Susan Miller brought an idea to the Marion Affordable Housing Trust on Tuesday night, and Terri Santos may have identified the missing link to make it work.

            During the public meeting held at the Police Station, the two AHT members expressed interest in a collaboration that would put free rain barrels in the hands of financially stressed Marion homeowners. They could use the water in their gardens and yards.

            Miller told the AHT that she contacted the Town of Mattapoisett, which had participated in Great American Rain Barrel project. Marion was late to that party, but Miller recommended meeting with the Marion Conservation Commission in February offering the program to the town. She said Mattapoisett distributed between 30 and 60 rain-catching barrels.

            In the meeting packet distributed on Tuesday were display advertisements from two big-box stores in neighboring Wareham. They featured different barrel designs and options with a price range from below $50 (collapse-able) to over $130.

            Imagining a process in which the AHT would contact residents and give them choices followed by their selections, Miller would go to one of the stores and place an order.

            Miller considered Community Preservation Act funding via the town’s Community Preservation Committee, but Santos said that cannot happen this year. She did, however, note that the AHT has approximately $8,000 in a cash account that could become a funding source for the barrels. She said such a program would necessarily be opened to everyone in town, and the AHT would not be allowed to confine availability to low-income housing.

            Miller said representatives of the Great American Rain Barrel program are willing to participate in a Zoom call.

            “If we’re using our own money, it doesn’t have to be deed restricted,” said Santos, noting that the CPC money would require research.

            AHT member Toby Ast suspects that projects qualifying for CPA funding are permanently fixed to the ground. He said he will look to confirm the rules with CPC Chairman Jeff Doubrava.

            “The real problem is getting the water into the rain barrel,” said AHT member Norm Hills, who has a rain barrel and said they are a challenge to operate.

            An update on this topic will be included on the AHT’s next meeting agenda.

            The other agenda item drawing substantial discussion is the AHT’s desire to revise the town’s bylaw on Accessory Apartments.

            As someone who has spent much of the last several years examining Marion’s bylaws, Hills recommended sifting out items that are addressed in other bylaws under different definitions.

            “They all need to be put together. They’ve all been added over years and they don’t work together,” said Hills, the chair of Marion’s Bylaw Codification Committee. He noted that any bylaw change must go through Town Counsel. “There’s always a legal aspect that may not be anything we talked about.”

            Hills described the problem with bylaw amendments as “boobytraps that have been there for years. … We need to make sure that the bylaws are enforceable by the Building commissioner (Bob Grillo.)”

            Hills said he will dig into the Accessory Apartment Bylaw and will propose an edit based on feedback from the AHT members.

            Santos would like to set a time to meet with Grillo and hopes to bring the bylaw to Fall Town Meeting.

            In other action, the members voted to recommend that the Select Board appoint Eileen Marum to the AHT.

            Hills will also field comments from members and propose an update to Santos’ first draft of a letter to former Select Board member and Water/Sewer commissioner John Waterman, who wrote the Planning Board to recommend that Marion scrap its Affordable/Inclusionary Housing Bylaw.

            The next meeting of the Marion Affordable Housing Trust is scheduled for Tuesday, August 15, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Affordable Housing Trust

By Mick Colageo

            After engineer David Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., went through a list of changes previously requested by the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission for a Notice of Intent filing for proposed work at 89 Mattapoisett Neck Road, it was determined during Monday night’s public meeting that the case would be continued.

            It was noted that the town’s contract agent, Brandon Faneuf, had not had an opportunity to make a site visit, a necessary site review to ensure plans met requirements for the construction of a wharf over wetlands.

            The property is owned by A. Mueller Trust Declaration. The proposed pier would give the residents access to water from which a small boat with shallow draft could be launched. Details include 74 feet of fixed structure with an additional 28 feet for the gangway and float. Plans indicate the use of pressure-treated pilings, and that presented a problem for the commission’s newest member, David Nicolosi.

            When first presented to the commission during the June 26 meeting, Nicolosi broached the subject, saying he wasn’t in favor of pressure-treated lumber being used because the chemicals would eventually leach into the water. On this night, he revisited that concern.

            “It’s a pristine area,” said Nicolosi, referring to the shoreline and marine area. He said if the area were a marina or other seaside location already closed to shell fishing, his opinion might be different. He said there are environmentally safe materials that in his opinion, should be used. Commissioner Barry Lima agreed.

            Chairman Mike King turned to Davignon, who said he would discuss the matter with his client before returning for further review. The filing was continued to the commission’s July 24 meeting.

            Also continued until that date was a NOI filed by the Crescent Beach Improvement Association. Also represented the client on this application, Davignon said the organization was seeking permission to widen several beach-access streets composed primarily of bordering beach grass and sand, as well as perform some beach nourishment and seaweed removal.

            Davignon said the goal was to maintain the beach for area residents and provide improved emergency access to what amounted to pathways to the beach.

            Lima said, if approved, the activity should be conditioned so that maintenance equipment not be stored on the beach and that refueling not take place on the beach. The filing was continued to July 24 to allow for commissioners to make a site visit and review proposed staking of vegetated areas. Further comments from the Department of Environmental Protection are pending.

            A NOI filed by Caroline’s Way Trust, 1 Goodspeed Island Road, was conditioned for the repair of storm-damaged slope and organic seawall. There were no comments from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Davignon reported, as he represented this applicant as well. The project was approved with additional conditions of washed cobble stones, sand analysis to be performed, no machinery storage on the beach and no refueling on the beach.

            Also conditioned was a NOI filed by Andris Rieksts and Lisa Francis, 0 Park Place, for the construction of a single-family home.

            A Certificate of Compliance intended for Daniel Lee III and Tracey Lee, 42 Church Street, was considered invalid as work never commenced. This clears the way for the selling of the home.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for Monday, July 24, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

Rochester’s Planning Board Tuesday informally reviewed a plan to place a 2.39-megawatt, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar array on 12.55 acres of a 30.2-acre parcel on Cushman Road.

            Andrew Hamill, representing petitioner Blue Wave Solar dba/BWC Snows Pond LLC, said a site-plan-review application and Special Permit-review application will follow what he introduced as an informal discussion prior to submission of a formal proposal.

            Hamill said his engineering firm, Weston & Sampson, has already met with the local tech-review committee and made suggested changes to the plan, specifically breaks in a nearby stonewall for access to the back of the property. He noted that the array will be built 380 feet away from the nearest abutter on Jason’s Way and will be surrounded by a 7-foot-tall, vinyl, chain-link fence. He said the petitioner will soon file a Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission and a Landscaping Plan.

            Planning Board members asked to see more details on the final plans, including tree clearing currently proposed. Board Chairman Arnold Johnson said he wanted to see fencing more clearly defined on the plan. Board member Ben Bailey said he wanted to know more about the project’s tree-clearing plan.

            Hamill agreed to comply in future, updated plans. “I’ll be happy to put some shaded trees where you want them,” he said.

            Elsewhere on Tuesday’s agenda, the board’s three public hearings ended quickly. The hearing on the special permit and site-plan-review application to develop a commercial building at 621 County Road to include Megan’s Organic Market, a recreational-marijuana retail facility, was continued until August 15 because the petitioners had failed to notify abutters by certified mail.

            “They will be notified they will have to go back and present all their information from the beginning,” said Town Planner Nancy Durfee. “It’s in the rules and regulations what they have to do.”

            “One hundred percent, they should have known better,” board member Chris Silveira said.

            The petitioners for a plan to locate a native tree and perennial nursery on 2.5 acres at 157 Vaughn Hill Road asked for and were granted an extension of their public hearing to September, as they have decided to hire an engineer to formally draft their plan.

            In other meetings with town boards, Tree Talk owners Jennifer and Charles Anderson have expressed wanting to simplify their business plan as much as possible and not spend too much money. As a result, the board had urged them to submit a more professionally detailed proposal.

            The board then approved a request from Mark and Ashley Briggs that their site-plan-review application to construct a building to be used to restore, detail and store collectible cars at 0 New Bedford Road be withdrawn “without prejudice.”

            The board also approved skipping its next (July 25) scheduled meeting. The board will meet on Tuesday, August 15, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Planning Board

By Michael J. DeCicco