Marion Planning Board Chairman Tucker Burr polled his membership on Monday night, asking each to put into few words, if possible, why the town needs a short-term-rental bylaw and what that would accomplish. The same invitation would be extended to concerned attendees who live in usually coastal neighborhoods that they believe are being infiltrated by such.

            Dale Jones said a bylaw would “prevent some people from buying up property and turning it into a rental property.” He recommended restrictions within reason to require that the owner is present. “Something of this magnitude requires a subcommittee for the board to consider,” he added.

            “Oversight,” suggested Andrew Daniel. “By having something written, it protects the community and abutting neighbors, and it also protects the owner. The goal’s not a blanket statement … but how to incorporate all these things so it’s not harmful to anyone but is beneficial to everyone.”

            Jon Henry said that expectations should be met both for the people who rent and the people who live in the area.

            Eileen Marum read a letter submitted by Dr. Ed Hoffer into the record. Hoffer’s letter said in part that, “the market is becoming more and more dominated by absentee owners who buy properties for such rentals. This in turn inflates property values, making homes less affordable to people who wish to live in the community. … Unless we wish to see Marion becoming like Nantucket, where billionaires and wealthy vacationers dominate, we should discourage “commercial” vacation rental. … I strongly urge the Planning Board to go on record that short-term rental be limited to 2-3 weeks/year in residential-zoned houses. This will allow residents who wish to make a little extra money when they are away to do so but block “commercial” rental.

            Marum added her own viewpoint: “If we let the air-bnb’s … come in without regulation, Marion will no longer be what people come into Marion for.” Marum said enforcement and limitation on short-term rentals would also protect the prospective buyers of those houses. “I would like to know how many rentals we have.” Marum suggested a connection between a decline in the student population and is waiting on information from the town clerk. She said an occupancy tax would benefit the activities of the Affordable Housing Trust.

            Member Alanna Nelson agreed it would be smart of the town to find a way to draw revenue from short-term rental owners.

            “I think there’s a big difference between someone who owns a property and rents it and someone who buys a property to rent it short term because then they’re disguising a business,” said member Ryan Burke. “A dwelling is a permanent habitation by one or more families. I really don’t feel that a lot of these short-term rentals fit that.”

            Henry cautioned that a blanket approach could be stepping on the toes of associations with their own power.

            Upon Burr’s invitation for public participation in the conversation, several points were made for the board’s consumption.

            Larry Bauerlein offered that assuming associations have rules is erroneous. “They don’t. Many are just collegial.” He said the short-term-rental activity undermines zoning, and the town needs some sort of directive that protects the neighbors and the owners.

            Ana Bauerlein added that the town needs to act “relatively quickly … now you’ve got situations where people who have bought houses and are already running these businesses … are going to think they are grandfathered. Sooner the better off we’ll all be.”

            Dianne Cosman said she has a short-term rental operating next door, in back and another two doors down. “At some point, what do we want the town to look like in 10, 20 years? It’s only getting worse,” she said. Cosman said that under state law short-term rentals should be collecting taxes that go to the state. Then the state gives back to the town its share. A lack of policing allows owners of short-term rentals to circumvent the system and operate officially unnoticed. She also noted that some local owners stopped living locally because it became more profitable to make money by renting.

            “I’m not against licensed businesses that do this,” she said, likening the predicament to the plight of taxi drivers once companies like Uber came along.

            Overall, the residents in attendance want to preserve their neighborhoods and eliminate businesses in residential areas, whether that means licensing rentals, taxing them. Some sort of tracking, they say, is necessary, in order to ensure that a house permitted for a three-bedroom septic system, for instance, is not rented out without regulation, allowing several more to use that same system all at once.

            Burr would like to avoid appointing a subcommittee, in part because it prevents Planning Board members from legally attending its meetings.

            Barnstable and Mashpee are among towns’ board members and homeowners will study in an effort to come up with the framework of a bylaw that can go before the Annual Town Meeting next spring.

            Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering represented Arnie Johnson in his Pre-Submission Conference for a plan to expand his Fieldstone Farms store at 806 Mill Street. Johnson, who happens to chair the Rochester Planning Board, was in the odd seat as applicant before an adjudicatory board.

