Subdivision Proposal for Holly Woods

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            The March 4 meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board had one agenda item, an informal meeting to discuss a proposed, eight-lot subdivision off Holly Woods Road. The property owner is Collin Labrie, 7 Holly Woods Road, represented on this night by Chris Vandenberghe of Civil and Environmental Consultants.

            The primary plans call for a traditional clearing of lots and an extended driveway of 650 feet. Vandenberghe said waivers to be considered would be elimination of sidewalks with nothing more requested and acceptance of the extended driveway.

            Abutters were present and voiced their concern over the ruination of the natural woodlands and increased traffic flow from the 9-acre site. Things became a bit testy, but Planning Board Chairman Tom Tucker assured them that Monday’s discussion was preliminary, that there are many steps yet to be walked before approval might occur and that notice of the future public hearing would be sent to all abutters via registered mail.

            Planning Board member Bill Westerberg suggested to the owner that he could develop the project in a manner that would make people proud. Westerberg is in favor of sidewalk(s), and said that vegetation including trees left in place for greenery, “… remove a minimum of trees for a better project.” Lot sizes are planned at 30,000 square feet.

            Labrie was told he needed sign-off on the driveway by the Mattapoisett Police and Fire departments before submitting the definitive plans.

            Member John Mathieu asked the board to set aside time at subsequent meetings to discuss possible changes to the density requirements in the village district overlay. He said the board should consider extending the use of zero lot lines to allow for the development of condominiums for empty nesters. The members agreed to discuss the matter further.

            Also in attendance was Sandy Hering, chairman of the Mattapoisett Tree Committee, asking the board to invite the town administrator to a future meeting to discuss a tree-removal hearing, removals anticipated by the village street roadway project. Tucker said he would reach out to Town Administrator Mike Lorenco.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, March 18, at 7:00 pm.

Mattapoisett Planning Board

By Marilou Newell

Who Will Care for Me When I’m Old and Gray?

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            Every day, 12,000 Americans turn 65. In 2022, 58,000,000 were over 65 – 17% of the population – and estimates are that by 2040, seniors will make up 22% of the population.

            While most people over 65 are healthy, as we age illnesses and frailty become increasingly common, and growing numbers need at least some care in their daily lives. How do they get that care?

            Unlike many other western countries, the United States has no organized program to help seniors who are unable to live and function independently. In many cases, particularly for those over 80, the choices come down to placement in a nursing home or a lot of help at home to allow them to avoid that dreaded option.

            Many elders and their families are surprised to learn that Medicare does not pay for anything but short-term rehabilitation, either for nursing-home stays or home healthcare. If you have a hip replaced, Medicare will cover a week or so at a rehab facility and a few weeks of home physical therapy and visiting nurses, but if you are simply too frail and sick to live independently, you are on your own.

            Long-term care insurance is available, but it is very expensive and frequently does not cover the full cost of nursing homes or extensive home care.

            To get the care needed at home, home health aides are available, but this “system” is full of problems. Such care is generally provided through agencies that hire and vet the aides. They charge the patient a lot and pay the aides very little. Most home health aides get minimum wage for very demanding work, resulting in a huge turnover. Why lift and clean an elder when you can earn the same hourly wage at McDonald’s?

            In the end, it often falls to family members to provide needed care, difficult at best when families are scattered around the country and often trying to hold down a job while assisting their parent(s.)

            Medicaid will pay for nursing home care, but to be eligible, the recipient must spend down most of their assets and become impoverished. They cannot give away assets to their family – this is carefully scrutinized. Moreover, Medicaid rates are generally so low that you will not find many “upscale” homes willing to take you.

            What can you do? Don’t get old. Seriously, one important factor is to stay as fit as you can to avoid the need for help. While exercise increases longevity, its more important benefit is to keep you independent longer.

            If you can afford it, investigate long-term care insurance. Be very careful in reading the policy and assessing the likelihood that the policy will cover your needs.

            While you are healthy, begin to make your home more “aging-friendly.” Get grab bars in the shower, railings on all stairs, better handles on doors and cabinets and put shelves lower.

            Write to your state and federal legislators and ask them to start working on a plan, either at the state or national level, to improve the care we offer our frail elders. Part of any such plan must include better pay for home health aides to encourage people to make this a career.

By Dr. Ed Hoffer

            Dr. Ed Hoffer is the chairman of the Marion Board of Health, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is Associate Professor of Medicine, part-time, at Harvard and a Senior Scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

A Celtic Afternoon

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The Mattapoisett Museum at 5 Church Street invites one and all on Saturday, March 16 from 4:00 to 5:30 to a rollicking afternoon of Celtic music with Mark Roberts and Benedict Gagliardi.

            Mattapoisett native, Mark Roberts discovered traditional music hanging around the Tryworks Coffeehouse and SMU’s Eistedfod Festival. Mark is primarily known as a flute and banjo player but is also comfortable playing guitar, bouzouki and percussion. He has been in a number of groundbreaking bands in Traditional Music including: The Red Clay Ramblers, Touchstone, The Sevens, The Clayfoot Strutters and Childsplay. His flute and pennywhistle feature prominently in the film, Secret of Roan Innish.

            Benedict Gagliardi is a Rhode Island-based musician and folksinger and one-half of the duo “The Vox Hunters” with his partner Armand Aromin. A self-taught instrumentalist, he plays traditional tunes and accompanies old songs on Anglo concertina, harmonica, and tenor guitar and is particularly fond of digging through old archives and tune books for unusual material. He leads social singing events and supports community music in the Providence area and is locally recognized as a strong tradition-bearer in his generation.

            Mark and Benedict are old friends and musical acquaintances. This program will feature traditional instrumental music, mostly of an Irish nature but with some other widely flung musical traditions thrown in for good measure. As a gifted singer Ben will be dipping into his vast repertoire of songs familiar and obscure.

            Guests are encouraged to bring their own instruments to participate in an Irish jam session to close out this exciting event.

            Tickets are $20.00 per person. Please register at mattapoisett museum.org/events.

Elks Student of the Month

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The Elks of Wareham / New Bedford Lodge No. 73 sponsors the Elks Student of the Month and Student of the Year Awards for students enrolled in local area high schools. The criteria used in nominating a student includes a student who excels in scholarship, citizenship, performing arts, fine arts, hobbies, athletics, church, school and community service, industry and farming.

            We congratulate Senior Amber Engel of Acushnet for being selected as Student of the Month for the month of February by the Old Rochester Regional High School Faculty and Staff.

            Amber personifies kindness, positivity, and compassion. She is a student leader who is always willing to help others and is a role model amongst her peers. She is a dedicated student who goes above and beyond.

Castles Get Castle in Order

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The Marion Conservation Commission voted Jonathan and Jill Castle an Amended Order of Conditions for their thrice-amended project at 406 Point Road.

            Representative Rick Charon described the project as “fits and starts,” noting the discovery of structural issues with the house resulting in a reinvention of the project to raze the house and rebuild.

            The final plan extends the level area at the rear of the house as part of a previously amended scope to raze and rebuild the remaining two-story portion of the original house and relocate and install a new septic system.

            Charon said that once it was determined the house would be a teardown and a new construction, the Board of Health rescinded a previously granted variance that would have allowed a repair job without replacement of a five-year-old Title 5 septic system. The Board of Health went back to its bylaw requiring a new system with denitrification technology.

            The new denitrification system, said Charon, will require two tanks and two filters as dictated by the number of bedrooms (five) in the new house. Charon said the 800 cubic yards of fill going into the property is, in his opinion, less detrimental than the old septic system.

            Vice Chairman Emil Assing, running the meeting in the absence of Chairman Jeff Doubrava, asked what would happen to the old septic system. Charon said the tank would be crushed and backfilled.

            In other business, a request for comment to the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding the case of Carlos and Jennifer Varum at 534D Point Road was quick to arrive at an agreement between Assing and Walsh that the case is jurisdictional to the Conservation Commission.

            Walsh recalled a question as to the nature of a stream in the flood zone and a wetland to the north end of the lot. The commissioners are recommending a filing.

            The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, March 13, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station on Route 6.

Marion Conservation Commission

By Mick Colageo

Wondering What to Write About

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            I’ve been sitting here for what seems like hours trying to think of something to write about for this week’s column. I considered writing about suspenders, but that idea didn’t hold up. Then belts came to mind, but that story had too many holes.

            Looking into the refrigerator at lunchtime, I thought I might write about leftovers. Perhaps chicken soup, maybe meat loaf or Chinese food, but none of those satisfied my hunger for a proper subject. Glancing at my newsfeed on my phone, I spotted the headline… “Flaco died.”

            In case you have not been paying attention to the news from New York City (and why would you?), Flaco is an owl, a Eurasian eagle-owl to be precise. A rare bird in these parts. The majestic bird had become the talk of the town in the Big Apple recently. It seems that Flaco, a resident of the Central Park Zoo, had escaped a year ago, thanks to a vandal who cut the protective netting surrounding his home of the past 14 years.

            Flaco, wanting freedom but perhaps a bit nervous about venturing from the city he knew from birth, took up residence in and around the park. He – I presume he was a he – became the darling of the city folks and tourists as well. Flaco’s adventure took on a life of its own. TV stations did stories about him. He even made the national news. Newspapers wrote editorials about him. Some people with little else in their lives said he had become a symbol of their own desire to escape the confines of their wretched lives. (Aw, come on!)

            Anyway, upon his untimely demise (he died of severe head trauma from flying into a high-rise building), even the governor and the mayor memorialized him. I’m sure the mayor was particularly upset because of Flaco’s contribution to reducing the rat population, the bird’s primary source of food, in the city. A New Yorker article said that he was “a neighbor they could look up to.”

            I’m sure a statue of Flaco will soon be erected somewhere in Central Park.

            This would not be unprecedented. Some years ago, a cow escaped execution right here in Massachusetts. A slaughterhouse in Hopkinton had plans to turn the bovine into steaks. Emily, as she had come to be known, managed to evade capture for over a month by foraging for food in the backyards of nearby homes.

            Like the New Yorkers, the good people of Hopkinton took a liking to Emily and often helped her to evade the authorities who had been ordered to shoot her on sight. Appalled, a local family purchased Emily from the slaughterhouse and when she was captured, arranged for her to stay at the Peace Abbey in nearby Sherborn.

            Emily became famous and was visited by celebrities and visitors from around the world. Like Flaco, she became a symbol of freedom to many. She was even a bridesmaid at two weddings. Really?

            When she passed on to the great pasture in the sky, a life-size, bronze statue was erected in her memory at the Abbey. It stands between statues of Mahatma Gandi and Mother Teresa. I kid you not.

            Freedom stories about animals abound. Nigel, a parrot who lived with a British man and spoke with an English accent, escaped captivity to seek freedom. Alas, Nigel was captured far, far away and sold at a yard sale to a gentleman named Fernandes.

            After four years, a vet discovered a chip identifying the previous owner. Mr. Fernandes was kind enough to return Nigel, now Morgan, to the original owners who weren’t sure he was their bird. Nigel … er Morgan, now spoke fluent Spanish.

            If one looks hard enough, there is always something to write about. Maybe next week I’ll write about those suspenders.  

            Editor’s note: Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and retired newspaper columnist whose musings are, after some years, back in The Wanderer under the subtitle “Thoughts on ….” Morgado’s opinions have also appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

Thoughts on…

By Dick Morgado

Rochester Christian Learning Center

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Rochester Christian Learning Center is a homeschool cooperative whose doors will open in September 2024 for Grades K-8 at First Congregational Church of Rochester. Homeschooling is a growing popular option for parents who want to directly educate their children. A Learning Center is an organized group of home-schooled children that meet at a facility sponsored by an organization such as a church. The advantage of a Learning Center is that families can pool their resources to help with their children’s education and activities. Parents remain the primary educators of their children.

            To learn more about Rochester Christian Learning Center, there are two presentations offered to families on Saturday, March 23 and Saturday, April 13, at 10:00 am at First Congregational Church of Rochester.

            Families can register to attend one of these sessions via email at RochesterChristianLC@gmail.com.

Marion Republican Town Committee

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The Marion Republican Town Committee will conduct its next monthly meeting on Monday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Music Hall, 164 Front Street, Marion. The Public and new members welcome.

Mattapoisett Tree Committee

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To the Editor;

            A sincere “Thanks for Coming” to the February 28th Mattapoisett Tree Committee meeting last week. We estimate around 200 people attended between an overcapacity Fire Station meeting room, a spillover at capacity in Town Hall on Zoom, and 70 connecting from their own homes via Zoom on a night of terrible weather. This demonstrates the interest of our citizens in the current state of the proposed road project and the Tree Committee and other committed citizens were pleased to present a project specific meeting on this topic to all.

            The question I have been asked since last weeks meeting is, “What can we do to help?” and I will recap this.

            We concluded that the road project is needed. We discussed that rules had changed since the project began, decreasing our town’s abilities to use ‘exceptions’ to DOT standards to protect trees and maintain the Village character. This in turn, means the project complexity has increased significantly from when the Select Board and previous Town Administrator began working on the project, and therefore, We concluded that the formation of a steering committee for this project would be a wise move for our Town to take. The Tree Committee should have a seat on this committee. It will be this steering committee that will take up the important issues that we talked about in the meeting; issues that influence the outcome of a final plan which will deliver the things that we want: walkable sidewalks, traffic calming, climate resilency, and shade and beauty provided by trees. We urge the Select Board to address this request as the project moves forward. Your letters to the Select Board will make a difference and insure that they learn that this is of Town Wide importance.

            Our Facebook page, Friends of Mattapoisett Trees will remain open for your comments and concerns as well as the Mattapoisett Tree Committee’s Facebook page, and the Tree Committee’s email, mattapoisetttreecom@gmail.com.

            “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.” Margaret Mead

Sandra Hering

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence. All letters must be typed and submitted directly to: news@wanderer.com.

Fieldstone Abutters Concerned for Future

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The backside abutters living on Olde Sheepfield Road came out to Monday night’s Marion Planning Board meeting to weigh in on Arnie Johnson’s expansion proposal for Fieldstone Market on Route 6.

            Given the floor during the public hearing, some abutters rejected elements of the expansion plan itself, but more abutters seemed to be primarily concerned about what would happen should Johnson someday sell his store. One abutter wondered aloud what would stop 7-Eleven from someday buying Fieldstone.

            (Johnson told the meeting his son is going to graduate this spring from Bentley University and plans to commit to the family business.)

            “Really our concern is process. People make mistakes, and I think this really needs to be looked at,” said Marion resident Jim Albani, 36 Olde Sheepfield Road. “Look, we don’t want to stop this … we just want to make sure the process is done legally and to the fullest extent of the law. We just want to make sure the next guy who’s not an Arnie Johnson … let’s make sure we’re doing this right.”

            Hinting at his role as chairman of the Rochester Planning Board, Johnson insisted he is committed to the public-vetting process but also cautioned Marion residents suggesting he apply for a variance with the Zoning Board of Appeals.

            “ZBA’s set precedent, planning boards don’t. They judge on what’s in front of them,” said Johnson. “If I have to go to the ZBA, I will, but the ZBA sets precedent, and that may make it difficult for the town (to limit a future expansion proposal).”

            The Marion Planning Board had much to digest before voting to continue the case to its March 18 meeting (7:10 pm), at which time Johnson will receive his final answer regarding Town Counsel’s advice on the single zoning issue that would allow him time to apply to the ZBA. The project at large will presumably need multiple sessions of vetting in the continued public hearing.

            The application filed by Johnson Family Investments includes major site-plan review for expansion at Fieldstone Farms, 806 Mill Street (Route 6), Map 17 Lots 12 and 15A (zoned Residence C).

Presenting on Johnson’s behalf was Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering, who summarized the plan for a 2,044 square-foot building expansion, the absorption of a neighboring lot that his attorney Doug Troyer of Pierce Atwood LLP explained would dissolve that 812 Mill Street, a residence, into 806 and automatically rezone the land so that it could play a role in the expansion of the 41,000 square-foot site.

            The building expansion will include 1,500 square feet of additional retail floor space and 500 square feet of additional storage.

            Conditions of major site-plan review as decided by the board in November 2023 granted waivers on an environmental assessment and a traffic study. Madden said he has not issued revisions to the plans submitted on February 7, preferring to get the Planning Boards to minimize the number of revisions.

            “We understand there have been a few comments raised by a few neighborhood groups,” he said, noting the acquisition of 812 Mill Street, adjacent property formerly owned by Carl and Karen Correia.

            The plan is to submit an Approval Not Required application to combine the two lots but not until “we have some certainty that the project is going to meet with Planning Board approval as we think it should and will,” said Madden.

            Madden said original plans to seek a variance from the ZBA to exceed the allowable amount of parking spaces have been changed. “Our feeling was we’re going to have a tough time with that variance so we’re looking at alternatives.”

            As a result, the new parking lot would consist in part of a porous, recycled asphalt product (RAP), providing just under the 40% threshold triggering the need for a variance. This will also alter how drainage from the site is accomplished.

