The Rochester Planning Board continued the public hearing into the Site Plan Review application for JPF Development’s plan to construct a 15-acre, self-storage facility with seven storage buildings and one office structure within the Industrial District at Kings Highway and Route 28 after focusing on one lingering question: What will be the project’s fire-suppression system?

            The project’s engineering consultant, Rick Charron, said a fire-protection engineer has told him a sprinkler fire-protection system is not required by state building code for this type of project, and the town’s consulting engineer, Ken Motta, has agreed with this.

            On Tuesday night, the Planning Board brought two high-profile projects one step closer to being approved.

            Board Chairman Arnold Johnson responded with questions: What type of fire suppression would be put in place instead of sprinklers? A cistern system? Does the town Fire Department agree with what state code requires there?

            As the board approved the continuance, Johnson said the panel will get the full answer to whether fire suppression is required for such a facility in time for its next meeting on Tuesday, March 12.

            Before this vote, Charron reported a new calculation, that the 15 buildings will hold a total of 330 storage units when they are fully constructed. He said the applicants are willing to be compliant with any conditions the town may ask of them. They will be willing to allow an easement across part of the property for abutters should public water become available in that area, he added.

            The board then came even closer to approving BWC Snows Pond LLC’s application to build a solar-energy array and battery-energy storage on 12.55 acres of a 31-acre parcel at 0 Cushman Road in a Residential/Agricultural District, the Mattapoisett River Valley Watershed and Groundwater Protection District.

            The project’s engineering consultant, Andrew Hamel, reported that Motta has said the applicant has satisfactorily addressed his concerns about the plan’s initial design. As a result, the panel approved the bond amounts that the applicant must post and the waivers to town regulations that the applicant was requesting. Johnson said the board will have a draft decision ready for the March 12 meeting.

            The board set a decommissioning bond of $22,700, a two-year landscaping bond of $95,000 and a five-year maintenance bond of $16,000. Board member Ben Bailey sought and received approval for one revision to the requested waivers. The trees on the access road will not be cut down indiscriminately. The trees that will be cut will be flagged first so that Town Planner Nancy Durfee can inspect those trees first.

            The Rochester Planning Board will meet next on Tuesday, March 12, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Planning Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

            Rochester’s Select Board on Monday afternoon set a special meeting for Wednesday, February 28, at 1:30 pm to decide on spending the remainder of the town’s share of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The meeting was scheduled for Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

            In the Select Board meeting held on February 19, town officials revealed that the ARPA funds must be appropriated by December 31, but Plymouth County has requested an application from member towns by March 1. In all, Rochester was awarded $1,021,846.89 in total ARPA funds, $216,413 which has been used to acquire digital radios, leaving a remaining amount of $805,433.89.

            On February 26, Town Administrator Glenn Cannon listed the items that will probably be on the list for further ARPA funding. But he added the apportionment costs could have changed by February 28 when the board was scheduled to take another look at ambulance costs, public safety department radios and repeaters, reimbursing costs paid during the COVID pandemic for employees who had to work from home and, as discussed in a previous meeting, a new fire engine.

            “We are exploring more avenues for the money than just the fire truck,” Select Board member Adam Murphy elaborated, “looking through several projects.”

            In other action, the board signed the warrant for the Presidential Primary Election. Residents will be able to vote on Tuesday, March 5, at the Senior Center, 67 Dexter Lane, from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.

            The Rochester Select Board’s next regular meeting will be held on Monday, March 4, at 6:00 pm at the Senior Center, 67 Dexter Lane.

Rochester Select Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

            Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday revised the Order of Conditions that it approved two weeks ago for BWC Snows Pond LLC’s plan to build a 2.39-megawatt, solar-energy array on 12.55 acres of a 31.23-acre parcel at 0 Cushman Road.

            The commission removed from the project’s Order of Conditions the requirement that the contractor use only biodegradable hydraulic oils for the construction equipment there after input from commissioner and professional excavator William Milka.

            Milka advised ConCom members that these types of engine oils, while less likely to harm wetlands, are more expensive and less effective as lubricants. “It hurts a contractor’s budget,” Milka said. “The requirement will knock every small, local contractor out of the running.”

            He said there was every reason to believe other means such as containment buoys could be used if these oils spill too close to wetlands or a waterway. These lubricants could cost up to $10,000 more for the equipment, not counting the cost of added maintenance. “And they don’t lubricate as well,” he said.

            At the commission’s February 6 meeting, BWC Snows Pond LLC had asked that the bio-fuel requirement not be made a project condition because the petitioner “could not commit that the selected contractor will be able to supply installation equipment that is compatible…”

            Commission member Ben Bailey had said placing this condition on town projects happens all the time, and, in fact, the Planning Board will likely place the use of bio-fuels in its own conditions for the project.

            On Tuesday, Milka’s input convinced Conservation Commission Chairman Christopher Gerrior otherwise. He reasoned that it would be better instead to make a spill-containment plan a precondition of any Order of Conditions. “It should be brought up at the preconstruction meeting.” The resultant vote to delete the requirement was unanimous.

            In other action, the commission approved a Certificate of Compliance for work “satisfactorily completed” at 169 Clapp Road, the construction of an in-ground pool, surrounding masonry and a pool cabana.

            Upon the petitioner’s request, the commission continued its hearing into the Notice of Intent filed by JPF Development LLC to build a 15-acre, self-storage facility at 25 Cranberry Highway and 0 Kings Highway until March 5.

            The commission reviewed with town Herring Inspector Dave Watling its February 10 site visit of the herring run area from Hartley Farm Pond to the start of the Rochester Boat Race and the Mattapoisett River. Concom’s conclusion is that because a “mat of vegetation” might soon impede the herring run there, the bypass canal near the start of the boat race at the Hartley Reservoir needs to be opened up.

            Milka noted the pond-herring population has gone down from 125,000 in previous years to 3,000 this year. Watling advised the commission that such work should only begin between mid to late summer. The board agreed to first consult state Division of Fish and Wildlife representative Jason Zimmer and seek the use of a grant to get the work done.

            Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly reported the Buzzards Bay Coalition will conduct its annual monitoring visit of the conservation area at Red Brick Farm East on March 7 at 10:00 am. ConCom members said they will try to attend.

            The Rochester Conservation Commission will meet next on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Conservation Commission

By Michael J. DeCicco

            What started out as a seemingly innocuous Request for Determination of Applicability filed by Ian Brady, 1 Mattakiset Road, became a debate lasting nearly an hour. The application was for a proposed two-story garage. The applicants were represented by the contractor Steve Brodo, who also acts as a part-time building inspector for the town.

            Brodo described the proposed project is a garage-like structure that will be used to store small sailboats and other watercraft, not cars, with the second story to be an office space served by a bathroom. Brodo said his clients want to have the flexibility to continue working while summering in Mattapoisett.

            There were questions about stormwater management and abutter concerns that any fill used might cause water to migrate to neighboring properties. Brodo explained that he would be leveling the site by removing soils, not adding soils.

            The plans submitted by Brodo failed to answer questions by the commissioners, given that it was a land survey, not an engineered plan with structural details. Furthermore, since the application was filed as a RDA versus a Notice of Intent (a permit granting the commission greater oversight), the commission would be unable to apply conditions to the construction that aided in upholding performance standards.

            Brodo contended that during a site visit in which commissioners David Lawrence and David Nicolosi attended, he was never told a Notice of Intent was necessary, leading him to believe all was well with the application.

            Chairman Mike King expressed concern that Brodo had received a building permit before clearing the proposed project through the conservation process.

            “In my fourteen years on the commission, no one has ever received a building permit before coming to Conservation,” said King, who intended to confirm whether or not a building permit can be issued before clearing a project through the Wetlands Protection Act.

            When the commission voted on the RDA application, the members were split evenly both for and against. Brodo was told he could come back on an evening when the commission had an odd number of members in attendance or file a NOI complete with engineered drawings.

            The commission also met with Mike Huguenin of the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Sara Quintal of the Buzzards Bay Coalition to follow up on the Enforcement Order recently issued to them for flooding and stormwater-drainage problems at the retired bog area simply known as The Bogs.

            King lauded the BBC and its contractors for the repair work since the flooding incident but also called for a vote on whether or not the BBC should be required to test soils for agricultural chemicals.

            The commissioners were firm in their belief that testing should be done and as King put it, give the public information they were asking for. It was the commission’s duty. The commissioners voted to have testing done but to send a letter to the Select Board expressing their position in this matter and asking the board to intercede.

            In other business, applications for RDA’s received negative decisions for residents Kristine Murray, 12 Angelica Avenue, for a deck extension, and Michael Amaral, 3 Harbor Road, for a driveway expansion.

            NOI’s filed by Dart Holdings LLC, 12-14 Fairhaven Road, for a septic upgrade, and Robert and Lisa Barbozak, 5 and 7 Shore View Avenue, for a new single-family home, were conditioned.

            A NOI filed by Derek and Kylene Gregoire for a single-family home on Goodspeed Island was continued pending notification from the Sewer Department that a connection is available. Barring that, the application will continue review on March 11.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for Monday, March 11, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell