The Rochester Planning Board Tuesday granted one-year extensions to two solar photovoltaic system installation permits for projects on Featherbed Lane and Braley Hill Road.

            The representative for both plans, Greg Sampson of Boston-based Womble Bond Dickinson LLP, said the sticking point is that a group transmission multiyear study for solar projects in the region was recently conducted. That study is now complete, and Eversource has three years to complete the upgrades necessary to accept the additional power generated by these solar installations.

            The proposed installation at 0 Featherbed Lane received its Special and Groundwater Protection permits on October 27, 2020. The proposal at 0 Braley Hill Road earned its Special Permit and Groundwater Protection and Scenic Highway decisions on June 20, 2020.

            The board unanimously approved the extensions, and noted town bylaw will allow such a project two years between being permitted and having to begin construction without such an extension. Both will be able to request further extensions as necessary.

            Earlier in the meeting, the board again continued, this time until March 28, its public hearing on the canopy-mounted, large-scale, photovoltaic system to be built over the parking lot at Rochester Memorial School. The board did so, saying the project’s peer review is not complete. This installation will measure 222 feet long by 438 feet wide and be supported by seven columns and will be built on 13.7 acres in the school’s rear parking lot.

            Later in the meeting, Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson provided an update on the progress of the Public Safety Facility Feasibility Study Committee, which is charged with examining whether to combine, replace or rehab the town’s police and fire stations.

            Johnson said the panel’s new focus will be creating two separate buildings to address the department’s inadequate space needs. The current police station will be renovated with a small addition. The current sallyport, which is too small to fit a modern ambulance, will be torn down and replaced by one that better fits the department’s needs.

            A new fire station will be built to replace the facility near Rochester Memorial School. The possible sites being considered, he said, are the Country Fairgrounds on Pine Street, land on Mendell Road that is currently privately owned and town-owned land on High Street. Additionally, population growth related to the Connet Woods housing development may lead to building a small, satellite fire station there to house a single ambulance and fire truck.

            Planning Board member Ben Bailey said he is sponsoring a Town Meeting citizen petition warrant article that may affect how expensive these capital projects are. He said he and everyone who has signed his petition wants the town to drop out of being a Green Community. That is because the strict Stretch (building) Code that a Green Community must follow makes capital projects such as this one too expensive, he said.

            Johnson agreed. He said the town fire chief has told him stories that include the fact public safety officials are finding it hard to find the hybrid fire engines the Green Community code requires, and many building code requirements mandate expensive construction upgrades. “It adds a lot of soft costs to construction,” Johnson said.

            The Planning Board will meet next on Tuesday, March 28, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Planning Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

Select Board member Brad Morse told Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of Rochester’s Public Safety Building Feasibility Study Committee that he wouldn’t be surprised to hear suggestions at the annual Town Meeting that Rochester resign its status as a Green Community in Massachusetts.

            At issue is the cost of doing business, and in this case, the cost of a major upgrade to Rochester’s public-safety facilities.

            Having established a common direction toward expansion and renovation of the Rochester Police station at 29 Dexter Lane and new Fire Department facilities, including a potential “substation,” architect Ted Galante was back at Town Hall on Tuesday to update the committee with conceptual floor designs and corresponding development of a budget.

            Morse said he has been hearing complaints from taxpayers about the impact of being a Green Community and Stretch Code town. He asked Galante if it would cost the town less money to build new public-safety facilities if Rochester was not a Green Community.

            Galante said, “Yes,” stopping short of making any kind of recommendation. But he did offer examples of rising “R values” (measuring different construction materials’ ability to retain heat.)

            Town Administrator Glenn Cannon asked how being a Green Community impacts the current estimation of $820 per square foot of new construction in the project as conceptually presented.

            Galante did not have that answer, in part because there are too many moving parts at this point, but he did note that the $18,040,000 price tag on a new, 22,000 square-foot fire station could come down should Rochester go with a prefabricated construction. He conceded that at this point, he does not know if any vendors in the prefab building business can meet the latest energy codes.

            The Mendell Road land presently considered for a new fire station is not yet owned by the town, so a land acquisition would become necessary.

            A potential Fire Department “substation” at 6,300 square feet off Neck Road is estimated to cost $5,166,000.

            The police station at 29 Dexter Lane would see a 7,000 square-foot expansion costing $3,500,000, which together with an $11,000,000 renovation adds up to $14,500,000 over a two-year period.

            Committee member Andrew Daniel, the town’s Facilities manager, said the expansion, “would trigger the whole building coming up to code.” He would later argue that soft costs and project management would drive up estimated costs.

            In seeking consensus on locations, Galante displayed maps estimating travel time from each proposed location to town borders in all four directions.

            Morse would also ask if, by moving the main fire station closer to the center of town, the substation would no longer be needed. Galante indicated that the substation is essential.

            When it comes to financial planning and strategizing a construction sequence, Galante told the committee to think of construction in two-year blocks.

            Sequencing construction was also discussed, and Galante suggested a next step of spending one-on-one time with Fire Chief Scott Weigel and Police Chief Robert Small in an effort to better understand the needs of each department.

            Committee Chairman Arnie Johnson said that debt is soon to come off Rochester’s books, and that should be taken into the committee’s consideration while scheduling new borrowing.

            The next meeting of the committee will not be set until after Galante has met with Small and Weigel.

Rochester Feasibility Study Committee

By Mick Colageo