            Madden said a large portion of stormwater will be under that parking lot and that the erosion control barrier will allow no sediment to be washed off the parking lot and into the system.

            Alterations to the original concept, Madden said, has cut down tree-clearing. “We feel that the tree line is substantial and not in need of supplemental plantings,” he said.

            The existing transformer and electrical on the site will be upgraded.

            Planning Board Chairman Tucker Burr struggled with the “merger doctrine” and the ANR scenario and its zoning implications as outlined by Troyer. Calling the nonconformities a “giant elephant in the room,” Burr saw a nonconforming use spreading and asked, “what’s stopping this from every single lot …?”

            Troyer argued that Johnson’s plan will, in the end, be less nonconforming. Alluding to the former restaurant at the Fieldstone site, Troyer described the permit to continue a preexisting legal use.

            “It’s our opinion that the site is operated as a market. They’re not changing that use, they’re not expanding that use,” he said, arguing that the plan actually mitigates the existing nonconformities because the absorption of 812 Mill Street by 806 (Fieldstone) will make the activity more conforming to the space provided.

            “They’re not increasing any nonconformities at all. They’re actually making the nonconformity better,” he said. “It’s basically … legal retail use … not increasing the quality, character or degree. And there’s no adverse effect on the neighborhood.”

            Along with some of the neighbors themselves, board members needed more convincing.

            “Their concern remains, what’s going to stop Mr. Johnson from attaching another lot and turning this Residence C area into commercial property?” asked board member Eileen Marum. “The residents need a reassurance that they’re not going to be living in a commercial area.”

            Acknowledging “two very well-written letters” that Marum had referenced, Troyer asserted that no zoning change is needed to execute the plan as proposed.

            Resident Dina Nichols, while praising Johnson for his store and commitment to the community, told of her consultation with an attorney that she said had served as town counsel in multiple Massachusetts municipalities and gave her a very different interpretation of the law where it concerns the ANR plan and its implication on zoning.

            Member Andrew Daniel asked if Town Counsel had advised the board on the zoning issue. Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee said the board solicited an opinion from Town Counsel.

            Johnson would later speak and inform anyone who hadn’t known that he in fact sought these opinions himself through the town’s Building Department in order to most efficiently set his application in motion.

            Drawing again on his experience serving on the Rochester Planning Board, Johnson added that the Marion Planning Board can condition an approval against further expansion.

            Madden added that Johnson has funded a 53G account for site-plan review.

            The public hearing was continued to March 18 at 7:10 pm.

            After hearing from Representative Jennifer Jones during a public hearing, the board voted to send FSJ Holdings LLC’s application for a zoning change from General Business District to Residence E at 207-215 Wareham Road (Route 6) to the warrant for the May13 Annual Town Meeting.

            Citing the last Open Space Plan sustainability and coastal resiliency, Open Space Acquisition Commission Chairman John Rockwell was critical of the plan.

            “I don’t see how that helps to rezone land in the coastal flood plain for high-density housing. It would be better to find spots for high-density housing where there is not flooding now or likely later,” said Rockwell. “You want to create a situation where to manage … that’s not done by increasing the density in these areas.”

            Rockwell’s comments apparently had more influence on the board’s disposition toward the town’s proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendment to add Article XX (Chapter 230-20, Stormwater Management) necessary to ensure compliance with the national discharge system. Approval would put the proposal on the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting on May 13.

            Rockwell said that while EPA requires towns to have a MS4 plan, including a stormwater bylaw, “it doesn’t have to be this stormwater bylaw,” he said, advising against imposing the bylaw as proposed “on everyone in town.” Rockwell said the bylaw does not address bacteria or control nitrogen. “You have to look at the problems in Marion and craft a bylaw” that addresses those problems.

            The board closed the public hearing and voted to make no recommendation but will put the subject on its next agenda as a discussion item.

            A continued public hearing for the 48-unit, market-rate, housing project proposed at 78 Wareham Road was not attended by developer Matt Zuker.

            “Continuation is probably moot at this point,” said Guey-Lee, indicating he would reach out and referencing “some outstanding issues” and the possibility that Zuker may need to readvertise. At Guey-Lee’s recommendation, the board continued the public hearing beyond Town Meeting, settling on June 3 at 7:05 pm.

            Further discussion on the proposed Short-Term Rental Bylaw being tweaked by the board pushed the meeting to nearly three hours before it was adjourned.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, March 18, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station on Route 6.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo