December 13 will be the decision date for several projects the Rochester Planning Board reviewed during a busy meeting on November 16.

            First, however, the board endorsed the Approval Not Required application for minor changes to 31 Clapp Road, which is owned by Conservation Commission member William Clapp.

            Clapp wishes to revise the lot-line design to add another lot and still leave the required 25 feet of frontage, said his technical consultant, Matt Leone of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc.

            Planning Board member Ben Bailey made the motion, swiftly seconded by the other members, that the plan will not require site-plan review.

            Next, Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering presented revisions to Rockland Trust’s plan to build a 7×13-foot, drive-up/walk-up kiosk on an 8×19-foot concrete foundation in the Plumb Corner shopping center parking lot.

            Madden said the new plan relocates the kiosk to the westerly end of the landscaped island where the original plan placed it and reduces the work construction area.

            In October, board members and Friends Market manager Rob Ciardi complained the kiosk is being built nearly right in front of the store, and its location will be a big hindrance to customer parking and truck access to the rear of the store. The latter is a concern, Ciardi said, because of the way large delivery vehicles must enter the plaza.

            On November 16, Ciardi seemed satisfied by the changes. He asked when construction will start and how long will the trench that must be dug for utilities remain open. Madden said the trench will be there 30-60 days but will be covered by metal plates at night, and Rockland Trust hopes to begin construction in April or May.

            Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman David Arancio noted the ZBA has heard nothing about the kiosk’s signage that his board must review if it exceeds a certain height.

            In response to this, Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson said the Planning Board will include in the draft decision the condition that signage be no more than 9-feet tall. That decision will be written in time for the board’s December 13 meeting.

            The Planning Board next reviewed the plan for a canopy-mounted, large-scale, solar photo-voltaic system that will be built over the parking lot at the Rochester Memorial School. The project will require a special permit and site-plan-review approval.

            Jose Pacheco of Green Seal Environmental said two canopies, measuring 222-feet long by 438-feet wide and supported by seven columns, will be built on 13.7 acres in the school’s rear parking lot. All parking access and existing lighting and much of the existing landscaping will remain.

            Fellow project representative Robert Bowman said the solar canopy is constructed to withstand and repel excessive snow. He told the board that the lights under the canopy will be powered by the school’s electrical system.

            As it awaits further details and revisions of the plan design, the board continued this hearing until December 13.

            Next up, the board considered Connet Woods’ proposal to modify its definitive, flexible subdivision plan. The project developer wants to eliminate a subdivision road and convert/downgrade 10 approved lots to three lots at Connet Woods and Box Turtle Drive.

            Project representative Steve Meltzer said 105 units have been built at Connet Woods since the development was approved in 2007. The developer found a high water table where another road, McCombe Place, and more units were planned, meaning it would be too costly to bring in the fill that would be required to make the area buildable. He noted one of the advantages of this new plan is that there would be a 70-percent reduction in impervious surface.

            The only pushback against this plan at the hearing came from neighbors appearing in person and remotely via Zoom.

            Abutter Melissa Scanlon complained that when she moved to the area, she and her neighbors were told no more houses would be built on the wetland across from her. She said that preserving open space is what this town should be doing. She said she wanted this plan to be denied.

            Johnson explained the flexible-subdivision plan classification of this project in itself is preserving more open land. The developer has already been talked down from 600 housing units.

            Two other abutters, attending on Zoom, repeated Scanlon’s concerns, saying this project should be stopped with a denial of this plan.

            Johnson said the board would need a legally enforceable reason to deny the modification or the town would get sued. “Our rules govern our decisions,” he said, “not what’s popular.”

            Arancio, also a Box Turtle Drive resident, countered the complaints by noting, “This is the best outcome we could have wished for. To have three more (dwellings) instead of seven more.”

            As it seeks more information from a peer review of the modification plan, the board also continued this hearing to December 13.

            The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 13, at 7:00 pm at Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School, 476 North Avenue, Rochester.

Rochester Planning Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

Plans for a Village-Style Smart Growth District in Marion were discussed by the Marion Planning Board during its public meeting on Monday night at the Police Station.

            While the primary purposes of the plan drafted by the Bylaw Codification Committee (a subcommittee of the Planning Board) include furthering the goals and policies of the Master Plan and the allowance of increased flexibility and creativity in the design of residential developments, most members of the Planning Board articulated concerns that the plan as drafted would pose unintended ramifications and, in effect, contradict the intentions of Marion’s Master Plan.

            “I feel like it’s discriminatory,” said Planning Board member Andrew Daniel. “If you have land and you want to build it for seniors, you can have eight (units.) But if you want to do it for a family of four, you can only have four. … We need more families.”

            Similarly, member Chris Collings said he is afraid the new bylaw will lead to a higher density in the village rather than elsewhere.

            “I get the math. What I’m saying is, if there isn’t some sort of control … then you’ve opened the entire town to risk higher density,” said Collings. “If you at least have an overlay district, people will understand that they are stakeholders.”

            Planning Board Chairman Norm Hills, who has spent almost two years on the Codification Committee spearheading a long-needed cleanup of Marion’s bylaws, reminded the members that the Smart Growth District regulations would apply to Residence C and Residence D housing (not Residence E, multifamily housing.)

