Nearly 15 months have passed since Edgewood Development first unveiled its plans to construct an asphalt plant on a 5.3-acre site off King’s Highway in northeastern Rochester – but the fate of the project remains up in the air.

Edgewood Development first proposed its bituminous concrete plant in the town’s industrial section in November 2010 – but its proximity to two residences and concerns from area businesses about its impact resulted in six months of Planning Board hearings. The meetings had delved into all aspects of the plant’s potential impact – from lighting, sound, air emissions to traffic – through expert testimony from both the applicants and opposing group.

The Planning Board approved the plant’s construction last May, but the following month, petitioners led by legal representative Benjamin Tymann of Mintz Levin appealed the ruling to the Plymouth Land Court. The group – including two nearby residents and Todesca Realty Trust – argued that the Planning Board overstepped its boundaries by approving the plant, namely because of a bylaw that states “no such use is permitted which would be detrimental of offensive or tend to reduce property values in the same of adjoining district.”

With the Planning Board in litigation, the Building Commissioner denied Edgewood the permit needed to move forward – pushing the case to the Zoning Board of Appeals in November 2011. To digest the months of hearings, they requested time to review the case.

Fast forward to February 9, 2012. After two months of reviewing the case, the ZBA formally upheld the Planning Board’s decision to approve the plant.

ZBA member Benjamin Gilmore argued the plant would co-exist with its industrial neighbors including SEMASS, Rochester Bituminous, a transfer station, and an electric substation, and that the project is suitable for the area.

“Looking at the mixed use, does the addition of a bituminous plant negatively impact the value of the adjacent industries? No,” Mr. Gilmore said.

Board member Kirby Gilmore agreed.

“I own 50 acres of property away from [SEMASS] in South Middleboro…When I spend evenings outside, the noise is unbelievable, I can hear it a mile away. I hear no other noise from that location,” he said, saying that an additional plant would not materially change the nature of the area as industrial.

“The precedent set by the existing industry puts it well within [the Planning Board’s] purview,” echoed Davis Sullivan.

ZBA Chairman Richard Cutler said given the “massive” amount of hearings and testimonies the Planning Board considered, he felt the board did its due diligence. “I don’t think it went beyond its charter,” he said.

With little to no comment from both the petitioner’s legal representative Benjamin Tymann and Edgewood Development’s Gerry LoRusso and Tim Higgins – all present at the meeting – the board swiftly voted to uphold the Planning Board’s May 24, 2011 decision.

With the ZBA now firmly behind the Planning Board, it is unclear if the petitioners will continue to battle out the proposal asphalt plant in court.

“All I can say at this point is that we are reviewing our options,” said Atty. Benjamin Tymann following the ruling.

Michael D’Acci of 119 King’s Highway, a direct abutter of the proposed plant who in among the petitioners, said he wasn’t surprised by the ruling.

“It’s the same old, same old. No surprises. I figured they’d all stick together,” he said in response to the decision.

Rochester Town Counsel Blair Bailey said the ZBA’s decision is by no means a shoo-in that the plant will get built soon.

Although he said it is unlikely, if it goes to Superior or Land Court, “it could go on for years,” Atty. Bailey said following the ruling. More likely, “it could take a year.”

For now, Atty. Bailey said if it happens, the court battle is between the petitioners and Edgewood, although he will be on hand to “support the decisions of the board.”

The petitioners have 20 days to appeal the ZBA’s decision.

By Laura Fedak Pedulli

Members of the Marion Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, Capital Improvements Committee and town residents came together at the Marion Music Hall on Thursday, February 9 to hear the details of an extensive multi-year, multi-million dollar village water and sewer upgrade project.

The meeting featured consulting engineers Shawn Syde and Robert Otoski of Camp Dresser and McKee, Inc., who described the four-phase project that has a preliminary cost of approximately $27 million. The engineers explained that this figure could be reduced by 35 percent by eliminating/reducing costs such as lining some existing sewer pipes with a synthetic liner and using concrete sidewalks instead of brick.

Mr. Syde presented the four phases, and presented a time line for each. Phase 1 construction would be tackled first, with a current year start and the phase completed in 2014 and involve Main Street, South Street, Hiller Street, Front Street, Cottage Street, Ryder Lane and Holmes Street. The estimate for Phase 1 is $13.5 million.

Phase 2 included Main Street, School Street and Pleasant Street and Clark Street, slated to begin in 2014 and finish by 2016, with a cost estimate of $5 million.

Phase 3, proposed to begin in 2016 and completed in 2018, included Front Street and Holmes Street, consisting of 5,000 linear feet. The estimate for Phase 3 is $ 5.8 million. Phase 4, at Spring Street to Ryder Lane and down to Maple Avenue is the longest stretch, at 7,050 feet with an estimate of $3.5 million.

The sum total presented was for a repair and upgrade of the existing sewer and water system in the town and to reduce the inflow and infiltration into the sewer system and address water drainage issues, primarily after a heavy rainfall. Water from storms can enter the sewer system, taxing the system and pushing it to capacity.

The primary concern raised is that storm water entering the sewer system also is treated unnecessarily at a high cost to the town and putting excess wear and tear on the wastewater treatment infrastructure. It was estimated that in 2010, it cost the town $90,000 to treat water resulting from rainstorms.

Another issue is that the town is close to exceeding the permitted amount of water that can be processed at the treatment plant, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency. It was noted that if the current level of water being treated continued, the town would be in violation of their permit and might be forced to consider upgrading the treatment facility.

After a house-to-house inspection program, held last spring and summer, the town has slowed down the amount of water going into the sewer system.

At the meeting, Mr. Syde said that 83 percent of village properties were voluntarily inspected and some problems were found and resolved. According to CDMS, they confirmed 40 sources going into the system illegally and are continuing to investigate another 360 sources that could possibly be entering the sewer illegally via roof drains and sump pumps. Dye testing is ongoing to identify and confirm sources.

“This is an old town, plumbers would tell residents to put their sump pump lines into the sewer…this is an old problem that’s become a new problem,” said Selectman Roger Blanchette.

“We’ve seen less of a flow after a rainstorm,” commented Rob Zora, saying that depending upon the time of year, the amount of rain and other factors, the sewer flow has improved significantly, but not enough to meet the new sewer treatment plant requirements.

Mr. Zora reminded the group that water came to the town in 1908 and sewer, in some fashion, in 1910. “The village is the oldest in the town and operates like an old French drain,” he said.

Selectman Henry – serving as chairman of the effort – told the group that the meeting was an open meeting but was being held with the intent of getting the three committees together to review and discuss the project.

“This is a lot of money and the focus is for the committees to ask questions (of CDMS) and discuss the issue,” said Mr. Henry.

Approximately 20 residents attended and were vocal in asking and responding to comments between committee members.

“How are we going to pay for this?” asked Jay Ryder, who serves as Planning Board Chairman. We already have some of the highest water and sewer rates in the state.”

Finance Committee member Karen Kevelson said that the town has no money to mow the ball fields at Sippican School during the summer.

“We’re going to depend on volunteers to mow the lawn…if we don’t have money to mow the lawn, how are we going to pay for this?” she asked.

The consensus was that the committees needed time to digest and review all the data presented and decide on a date to meet again. The group went back and forth on whether the initial request for an engineering estimate should be placed on the warrant for town meeting in March, but no decision was made.

No date was set for the next public meeting on the issue.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

The tough task of funding a level-service budget was addressed at the ORR District School Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 8.

However, just getting in the door was an issue, with over 80 teachers and instructional assistants standing at the entryway, asking the committee to resume negotiations on a contract that expired on October 31, 2011 (after a 60-day extension from August 31, 2011).

“We’ve been away from the table since October,” said Old Rochester Professional Educators Association (ORPEA) Co-President Colin Everett, who held a sign reading “Please Come Back to the Table.”

ORPEA Co-President Teresa Dall added that they wanted to set a date to sit down with the committee and the mediator to get talks moving forward.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, Superintendent Doug White started the budget discussion by saying that that benefits, contractual obligations and increased health costs pushed the level services budget up $495,000 above the FY 2012 budget, with approximately $221,000 for increased health costs and $81,000 for other contractual services for custodial and secretarial employees.

According to Mr. White, the district employs 97.2 staff currently and the budget cut scenario presented reduced that figure to 92, with the elimination of five positions. Mr. White said that the district enrollment remains flat, with 1,150 students at the junior and senior high school, and 23 of them being School Choice students, meaning out-of-district students who pay tuition to attend the school.

“We need to increase revenue to replace federal and state funds we’ve lost,” he said. One suggestion was to increase the number of School Choice students from 23 to 48; ORR receives $5,000 from the sending district for each School Choice student.

“If the towns can’t support the schools, what [does] it look like?” asked Peter Bangs.

“We’ve picked the bone clean on supplies and upgrades, like laptop replacements…that’s not going to happen,” said High School Principal Michael Devoll.              “No new text books,” added Junior High Principal Kevin Brogioli.

Also on the block was the reduction of one nurse. ORR currently staffs two nurses: one for the senior high and one for the junior high. The senior high has approximately 700 students and the junior high has around 460 students. The proposal would employ one nurse and add a certified nursing assistant.

ORR Committee member Joseph Scott asked if there was a state or Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools requirement for a nurse for a certain number of students.

“We’ve been looking at that and will clarify it,” said Mr. White. The savings for a change in nursing staff would amount to $25,350.

In addition, custodial staffing would be reduced, with a savings of roughly $75,000.

A $109,000 savings was proposed by reducing seven paraprofessional staff positions. Another $80,000 cut would be found by eliminating a high school English teacher.  The result would be an increase in class size from 20 to 23 students per teacher.

Mr. Devoll was quick to mention that these teachers also man study halls and other extra curricular activities, so the impact is much larger than it appears.

$56,000 would be generated in the elimination of the junior high school librarian position. The reduction from six special education teachers to five was also in the proposed plan. That position would result in a $32,630 savings in the budget shortfall.

A high school social studies teacher position was also on the chopping block, resulting in a savings of $36,215.

“Remember, this affects class size and the options we offer to students,” said Principal Devoll. A partial mathematics teacher position would also be lost, saving $20,500.

The committee was asked to take time to look over the various proposals and come back at the next meeting prepared to finalize and tweak budget preparations. A public meeting, scheduled for March 5, will include open discussions on the proposed cuts.

In other business, the committee approved:

• The 2012-2013 school calendar. It shows the February break from February 18 to 22 and the April break dates as April 15 to 19. The last day of school would be June 13, given that no snow days are incurred.

• A revision of the high school student handbook, changing the wording of “revision scheduling” for students. The change is to prevent a student from having two study periods resulting from a dropped class. The student would be required to opt into another academic subject.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry