In listening to consultant Kent Nichols Jr. of Weston & Sampson, Inc. review Marion’s 20-year Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan during the town’s final informational workshop on the CWMP held January 12, Select Board Chairman Randy Parker asked, “How are we going to do all this and increase our outfall permit?”

            The permit piece, said Nichols, is inflow related. Nitrogen, he said, is the driver of Marion’s permitting application.

            The town has submitted a new application for more capacity, pitching the need to mitigate nitrogen and thusly applied for an increased flow in the renewed permit. As of now, Marion falls into the less-than-1,000,000 gallons per day category. The town’s permit was set to expire at the beginning of December.

            Marion’s National Pollution Discharge (NPDES) Small General Permit status and related financial strategy were discussed at the final workshop.

            Parker clarified his concern that without an increased outflow permit, the capital projections discussed would grow every five 20 years and could eventually double. Nichols did not debate the point but thinks doubling that amount is stretching the point.

            The comment period for Marion to challenge the state’s categorization of the town expires on January 25. Together with legal counsel, town officials are formulating comments to the southeast region of the Environmental Protection Agency.

            “I think we can make a pretty good argument to that effect,” said Nichols, noting that the comment period is open to the public as well.

            The expiring permit was associated with the old flow capacity. Nichols said the conversation with EPA is ongoing, and the permit decision could take six months to unfold.

            Meantime, the goal of the Weston and Sampson study is to come up with a 20-year plan. In reviewing Marion’s Collection System, Nichols identified the main concern as infiltration/inflow (I/I) mitigation.

            The town has invested $150,000 over the last four years on research and guidance. The $200,000 being annually invested for treatment is something Nichols said Marion will continue to need to budget.

            Nichols pointed out that nitrogen is a concern in 11 areas either coastal or along tributaries that lead to the harbor. He identified six of those areas as being eligible for sewer connections, albeit at a high cost and over a number of years.

            Nichols also referenced the state’s new nitrogen regulation. Marion is not in the first wave of requirement (Cape Cod will be first), but the intent of the program is to upgrade every septic system affecting a nitrogen-sensitive area within the next five years.

            Massachusetts municipalities can opt for a 20-year watershed-management approach, Nichols said. In finding other ways to mitigate nitrogen, towns theoretically can stop the clock on the five-year timeframe.

            For Marion, a plan to extend sewer in those six nitrogen-sensitive areas would be key to such a mitigation plan. Nichols said there are other options to consider.

            The six unsewered areas are: River Road/Wareham Road (Route 6), Aucoot Creek/Lower Mills Street, Planting Island, Lower Sippican and Wings Cove/Piney Point. Sewer extensions to those areas would cost $24,000,000, but Nichols said the costs can be spread out over time. Planting Island, said Nichols, could come into consideration for a regional system servicing all of its residences, but that is not the ideal.

            “Those things, they may come into play. We may need to look at those, but our hope is maybe we have an overall solution that works for everybody right now,” said Nichols.

            While acknowledging the fact $30,000 or $40,000 in septic upgrades is a staggering per-home cost, Nichols pointed to betterment costs 15 years ago ranging between $16,000 and $22,000. Those costs, he suggested, would be significantly higher today than the current price points on denitrification systems.

            The 20-year plan will include a $12,600,000 program to upgrade sewer pumping stations, including Creek Road ($2,600,000), $6,000,000 invested in major renovations or outright replacements of four other stations and $2,000,000 for upgrades in other stations. The program also calls for $2,000,000 for force-main evaluations and improvements; it does not include the second Front Pumping Station force main.

            Citing the financial challenge of funding Creek Road station by October, Nichols pointed to grant-funding opportunities. Munafo said the town is seeking the full amount of construction cost via the Hazard Mitigation Plan grant, a 90% grant. Marion will learn at the end of this month if it has made it to the second round of cuts, according to Munafo. The final word would come in early spring.

            Where it concerns the town’s Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF), Weston and Sampson produced five alternatives for Marion’s consideration.

            Process-improvement options ranged from Optimization would cost $11,000,000 to $13,000,000 in capital, but the lingering option of regionalization with the Town of Wareham would cost Marion $76,000,000 in related capital projects, along with an annual $1,480,000. The 20-year worth of regionalization is projected at $98,000,000.

            “One thing we don’t want to do is go back to just throwing all the sludge in the lagoon because at some point, you’re going to have another very expensive project on your hands,” warned Nichols.

Marion just completed a $13,000,000 clean-up project on its Wastewater Treatment Plant lagoon.

            The facility itself needs $4,500,000 in process improvements, $6,300,000 in ancillary improvements and $2,000,000 in biosolids-related improvements. Costly chemicals to treat phosphorus add back to sludge, so Nichols recommends some of the future sludge is hauled away.

            Nichols said the total $50,000,000 in capital improvements needs to be spread out over a number of years.

            He considers the biggest question facing town officials to be how to do the sewer extensions and how that relates to the permitting process.

            Between Heron Cove Estates (120 units), Matt Zuker’s 48-unit project at 78 Wareham Road and 82 units associated with River Road and Route 6, Marion is looking at 250 new sewer connections at 34,700 gallons of flow per day.

            In addition to whatever revenue is realized via connection charges, Weston and Sampson estimated $250,000 in annual user charges.

            The source of nitrogen in coastal harbors has been debated recently. Nichols believes septic systems are very high contributors.

            Select Board members Norm Hills asked if Marion’s wastewater can become reusable. Nichols said in Florida and the southwest United States wastewater is used for irrigation. Doing so locally could lessen discharge, but the practice does not affect permitting, which is linked to the full capacity.

            The next step for the Select Board is to schedule a public hearing on the CWMP Recommended Plan, finalize permit-related discussions with the EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and begin implementation of CWMP regulations.

            The final draft of the CWMP will be posted at marionma.gov, along with an executive summary.

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo

            Five days after announcing that contract negotiations with candidate Evan Lehrer were unsuccessful, the Town of Marion was no closer to hiring a new town administrator. The January 13 announcement stated that the Select Board was continuing to explore options with the consultant (Bernie Lynch) from Community Paradigm Associates.

            The Select Board, which voted 2-1 for Lehrer over fellow finalists Geoff Gorman and Thomas Guerino on January 5, was scheduled to hold its regular public meeting on Wednesday, January 18, and has scheduled an executive session for Thursday, January 19.

            Last week, the Mashpee Enterprise reported that Lehrer has decided to stay at his current job as Mashpee’s town planner.

            Lehrer also has business interests in Mashpee. The Enterprise reported on December 21 that the Mashpee’s Select Board voted to move forward in a host agreement with Sublime Cannabis, a recreational marijuana dispensary of which Lehrer is president and part owner. No mention of Lehrer’s cannabis business was made during his final interview for the Marion job on January 5.

            Lehrer had emerged as the favorite for Select Board Chairman Randy Parker and board member Toby Burr primarily due to his planning acumen as demonstrated when discussing development history in Mashpee, including the Commons as well as New Seabury. On January 5, board member Norm Hills voted to pursue negotiations with Gorman.

            The subject of planning is particularly relevant in Marion, a town facing major, private and public land-development projects, most notably the former Lockheed Martin property.

By Mick Colageo

The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals began its January 12 meeting with a vote to recommend the Finance Committee raise the former’s annual budget from $300 to $1,000 for FY24.

            The reason was made clear by the meeting itself. Without the help of Building Department Administrative Assistant Patrice Braz, who resigned on December 19 to take another job, ZBA Chairman David Arancio scrambled to make up for her absence. The forms required to thoroughly do the board’s business were hard to find or unavailable, not even in the portable file folder holder Arancio brought with him to the Town Hall meeting room.

            “It’s because Patty did that much work for us,” Zoning Board member Richard Cutler said of the budget vote.

            Arancio said he has been informed the town is now interviewing for the vacant assistant’s position. “The best-case scenario is we will have someone for our January 26 meeting,” he said.

            The agenda’s first hearing opened and closed quickly. The petitioners for a plan at Quaker Lane to build a single-family house where the lot does not meet minimum frontage requirements were a no-show. The board continued the hearing to January 26, with the notation that the petitioner’s attorney needs to send correspondence requesting an official continuance.

            The board then granted Chris Barton a variance to widen his garage at 3 Bennett Road, which will place it closer than Rochester’s 40-foot setback requirement. The vote, however, came after Arancio had to rifle through the file folders to find the project’s application and pass along a handwritten signature page to record board-member approvals.

            Barton explained his current garage has one 9-foot door, and he cannot fit more than one vehicle inside it, let alone the generator that he would also like placed there. He wants his garage to be wider with two garage doors so he can also add a work bench. The board approved the variance for this plan with the condition that the widened garage be no more than 22 feet from setbacks.

            But the board told Barton that the lack of an administrative assistant will delay when he can start building. Arancio told Barton he may start work 20 days after the Zoning panel files its decision with the town clerk to give time for parties to file an appeal. The problem is there is no administrative assistant in place to type up and file that decision.

            Board members urged Barton to pester the Building Department to get his variance decision filed or to be patient.

            Patience was also the board’s recommendation to JPF Development representative John Punitonio for his plan for a 47,568 square-foot, seven-building self-storage facility on 14.93 acres on Cranberry Highway that requires a special permit because the proposed use does not fit squarely within the uses allowed in the Industrial Zone under town bylaw.

            Arancio apologized to Punitonio for what could have been a final approval meeting but was not because of a lack of paperwork. This hearing, too, was continued to January 26.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for Thursday, January 26, at 7:15 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way, Rochester.

Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals

By Michael J. DeCicco

The ancient way known as Old Slough Road has long been looked at as a possible emergency exit roadway for residents living in the Angelica Point area. This train of thought came about over time as the town has sought to find ways to improve egress from flood-prone areas, especially those along coastal locations. The town applied for Coastal Zone Management grants.

            On January 9, the commission heard from the town’s engineer Ken Motta of Field Engineering who gave a presentation on plans for roadway improvements. First represented on town mapping dating back to 1810, Motta said the road was primarily used to move logs and other materials but not as a primary roadway. Motta said subdrains and bridge curbing would be used. Along with updated drainage systems, one-to-one mitigation where the land may sustain disturbance over and above disturbance that has taken place over the decades will be included.

            Along with assistance from the Mattapoisett Land Trust, who has extensive holdings in the area, Mattapoisett ultimately received two grants, one in 2021 for $29,900 which was used for design and engineering studies and a second in the amount of $585,000 in 2022 for construction.

            Rising to address what he believed were errors in the mapping Motta produced, was abutting property owner David Park. Park also gave a presentation in which he provided mapping that showed the roadway in a slightly different trajectory. “Before buying our property I did research, the original path is not on that plan.” He said the road on Motta’s plan is actually Broadman’s Bootlegger Road, used by a Mr. Broadman to move bootleg alcohol during prohibition.

            Park said an early iteration of Old Slough Road should be referenced versus what Motta had presented. While he has no problem with rehabilitating Old Slough Road which cuts through part of his property, he felt strongly that the mapping should reflect the correct location of the road in question.

            But regarding the ancient way as a viable emergency way out of rising waters was questioned by Park. He pointed to historic weather data, the direction of prevailing winds and the devastation wrought by those winds. He said that fallen trees would block the roadway thus rendering it a less than adequate passage way out of danger. “People will be in peril if they don’t get out right away.”

            Motta responded to Park’s comments regarding the location of Old Slough Road, saying that the location had been reviewed by attorneys and accepted. He commented that the mapping had been done by professionals.

            Park said that he had told the Mattapoisett Land Trust that he would donate a portion of his land for easement purposes as long as the town indemnified him from legal action should harm come to anyone accessing the roadway.

            Chairman Mike King said that the commission was not looking at the viability of the road to act as an escape route but were merely overseeing and enforcing the Wetlands Protection Act. He said the Select Board is the driver on the project and had been doing so for some time. King said it was in everyone’s best interest to sit down and discuss the plan further but there was nothing in the filing that would inhibit the commission from conditioning the NOI.

            In a follow-up with Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, he said that property owners in the coastal community had come to the town as far back as several decades asking if Old Slough Road might be used for emergency purposes. “The land trust helped put the grant applications together and has participated in discussion with abutters and project team members.” Lorenco said,” I’m trying to do the project with low impact to the environment and low costs.” He added that taxpayers would not be paying for the work.

            A January 24 public hearing is tentatively planned. Lorenco said, “CZM requires a public hearing.”