            Another fundamental disagreement launched by multiple members applies to the role of the Planning Board relative to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

            “It feels like we have two boards responsible for the same thing. It feels like we’re creating a way for the Planning Board to have a cheat around the Zoning Board,” said member Tucker Burr.

            Once again, Daniel and member Jon Henry raised the argument as to the process and asserted it is the Planning Board’s role to author such changes and the Codification Committee’s role to refine those changes and bring back to the Planning Board.

            Hills told the members that “every bit of these bylaws have to have public hearings.” He said it’s better to get other people’s ideas and review them and cited the work that the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) has done to assist the project.

            Member Eileen Marum, who also serves with Hills on the Codification Committee, said, “We’ve been looking at this for over a year.”

            “I’m getting a lot of feedback as to how far reaching this is. We’ve got to take it in small bites,” said Henry.

            “I certainly wouldn’t put my name to anything that we’ve only seen three or four times,” said Daniel.

            Member Alanna Nelson told the board about a workshop opportunity with the Town of Westborough town planner that she said indicated a similar goal and a largely successful outcome.

            “And they did a lot of redevelopment,” said Nelson. “Here in Marion, we’re looking at the village to create a center for seniors. But I don’t think we’re looking for people to bulldoze in other areas.”

            Burr insists that is what will happen.

            Hills appealed to logistical constraints regarding the abuse-of-right question launched by Collings, Burr, Daniel and Henry.

            At Hills’ request, the members will review their main concerns and questions and prepare them in writing so he can digest them outside the sometimes-chaotic atmosphere of the roundtable discussion. Hills promised it will take several meetings and several public hearings to arrive at a finished product.

            The Planning Board weeded through more pages of the document, identifying redundancies and suggesting revisions before adjournment.

            In other business, an Approval Not Required application from David and Christine Durfey, 9 Quelle Lane, was approved.

            A continued public hearing for a two-lot, Definitive Subdivision Plan filed by Danielle Realty Trust, Wareham Street, was continued per the applicant’s request to December 5 at 7:05 pm.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, December 5, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station, also accessible via Zoom.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo

Andrew Fisher, 655 County Road, West Wareham, was granted a variance he doesn’t really want.

            Fisher’s case came up before the Rochester Board of Health during its November 16 public meeting, at which Health Director Karen Walega told the board that Fisher had bought the house and encountered an issue with a well under the basement, after which he went before the Zoning Board of Appeals and was granted a variance.

            A well driller, she explained, would get it 100-feet away from the house so a variance would not be needed, but Walega spoke with the owner and reported to the board that the property is “under emergency conditions” requiring immediate action.

            “He doesn’t want that well there because there are issues with the well,” Walega explained. “He can’t get the 100-foot separation that he needs. The plan was to move the well, but the well drillers are backed up for a month, so he went with the variance.”

            Board of Health Chairman Dave Sousa said the property does not need to have separation on the septic system and openly wondered what the state Department of Environmental Protection would have to say about the case. Walega said she will look into it.

            Sousa suggested that while locating the septic tank in the basement makes it “a little easier to take care of,” locating it there also increases the cost.

            Walega noted that the site plan shows a 100-foot setback for the septic system. “Those wells are not close to the leaching field,” she said.

            Sousa added that there are different rules and regulations when a septic system is installed in a basement.

            Walega said nitrogen levels and other indicators tested fine.

            Neither Sousa nor Board of Health member Glenn Lawrence had any objection to granting the variance. Member Sarah Eby was unable to attend while away for a family event.

            In her Health Director’s update, Walega told the board that Town Counsel Blair Bailey was awaiting a callback from a property owner’s attorney regarding an animal issue at 167 Cushman Road.

            She also checked on Pine Street Farm and reported the facility switched its dumpsters. She described the farm as “immaculate” and will henceforth conduct monthly inspections of the property.

            The Modification Subdivision plan for Connet Woods dated September 6 was briefly discussed by the Board of Health, which concluded that the matter falls under the Planning Board’s purview. The plan, which involves a high water table and proposes three more houses instead of 10, was heard by the Planning Board only a short while after the Board of Health meeting and continued to the Planning Board’s December 13 public meeting.

            Sousa said that the house at 515 Rounseville Road is for sale and that for the town to fund cleanup of the site would require a Board of Health vote.

            “We don’t have the money to do that,” said Walega, to which Sousa agreed. “The problem is nobody wants to pay for it; I don’t blame the new person. … I can’t see us doing that.”

            “We give a hand up, not a handout,” said Lawrence.

            “Thank you got not voting to do it because we don’t have the money right now,” said Walega.

            The Gateway to Cape Cod RV campground has been dealing with an issue with the well at the site. The DEP, reported Walega, found contamination of the well and signs were put up to tell residents to boil water. She said, as of a month ago, the DEP was trying to get people to move out of the campground. Sousa noted that a broken pipe in the well was fixed last year.

            In response to the Personnel Board’s request for a step-rate increase for Administrative Assistant Lori Walsh, Walega told the Board of Health that she sat with Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar, reviewed steps and grades and “came up with what we thought was reasonable to request.” Walega said they were waiting to hear when the matter would go before the Planning Board, as online permitting now takes up a lot of Walsh’s time. A copy of the proposal also went to Town Administrator Glenn Cannon.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Health was not set upon adjournment.

Rochester Board of Health

By Mick Colageo