The company will begin their repairs to the roof this week and will continue into next week before replacing the trim.

The Rochester Board of Selectmen will meet again on Monday, January 7 at 7:00 pm in Rochester Town Hall.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

“There has been plenty of time to discuss these issues,” said Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera.

 Developer David Nicolosi was back before the Mattapoisett Planning Board on Monday night to continue discussing his plan for a new subdivision in town.

The proposal is for an eight-home development off Deerfield Road to be named Deer Woods.  A portion of the road would be expanded and a common driveway will be laid down for five of the homes.  A large centralized portion of open land has been issued a conservation restriction, prohibiting development of that area of the subdivision.

The hearing was continued from the meeting on December 3 so the town could arrange for a peer review study of the proposal.

Nicolosi said that since the last meeting, he received a message from Mary Lyons, Chief of Mattapoisett Police Department.  She wrote that she had no issues with the proposed plan and found the project acceptable.

But Nicolosi said he did not leave the last meeting with confidence he had the support of the Board and wanted to present some new options for the development.

“When I had originally purchased this property, my initial intent was to try to develop it for my own personal use, but that never happened.  In light of that, I decided I would try to make a project I felt would have minimal impact, that would be looked upon favorably by the Board,” Nicolosi said.

He said that his potential buyers were interested in larger lots with greater space between properties.

“When I made my initial presentation to you, there were some issues,” Nicolosi said, citing potential issues with parking and fire safety concerns.

He said he contacted his engineering firm to try to address the issues in a productive way.  As a result, he had a couple newer preliminary plans that take into account the problems raised by the Planning Board two weeks ago.

 “My intentions would be to eliminate the driveway so there will be no issues for parking.  I’m going to be providing emergency egress out through Nicky’s Lane.”

His second idea, for which he had no written plan, would split two lots, and Nicolosi would renovate an existing ancient way, but would not turn it into a road.

 “I wouldn’t be requesting any consideration that hasn’t already been granted,” he said.  “I’d be willing to improve this ancient way to increase mobility.”

The roadway would be reduced by 50% from the original plan and would not require any special storm water drainage systems.

“I think that’s a great compromise,” said Chairman Thomas Tucker.

Board Member John Mathieu was not as supportive.

“Nicky’s Lane is only 15 feet wide and you want to add four houses?” Mathieu said.  “I can’t sit here if that comes through this Board.”

He felt the original plan was more workable and agreeable than the new alternatives Nicolosi presented. Nicolosi has not yet withdrawn his original proposal in case the Board was amenable to the newer options he presented.

“I think you jumped the gun here in bringing these to us,” Mathieu said.

Nicolosi said he was concerned about comments made by the Board at the last public hearing and that the project had potential to be a financial hardship..  He also said that if either of the new plans were implemented, his out-of-pocket cost would increase.  A traffic study, which the Board could require, costs about $7,000, according to Nicolosi, and would not be justified for a subdivision consisting of so few homes.

 “In terms of development, I agree with John.  It’s a good development and we want to make sure we’re comfortable with it.  That’s why we’re here tonight discussing it,” said Planning Board member Ron Merlo.

Nicolosi then requested a continuance for the hearing so that he may consult further with his engineering company on their options.  He did not request a specific date for the continuance.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board will be on Monday, January 7, 2013 at 7:00 pm.

By Eric Tripoli

A driveway at 584 Delano Road was disused at the Marion Planning Board meeting on Monday evening.  Minutes from a 1993 meeting stated that drainage was an issue at the site.

Board member Patricia McArdle said that she researched the property at the Registry of Deeds and found no restristricion regarding drainage. Jon Kirk, owner of the Delano property addressed the board and said that paving had started but was stopped, due to a lack of a permit by the town.

Kirk and  Smith had hired Plymouth County Paving to pave the driveway at the location.

“Meeting minutes don’t present a legal issue,” said Board member Tom Magauran. “Marion passed, in 2005-2006, that impervious surfaces…from a non-impervious surface to another impervious surface was acceptable..so from a gravel driveway to an asphalt surface…that is within the by-law.”

The board approved the asphalt paving at 584 Delano Road.

The board announced that in 2013, the January 22 meeting will be held at the Marion Police Station at 5:00 pm, due to the holiday weekend.

In other business, Board Member Steve Gonsalves addressed Chairman Jay Ryder who is recovering from a health issue.

“Hope you are watching, Jay, we are saving the past minutes for you to approve…he loves editing the minutes,” said  Gonsalves.

Board member Steve Kokkins arrived on crutches, recovering from a knee replacement. The Board clapped upon his arrival and welcomed him back to service.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

An Allens Point Road resident will have to find another way to pay his astronomical water bill of $72,227.62 after the Marion Board of Selectmen voted to deny the resident’s abatement request.  The decision was made during a special meeting with the Selectmen and members of the Department of Public Works on Thursday morning.

“In no way was this an easy thing to do,” said Selectman Jonathan Henry.  “I really feel for the guy.”

Homeowner Nicholas Grace, who is also a member of the Affordable Housing Trust, made the abatement request in early November.  The bill was so excessively high due to a crack in a water pipe and the location of the water meter on his property.

Instead of keeping the meter inside of his house, Grace keeps it in a five foot ditch about 150 yards from his house. The ditch was submerged with water causing the meter to malfunction during the reading.

“I’m still in shock of the bill,” said Selectman Stephen Cushing.  “I’m having a hard time putting myself in that spot.  It’s a staggering amount.”

Cushing initially proposed the town paying for half of the total bill amount, which would have been $36,616.02.  However, Henry and Selectman Jody Dickerson did not vote in favor of the that proposition.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Rob Zora believes this whole situation could have been prevented.

“You shouldn’t have had that water in the pit,” said Zora.  “That should have been a red flag.”

Furthermore, Zora and DPW Administrative Assistant Rebecca Carvalho confirmed that they sent Grace two letters regarding the location of the meter in the pit, but no action was ever taken to remove it.

“The pit has always been an issue,” said Carvalho.  “We’ve been a little bit concerned that this is going to keep happening.”

Prior to the meeting, Town Administrator Paul Dawson reached out to Wareham and Mattapoisett to see how if and how they handled similar situations in the past.  Both towns said they had never seen a bill higher than a few thousand dollars.

“In my experience, I have never had an amount like this,” he said.

“We’re treading in unknown territory, so to speak,” said Cushing.

While there are no specific rules regarding these types of situations, especially with a bill of this caliber, Zora said if the water passes through the meter, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to pay the bill.

Zora also wondered how other residents, who have applied for much smaller abatements in the past but were denied, would feel if a bill of this magnitude was abated.

The Selectmen did not offer any other abatement amounts during the meeting. Grace will have the opportunity to appeal the decision in District Court if he chooses to do so.

By Katy Fitzpatrick