            In other business, a Request for Determination of Applicability filed by Kara Gallo, 8 Pine Street received a Negative Two decision.

            A Notice of Intent filed by Paul and Jayne St. Pierre, 25 Main Street for widening and resurfacing a driveway and construction of a subsurface recharge system received conditioning.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for January 23 at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

            Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson delivered an update to the Mattapoisett School Committee on the UMass Boston Collins Center school-consolidation study during Monday night’s committee meeting.

            In summarizing the study’s progress, Nelson told the School Committee that he and Committee Chairperson Carly Lavin took part in facilities tours that also included Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, Capital Planning Committee Chairman Chuck McCullough and ORR Facilities Director Gene Jones.

            Community engagement work has been completed, said Nelson, along with surveys that had been open for several weeks. A major data collection has also been completed, after which ORR administrators followed up with questions for Collins Center representatives.

            Nelson anticipates that the Collins Center will submit a draft report with its findings in February.

            “Once final report is in, we’ll schedule a joint meeting with the Select Board and the Collins Center for final walkthrough and ask questions,” he said.

            The School Committee also heard from Nelson regarding the FY24 operating budget for Mattapoisett Schools. The Budget Subcommittee has drafted a proposed budget addressing regular and special education, technology and facilities.

            Inflation, said Nelson, will drive up the cost of utilities such as electricity and gas, along with tuition increases. The FY24 budget, he said, is designed to meet level services. There are no new positions or programming proposed. The focal point will be on meeting the needs of students in classrooms and ensuring teachers are meeting expectations, particularly in literacy and mathematics.

            In the near future, Nelson said to expect a formal budget hearing, including public discussion, then for the budget to be finalized and put before the committee for its approval before submission to voters at the annual Town Meeting.

            “I believe the Budget Subcommittee has made good progress,” said Nelson, who also noted that the committee is close to submitting its capital plan for FY24 and the 10-year projection.

            In his Financial Report, ORR Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber told the committee that there is now under $600,000 remaining in the FY23 operating budget. Barber said both elementary schools passed inspections. Barber also noted that there are shortages among some food items.

            In her Chairperson’s Report, Lavin told the committee she was “blown away” by the commitment shown by the students during holiday-season concerts. “All the children worked so hard,” she said.

            Nelson also thanked everyone in the Tri-Towns for their participation in celebrations around the holidays. “It’s one of the things that make our schools so special,” he said.

            Director of Student Services Craig Davidson reported new grant funding that will support a math academy to be held during school vacations in February and April. Registration is open; Davidson encouraged those interested to reach out directly to his email or via the Central Office phone. Davidson also reported on a professional-development event scheduled for February 1 at 6:30 pm. The event, he said, includes powerful strategies to help children.

            ORR Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Shari Fedorowicz briefly discussed forward progress with an initiative, including six working group sessions on Tier 2 and 3 interventions. The work, conducted in conjunction with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), will take place over the next few months.

            January 10 was scheduled as the first full day of work geared toward a literacy, action-plan implementation, and on Friday, January 13, faculty will hear from psychologist and former child therapist and teacher Rob Evans in a session of “plain talk” around educational challenges.

            The fourth Learning Walk was held last week at Rochester Memorial School, as Tri-Town educators exchange visits in a collaborative effort to learn from one another and provide mutual support.

            Fedorowicz also discussed peer-to-peer learning that students in Grades 5-6 and 7-8 engaged in while visiting the Boston Celtics training facility in Brighton.

            Center School Principal Linda Ashley reported on a Parent-Teacher Association event in which third graders enjoyed a class trip to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, each classroom spending an hour.

            Citing news that Diana Russo will no longer be available as recording secretary to Mattapoisett School Committee, the committee voted to appoint Melissa Wilcox as the School Committee secretary and added Wilcox to the recording-secretary role alongside Toni Bailey.

            Amanda Hastings was voted to represent the School Committee to the Old Rochester Foundation.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett School Committee is scheduled for Monday, February 27, at 6:30 pm at Center School, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee will be held on Thursday, January 19, at 6:30 pm at the ORR Junior High School media room. Both meetings will also be remotely accessible via Zoom.

Mattapoisett School Committee

By Mick Colageo