            His plan is to expand his building by adding 2,044 square feet, upgrade the Title 5 septic system – he will request waivers from the Board of Health – and increase parking to 54 spaces. Fieldstone has been on the site for three years, replacing the Frigate restaurant.

            Johnson will also file an Approval Not Required (ANR) application to convey a lot to Johnson Family Investments. He plans solar lighting on the corners of the parking lot on poles. The lighting will be monitored with a cell-phone app for seasonal applications and conditions, and the system will comply with Dark Sky standards.

            There will be an underground infiltration for stormwater, similar to what exists now in front of the existing building with pretreatment devices prior to discharge into the infiltration beds.

            One variance Johnson will seek is in lot coverage, proposed after expansion to 62% of the property. Marion’s bylaw limits coverage to 40%, but 45% was previously approved on the original project. Johnson will also be asking for waivers from an environmental assessment and traffic-impact study. He said he is willing to meet with the Energy Management Committee to discuss energy usage.

            The board asked him to open a 53G account of the minimum $2,000 for the town to cover expenses in initial vetting of the project. The board intends primarily to conduct a stormwater review. Otherwise, the members are largely thrilled with Johnson’s business.

            In two votes following the meeting’s only public hearing, the board voted to allow 133 Wareham Road LLC to reduce parking from 11 to nine spaces and voted to approve site-plan review for the construction of a medical center on the site at the corner of Point Road and Route 6.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, December 4, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station on Route 6.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo

            Chairman John Rockwell reported Tuesday night that the Marion Pathway Committee has submitted its “100% plan” to the state on the Marion Shared Use Path that is intended to connect pieces of the South Coast Bikeway emanating from the Mattapoisett line and continuing to Point Road.

            Rockwell said detail work will be required during a vetting process that the state is required to respond with over a 60-day period. Those details include checking on easements for changes from two years ago and the refreshing of title searches.

            The last plan, he said, showed that some easements had been eliminated by the sloping of sidewalk areas and will need haybales and adequate room for them to be installed. The committee may need an easement just to install erosion-control devices.

            “But we can’t do anything in regard to acquiring easements until we have an approval layout plan,” said Rockwell. “If the appraisal is done too soon, it gets stale and needs to be done again.” A four or five-year easement costs more, said Rockwell. “All those things have to be balanced out.” Rockwell recommended waiting on the state’s response which he anticipates in January.

            The last schedule sent to the state was dated January 20, 2023, and the state will require submission of a new schedule.

            Former Pathway Committee Chairman Jeff Oakes attended the Zoom meeting and thanked the committee and other stakeholders for their work in getting through what he called Phase 1. Oakes said he will work on the Wareham end (Phase 2) to come up with a plan and seeks help from the committee or as individuals in completing the Marion portion of the South Coast Bikeway project end to end.

            Marion Town Administrator Geoff Gorman asked about the ramifications of the required Mandatory Environmental Impact statement. Rockwell said the state has hired a firm to conduct the MEPA process, which he described as a coordinated effort of state agencies to ensure projects needing permitting or funding that applicable state agencies are on the same page.

            “There’s triggers for that: wetlands impacts, traffic, water withdrawals, endangered species impacts,” said Rockwell. “Surpass any of the thresholds, you have to file an environmental notification form. … In this case, there’s nothing to worry about. The project is actually an enhancement for the quality of life.”

            Gorman asked where people can view the full plans. Rockwell said the file is too heavy to email but will send him a link.

            Shaun Walsh asked if the document is too technical to upload for public consumption. Gorman suggested the document can and soon will be uploaded to the Pathway Committee’s webpage at marionma.gov.

            Walsh’s candidacy for a seat on the Pathway Committee was not recommended to the Select Board in June by Rockwell, who reiterated his proposal to fill the committee’s vacancies with a former member and Dan Eling, who was also in attendance.

            It wasn’t clear if any official action took place in regards to the Pathway Committee’s vacancies, but the committee voted to recommend the reappointment of Lorraine Heffernan for one year to the Stewards of Community Open Space. The Select Board will hear and vote on that recommendation.

            It was noted that the Friends of the Marion Bike Path group will need to form and act to support its day-to-day operations, once it is constructed. Committee member John Menzel said that Pathway Committee member Sandria Parsons is looking to start up the friends group.

            Walsh then threw Rockwell’s way what he called “the five-and-a-half-million-dollar question,” asking for an idea on a timeline to begin construction. “Everybody wants to know,” said Walsh, citing that the 100% plan has been submitted and the state has 60 days to respond. Noting that Oakes’ original plan was to start construction a year ago, Walsh asked, “Do you anticipate a shovel in the ground a year from now?”

            Rockwell remained noncommittal.

            “I’ve learned one thing is don’t make any predictions with timing,” said Rockwell, noting that a previous timeline, which is more than a year old, predicted a 100% submittal in March. “We’re lined up for (FY)2025 money, which starts June of next year. That assignment was made by the state. They have some internal idea themselves how long things take. … When the state gets a new schedule, I’ll distribute it. Until then, I have no clue.”

            Even after state approval, said Rockwell, the committee still has to tackle permitting matters and right-of-way acquisition. He noted that a Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission will address less than 500 square feet of wetland alteration with a plan to replicate it.

            “That’s the only permit,” he said, noting that there is also the MEPA process with uncertain timing.

            The 40-minute Zoom meeting cut off as Rockwell was trying to wrap up his timeline discussion. He said the Pathway Committee will set another public meeting in two weeks, presumably to complete the unfinished business of the November 14 agenda.

Marion Pathway Committee

By Mick Colageo

            MCAS testing and what to do with the information was on the table when the Rochester School Committee met on November 2.

            “We’re back at a place where MCAS data is starting to become more meaningful,” said Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson, qualifying the remark by noting that MCAS provides one data point among multiple ones. But the point was clear. “But I think the important piece for us to remember right now is that MCAS data, from a state standpoint and for us is a data point that we’re looking at a road to learning recovery.

            “We’re really looking at, ‘where were students in 2019 from a teaching-and-learning standpoint, and what is the data telling us now in terms of how students are performing … on MCAS?’ There’s a lot of points of pride, but there are some areas (needing improvement). … More importantly, do we have plans in place already or are there plans in place that we’re going to have to make to try to increase academic achievement?”

            Nelson pointed to statewide trends of concern for the earliest learners with literacy and science and math to some degree with Grade 3.

            “We share some of those, not all of them. We can certainly acknowledge those trends and feel them here at Rochester Memorial,” he said. “When you hear the data presented from our building principal and our assistant superintendent, you’re going to see we have a lot to be proud of. We have, again, some areas for opportunity, and what I’m most excited about I think that the work that this committee has done from a literacy standpoint in really the past two years to position ourselves for Year 1 of implementation, really supports the trend of data that the MCAS is showing.”

            Nelson said that the needs of the whole child remain the district’s focus, “and we are certainly seeing greater need from the whole child than we were seeing in 2019. … They’re learning much more than what the MCAS is asking, and that’s what we’re here for each and every day.”

            With that, Nelson handed the floor to Dr. Shari Fedorowicz, ORR’s assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning.

            The summary of scores were as follows: 530-560 Exceeding Expectations; 500-529 Meeting Expectations; 470-499 Partially Meeting Expectations and 440-469 Not Meeting Expectations.

            Student Growth Percentiles (SGP’s) were issued to students having registered prior scores and having met current grade-level requirements on a 1-99 scale and are measured against the state’s mean SGP. English Language and Mathematics are counted but not Science.

            Summarizing that ORR students have tested in the normal range through 2019. MCAS took a year off for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In 2021, Grades 3-8 experienced a partial return to MCAS testing. Since 2022, MCAS testing has been fully back.

            “One of the biggest things to keep in mind with this is that we’re not only looking at our achievement … scores, but … the scores aren’t necessarily where they were in 2019. A lot has happened in five years, so the state is calling that the recovery piece and recovery going back to what our scores were in 2019,” said Fedorowicz. “So we’re trending up, which is great.”

            The slide, said Fedorowicz, has stopped, and local students are now back on a recovery schedule with their test scores.

            At Rochester Memorial, Grades 3-6 performed better than they did last year and better than the state average in English Language Arts and in Mathematics. Grade 5 Science scores were lower than last year’s but better than the state average.

            Grade 3 across the state generally saw flat results (these students were in kindergarten during the pandemic.)

            Fedorowicz guided the committee through a graphics presentation of data for students across the ORR District in Grades 3-12 from 2019 to 2023. The information broke down to Grades 3-6, measuring ORR’s recovery to be above the state average in English Language Arts.

            She said that ORR’s acceleration in recovery “speaks volumes about our educators here at RMS.”

            Rochester Memorial School’s Interim Principal Heidi Letendre noted that students considered “proficient” are testing 7% above the state average, while the average ORR student is still testing 3% better than last year and 2% above the state average.

            Language/Writing was one of the rare cases in which local Grade 3 students tested below the state average. In several other ELA categories, the same students tested significantly above the state average.

            Grade 5 students ranked behind the state average in multiple ELA categories, but Grade 6 students ranked above the state average in those same ELA categories. Grade 5 was better in math but still with weak areas.

            “We definitely have some learning gaps,” said Letendre, expressing confidence in the district’s new Into Reading literacy program.

            The report identified highlights for different grade levels in ELA, Mathematics and Science and recommended action plans to shore up areas that have fallen behind.

            Expressing thanks on behalf of the committee and the community, Chairperson Sharon Hartley recognized the effort that went into analyzing the data and putting it to use in planning to support learning among all the students.

            “I have great confidence that knowing where we are situated right now with a strong, new science curriculum and a strong, new approach in reading and news materials and with the science of reading … it’s all worth it,” said Hartley. “When you look at the data, when you look at the performance and you look hard at what you need to improve on, we can do that.”

            Member Anne Fernandes noted that ORR’s writing program is embedded in Into Reading. Fedorowicz said the Hill is rolling the program out in steps to avoid overwhelming the students. She said teachers meet with the Hill on a monthly basis to analyze testing. She said there will be specific instruction in writing.

            Fernandes questioned if more dips in performance should be anticipated. Fedorowicz said the priority is to get the reading component solidly in place, then delve more heavily into writing.

            Member Robin Rounseville asked about what other assessments are saying about students’ performance. Nelson said the district has relied on Aimsweb but uses it more as a screener; therefore, scores look higher.

            The committee reviewed the draft school calendar for the 2024-25 academic year. Nelson said the Joint School Committee requested a draft sooner than it is typically received for its discussion and vote. Nelson said he would like to see the Rochester School Committee act on the calendar in January so as to allow for planning time for the students and professional development.

            The committee heard a report from Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber, who reported an unencumbered $625,000 remaining in the operations budget.

            In reporting on Food Services and Facilities, Barber noted that lunches are down. Rounseville said she has heard that some students find the lunch line to be too long. Nelson indicated that the factor is one administration will consider going forward.

            The white-colored overhang at RMS is starting to rust, and April vacation is being targeted as a repair date.

            In her Chairperson’s Report, Hartley expressed concern about “school culture and climate.” She identified three things that had happened over the past month. The Trunk & Treat (parking-lot) event was collaborative and was a success. She also noted Nature’s Classroom and the work of the Celebrations Committee as important factors in students’ well-being.

            The ORR Unified Basketball Team will play against Tri-Town Police on Tuesday, November 21, at 6:30 pm at the ORRHS gym.

            During Open Comment, Karen Thomas expressed concern over the committee’s support of the changing of pronouns in the Student Handbook from “she/her” to “they/them” and questioned whether the committee represents the community. She asked if a parent can just opt out and said she is “disgusted with the whole thing.”

            The committee entered executive session and only returned to adjourn the public meeting.

            The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee will be held on Thursday, December 14, at 6:30 pm at RMS, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, January 18, at 6:30 pm at ORR Junior High School media room.

Rochester School Committee

By Mick Colageo