Local Composer writes Benefit Concert for Ukraine

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St. Gabriel’s Church will host the premier concert of four string quartets entitled “The

Four Winds” written by local composer Ronald Wisner on July 25 at 7:30 pm at St. Gabriel’s Church, 124 Front St., Marion. The concert celebrates the community’s

connection to the sea after the isolation during Covid.

            Ukraine is in the middle of a humanitarian crises. The entire proceeds from the concert will go to the benefit of Ukraine refugees, now totaling over 4.5 million and growing.

            The theme of the four quartets, “East,” “West,” “North” and “South” is the South Coast’s shared connection to sailing, the sea and life in this seafaring region, including the perils of New Bedford fisherman and beyond, both past and present.

            The titles of the sixteen movements, four in each quartet, include references to those perils, such as death at sea and the first voyages of the Vikings. One movement describes the antics of the shearwater, the pelagic bird who spends its entire life offshore skimming the waves.

            Mr. Wisner, 67, a sailor and local businessman, manufactured large-format cameras, optics and the famous Polaroid 20×24 instant camera. He studied music theory, composition and music history at Hartt College of Music.

            Jenny Memoli, the gifted violinist and graduate of Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and member of the New Bedford Symphony, who is also a sailor, was the composer’s consultant during the yearlong composition of the quartets. Ms. Memoli will be the first violin in the quartet.

            Donations can be made to “St Gabriel’s Episcopal Church” with the notation “Ukrainian Concert Benefit” on your check. Mail to 124 Front St, Marion, MA 02738, PO Box 545. All donations and tickets are tax deductible. Tickets will be available on-line at www.eventbrite.com on May 1, and advanced tickets are available by calling St. Gabriel’s Church at 508 748-1507.

DECA Students Not Along For the Ride

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            Old Rochester Regional High School students Brendan Burke, Colin Carroll and chapter cofounder Edward Gonet IV will proudly compete April 23-27 at the DECA International Career Development Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

            Other ORR students are making the trip and that may be the bigger story.

            “Kira, Kinsley, Aidan … the rest of us … will talk with students from around the country so we can better our chapter and our schools,” said David Ditata, referencing “Aspire” workshops and meetings.

            The senior copresident of ORR DECA, who serves alongside junior copresident Kira Sarkarati, said that they, along with members Aiden Harrington and Kinsley Trout, will focus on their rare opportunity to share with and learn from students from faraway places.

            As a senior, Ditata is looking forward to acquiring skills to carry his DECA experience onto a college chapter at the University of New Hampshire where he plans to attend in 2022-23.

            “If they don’t have it there, they’ll teach me how to bring it there. If they do have it, I’ll learn kind of how to better the college’s DECA,” said the Rochester resident, calling his plight of not qualifying for the international competition “a blessing in disguise.”

            Sarkarati, 17, joined ORR’s DECA chapter in her freshman year after friends in the club encouraged her to try it out.

            “That hooked me in,” said the former Mattapoisett resident now living in Marion. “At the time when I joined, I didn’t know much about business or have any interest in it …” But, as a result of that invitation and the participation that followed, a new world opened to Sarkarati, who realized she had made a choice that will impact her future.

            As a freshman, she learned about general marketing and has since become interested in apparel and accessories marketing. As a retail worker at Old Navy, she is familiar with national-brand marketing but has also maintained an interest in smaller, independent operations.

            “A lot of the questions I usually get are focused on bigger stores,” said Sarkarati, 17.

            Originally known as Distributive Education Clubs of America, DECA is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation that pulls together high school or college chapters in local, regional and even international competitions.

            When Ditata was a high school freshman, he thought DECA was just a student group to talk about money and random topics involving business. But by his second year of involvement, ORR had established its membership in the international organization.

            In the two years since ORR’s chapter was officially founded, the Tri-Town public high school’s business group has seen sustained growth. Ditata estimates that the Tri-Town’s chapter has doubled in size.

            “A lot (of students) signed up at the beginning of the year,” he said. “It’s a big commitment, a lot of traveling.”

            The Atlanta trip is costing each student $800 including the round-trip flight and hotel, but Ditata was able to use fundraisers to abate the entire cost.

            “DECA is such a great club in our community,” he said, noting that word of mouth resulted in some donations. The school chapter held a “Go Fund Me” campaign in which donations were divided among the students. There was also a raffle for an Apple watch, and Ditata sold Valentine’s Day chocolates in addition to other activities.

            “Hearing that cost makes you want to work harder,” he said.

            The daunting expenses leveraged by the necessary travel involved was temporarily abated by the coronavirus pandemic that, like curriculum, became a remote-access format. The District 8 competition scheduled in Hyannis was canceled in favor of a remote-access competition held January 11-18.

            “Now we’re back in person sitting right in front of a judge,” said Ditata.

            An important challenge looms on the horizon for ORR’s chapter, according to Ditata, who said the parent organization requires its member schools to have at least one business class on their curriculum. In ORR’s case, that must happen by the end of the 2022-23 academic year in order to avoid being under the threat of a chapter shutdown.

            While modern-day high school students tend to fill up their calendars with clubs and activities, DECA is a particularly demanding club.

            Sarkarati is also a member of the ORR Drama Club, the Community Service Club and a few other smaller clubs, but DECA is the most time-consuming of her extra-curricular activities. If she is not preparing her own work, she is helping get members of the team prepared and assisting in the registration process.

            “Definitely, it’s made me more interested in business colleges,” she said.

By Mick Colageo

MLT Annual Meeting and Volunteer Reception

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Please join us on Sunday, May 1 at 4 pm at Rustico Restaurant for the Mattapoisett Land Trust 2022 Annual Meeting and a Volunteer Appreciation Reception. The event will begin with a social hour including appetizers and drinks, and then we will honor MLT volunteers and conduct a brief Annual Meeting to elect Directors and Officers for the coming year. All MLT members, guests and the public are cordially invited. For more information, or to RSVP, please email us at info@mattlandtrust.org. This is our first in-person meeting in a few years now and we are excited to see you there on May 1.

Rochester Board of Health

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The Town of Rochester and the Board of Health offer no-cost weekly Keep Well Health Clinics facilitated by Rochester’s Public Health Nurse, Connie Dolan, RN. Services include answers to your health questions, blood pressure checks and monitoring, lung sound assessment, blood oxygenation assessment, medication review, information about health topics important to you and other basic clinical services. The Keep Well Health Clinics are held weekly at the Rochester Senior Center from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm on Wednesdays.

Realtor Can Host Clients Upstairs

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            Applicants Bernadette Kelly and L. Sheldon Daly III will be allowed to offer their real-estate clients circumstantially driven, short-term stays on the second floor of their 313 Wareham Street office after the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously during its April 14 public meeting to reinstate with a significant amendment a special permit that had automatically expired with the sale of the property last year.

            Originally, the special permit issued to the property’s previous owners in 2016 allowed the use of the second floor as office space. The amendment sought under Section 230-7.4a of the Zoning Bylaw will allow second-floor use as owner-occupied, residential space to occasional, overnight accommodations for the applicant’s clients.

            Representing the applicants, Attorney Cary Leblanc explained that Kelly and Daly bought the 313 Wareham Street property last summer and that the existing special permit was not conveyed with the sale. She told the ZBA that they run their real-estate company, Bernadette Kelly Group, out of the street level and are looking to make use of the second floor to host clients looking at area properties.

            “It’s not a landlord-tenant matter, it’s more along the lines of bed and breakfast, which is why I quoted Section 7.4a,” said Leblanc, noting the plan for occasional use and no additional amenities than those already present.

            She said the applicants have a smoke-detector certificate and that the Fire Department has likened the building to a Cape with a single stairwell, lacking ingress and egress.

            ZBA Chairperson Cynthia Callow asked for more specifics on “occasional use.”

            “We do not want a full-time tenant upstairs,” stressed Kelly. “I think, having a business downstairs that’s operating all the time and having a tenant upstairs, that’s potentially not a good mix. But we also do have clients from out of state, out of area who are looking for property.”

            Kelly said one client recently was forced by closing delays to rent a BnB in Falmouth for two weeks.” That just added to their stress; we could have helped,” she said.

            Kelly identified three basic scenarios whereby her clients would benefit from an act of hospitality: a delay in the closing of a property, an overnight stay that would afford clients the opportunity to revisit prospects and/or expand their search and a one-night family-related solution.

            “I quoted a case this winter that would have been a couple of weeks, that’s the maximum we would be looking for,” she said. “That would not be the norm.”

            Kelly also stipulated a maximum two-car parking availability.

            ZBA member Margie Baldwin asked if the usage would be strictly limited to clients and if they would be charged. Kelly said they are thinking along the lines of $125 per night because of associated costs and that clients would be allowed to bring their dogs.

            “We don’t want to run a business with this, we just want it to be an ancillary service,” said Kelly.

            Baldwin countered that it is not necessarily a hardship for clients to find housing in the area, citing nearby accommodations.

            Leblanc explained that given the real-estate business, the need arises “at the 11th hour” and clients are not easily able to find accommodations at the end of the day they are needed. These scenarios, suggested Leblanc, become more likely on holiday weekends, and she pointed out that Converse Company Realtors at 166 Front Street have the same setup that Kelly is looking to provide her clients.

            Baldwin noted from a recent training session with Town Counsel Jon Witten that there is no such thing as precedent. “Whatever happened before is not a precedent for making decisions here,” she said.

            ZBA member Will Tifft asked why the amendment was originally considered necessary and if the reinstatement of that judgment under the property’s new ownership would afford them the right to change course and run the space as a bed-and-breakfast-type business. Kelly suggested conditioning the permit to ensure that would not be the case, and Callow reminded the members that the ZBA could always condition permits.

            ZBA member Dana Nilson motioned to grant the special permit to the applicants with the condition that the space only be offered to clients as outlined by Kelly and Leblanc, not the general public and with no advertising for rental allowed.

            Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee had questioned in a Planning Board meeting which board should adjudicate the case. In response, Witten wrote that since the ZBA had issued special permits in 2003 and in 2008 that governed and restricted the use of the property, any amendments to the same permits should be sought from and potentially granted by the ZBA.

            In other business, the board took up some matters for discussion, most notably the Mullin Rule, a state rule that allows the members of a town’s adjudicatory board to miss one public hearing without losing the right to vote on the application.

            Callow informed the ZBA that at present, the Mullin Rule only applies to Marion’s Planning Board, thus Baldwin cannot vote on the Heron Cove case, although she is allowed to participate in the discussions. The Mullin Rule, said Callow, will be on the warrant for the Fall Special Town Meeting, and a positive vote would apply the rule to all adjudicatory boards in Marion.

            Maintaining a quorum in the Heron Cove case is the top priority for the ZBA, the only Marion board hearing the 40B, affordable-housing case. Callow said Dr. Ed Hoffer’s candidacy for Select Board, if successful, would necessitate his resignation from the ZBA because he was seated by appointment rather than election.

            Building Commissioner/Zoning Officer Robert Grillo said the town is trying to streamline some processes, and a new step is not to have applicants sign paperwork until their applications are complete and ready to go forward. Once they sign, then will the application be processed and all associated timelines will become subject to town regulations.

            Callow’s volunteering to remain the ZBA chair for one more year was unanimously approved by the members.

            The next meeting of the Marion ZBA is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 pm in person, but the availability of the Music Hall was not known at adjournment.

Marion Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo

Great Dane Gives Great Comfort

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            Mattapoisett resident Sara Garde had always wanted a Great Dane, but she never expected to have one given to her, nor could she have imagined the circumstances that would bring her and Redd the Great Dane together.

            Garde is an Army veteran. Two years after graduating from high school in June 1996, she enlisted in the Army. She told us her service didn’t end there.

            “After September 11, 2001, I was recalled to serve and joined the Army Reserve Unit, 3d COSCOM (Corps Support Command.) Our unit deployed to Kuwait in November 2002 and after the ground offensive in Baghdad (May 2003), convoyed to LSA Anaconda (Balad, Iraq.) As a truck driver (88M), I would drive my superior officers to Baghdad through the Sunni Triangle every Sunday to brief the general on the status of the base and redeployment activities. Our unit returned to the states in June of 2004.”

            Garde said that during one trip, her convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED.) Miraculously – no one was injured. Garde’s deployment was a long one that found her in some of the most dangerous places in the Middle East. And yet after eight years of service and duty, this soldier wasn’t ready to completely quit. Garde returned to the Army.

            “After 2004 when I got out of the Army, I enlisted in the Air Force Reserves from 2009 to 2016. I was a member of the 439th Aeromedical Support Squadron (ASTS) as a technical sergeant (TSgt/E-6.) In June 2012, I was deployed to Ramstein(-Miesenbach), Germany for six months in support of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was attached to the 86th CASF (Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility) Medical Group, which received the wounded from the combat zones, transported them to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for stabilization, then would return them to the flight line for transport to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.”

            But coming home for Garde also meant adjusting to civilian life, a challenge for nearly all veterans of combat. In other times, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was called “battle fatigue” or “shell shock.” Thankfully, today there is a much better understanding of what can be a permanent state of discomfort, anger, depression and an inability to transition into a normal homelife.

            Garde shared, “I found coming home, reintegrating, a challenge.” She said she finds public spaces disconcerting and that she had become an aggressive driver. Getting behind the wheel, she has found in and of itself to bring on anxiety.

            Enter a dog.

            James and Vicky Randall’s Great Dane had given birth to 12 healthy pups. One of the first things the family decided to do was donate a pup to a veteran. As James Randall said with quiet recognition of the important step they were taking, “We wanted to give back.”

            Enter Tri-Town Veterans Agent Chris Gerrior who, together with Randall, discussed how to go about announcing to the local communities that a puppy, a rather large puppy, was available to a veteran for adoption. Gerrior reached out to us to place a press release encouraging interested veterans to write in.

            After reading the press release that detailed the opportunity and how to go about advancing one’s name into the adoption pool, Garde sent in her letter to Gerrior and was ultimately selected to take Redd home.

            Redd stands for “Remember Every Dog Deployed.” His presence in Garde’s life has been as immense as the breed itself is known. “Gentle giants,” Randall said.

            “It was love at first sight,” Garde stated with a chuckle, and it also turned out that Redd was a belated Christmas present. “I got him three days after Christmas 2021,” she said.

            Since that time, Garde and Redd have been learning the ins and outs of dog training, a service donated by a nearby company.

            “With Redd, I feel responsible for his well-being while driving so he helps me with that. He provides comfort, including with the nightmares. He helps me to focus less on personal dangers. He gives me patience,” said Garde, who had opened her home and her heart to this Great Dane. “He is big and goofy and makes me laugh every day. … I am so grateful for what James and Vicky have done.”

            As for Redd, well, he couldn’t agree more.

Helen (Rapoza) Couto

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Helen (Rapoza) Couto, formerly of Mattapoisett, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, died at home April 20, 2022, at the age of 91, surrounded by her loved ones.

            She was the wife of the late Abell Couto. Born in New Bedford, the daughter of the late Mariano and Francesca (Borges) Rapoza. She is survived by her daughter Audrey Fiocchi and her husband Paul of Plymouth, her daughter Linda Ferreira and her husband Dan of Rochester, and her son Michael Couto of Pawtucket, RI. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Bethany Fiocchi Root and her husband Jason of Danvers, Brett Fiocchi of Quincy, Benjamin Ferreira and Nicholas Ferreira of Rochester; a great-granddaughter Emma Root and many nieces and nephews. The last of her generation, she was the sister of the late Hilda Days, Olivia Martin, Georgiana Nobre, Mary Gomes, Antone Rapoza, Manuel Rapoza, John Rapoza, and Mariano Rapoza.

            As the matriarch of her family she was innately kind, gentle and loving. Helen had such a positive outlook in life that she was an inspiration to everyone who knew her and in turn they were drawn to her.

            She was the youngest child of 9 and was adored by all her siblings. When her husband Abell joined the military, she learned to be resilient and adjust to military life. While in the service they lived in Spain, California and New Jersey. Eventually, Helen and her family settled in Mattapoisett. She loved to garden and was an active member of the garden club.

            Most of all, Helen was happiest being surrounded by her family. Her grandchildren and great-grandchild brought her the most joy. She was an avid reader and loved shopping, eating out and long car rides. Her laughter and smiles were infectious and plentiful and she shared them often. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

            Helen’s Funeral will be held on Tuesday, April 26th at 9 am from the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Rt. 6), Mattapoisett, followed by her Funeral Mass at St. Anthony’s Church, 26 Hammond St. Mattapoisett at 10 am. A private burial service will be held at a later date. Visiting hours will be on Monday April 25th from 4-7 pm. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the American Heart Association, 300 5th Ave., Waltham, MA 02451 or www.heart.org. For directions and guestbook, visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Plumb Library activities for April

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On Saturday, April 23 from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm, there will be a seed swap on the grounds of the Plumb Memorial Library, sponsored by the library and the Rochester Garden Club. Bring seeds to swap for new ones, or just come by to pick up some free seeds.

            The Friends of Plumb Library will hold a Mini Book Sale on the grounds of the Plumb Library on Saturday, April 30 from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Items for sale will include: gardening books, “beach reads” and books for kids and teens. The Junior Friends of Plumb Library will also hold their bake sale at the same time. Donations will be accepted during library business hours.  Please call 508-763-8600 if you have any questions. The library is on 17 Constitution Way, Rochester.

Delayed Ruling Supports Sunroom

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Better late than never? The Rochester Conservation Commission on Tuesday night approved a Certificate of Compliance for a 12- by 14-foot sunroom built 15 years ago within the buffer zone of wetlands at 68 Bowens Lane.

               “We had no idea the certificate of compliance was not completed,” Diane Delowery explained as the public hearing began.

               Fortunately for applicants Joseph and Diane Delowery, certificate approval was quick and unanimous after Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly gave the board no reason to doubt it was deserved.    “Everything’s evolving down there and settled,” Kelly said.

               But it wasn’t all good news for 68 Bowens Lane. Joseph and Diane Delowery’s son Liam also sought a compliance certificate to approve work to remove a trailer and block storage that he had built at the address within the 25-foot, no-disturb zone adjacent to an intermittent stream and restore 2,735 square feet of that land.

               Diane Delowery was again apologetic. She said her son had wanted to start a business but had gone too close to wetlands to implement it.  His son has now moved out of town.

               “The empty trailer is gone,” she said. “We would like to get this done and the property cleaned up. How do we expedite this?”

               The ConCom’s basic answer was: Show us your restoration plan first. “Your restoration plan in the file was for 2019,” member Ben Bailey said. “I don’t see enough trees. This inventory doesn’t exist. I don’t see the evidence of that.”

               The commission agreed to continue its hearing into this petition until its next meeting, which was scheduled for May 3.

               In other important business, ConCom Chairman Christopher Gerrior announced that board member and Vice Chairman Dan Gagne has resigned. The board approved Bailey as its new vice-chairman.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Conservation Commission

By Michael J. DeCicco

Zoning Vote Could Be Simple Majority

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            Developer Matt Zuker, who needs Marion voters to support a zoning change at the May 9 Town Meeting so he can build a 48-unit, residential development on a 30-acre parcel near the Wareham town line, hopes the Planning Board will consider his project eligible for a simple majority vote as opposed to the two-thirds support that the measure failed to garner last fall.

            The vote taken on October 19 in a Special Town Meeting was 34-32 against the town-supported proposal to rezone the land as Residence E (multi-family housing.)

            Zuker’s project once again has the board’s and the town’s support. In his renewed bid this year, he has been holding public, informational sessions to make residents aware of the details and intentions of his project aimed at providing market-rate housing geared toward families, medium incomes and especially seniors looking to downsize so they can age in place.

            “I think we’ve done a better job, my goal is to get two-thirds, but we’re just being prudent about it,” he told the Planning Board on Tuesday night.

            The Planning Board’s decision regarding a simple majority versus the traditional two-thirds majority required for zoning changes is the result of state legislation house bill No. 40, Section 5. The town received letters on April 14 from Zuker and his attorney, Patricia McArdle, seeking the town’s application of the legislation to his case. Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee copied the board on state general laws and guidelines to which Zuker referred in explaining this bid for a simple majority.

            While board members Eileen Marum and Jon Henry enthusiastically supported immediate action, member Alanna Nelson and Chairman Will Saltonstall were hesitant.

            “When (Governor) Charlie Baker signed that law, it was hailed as more development around public-transit area. … I feel like the intent of the legislation was not for places like Marion,” said Nelson, who is in support of Zuker’s project but is not convinced the board’s support of a simple majority is either the intended application of the state legislation. She also aired concern over potential ramifications for the expectation of future applicants.

            “It’s also a precedent,” said Nelson. “We could have tons of projects down the line that say we choose to use it in this case. I think before we use this, we need to talk about this in different ways.”

            Nelson compared the issue to a discussion on zoning maps that transpired earlier in the meeting. The board, especially Norm Hills, did yeoman’s work to update the information, only to hear residents Sherman Briggs and Tucker Burr raise what the board would admit were valid questions heretofore not considered.

            “This extra step is a big change for our Planning Board,” she said.

            Member Norm Hills said, “Something new and different doesn’t mean you should shy away from it. We have a project that for all intents and purposes meets that. Will the next one?” he asked hypothetically.

            Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee suggested that the state has intentionally spread the discretion over to two boards (the Select Board included) and has written the law open ended “to let us design that process.”

            “I think they left it up to us to make that determination,” said Henry. “The Planning Board is solidly behind this project regardless of the methodology we select.”

            Being a neighbor to the project, member Chris Collings recused himself from the proceedings. Member Joe Rocha was absent on business travel and especially seeing this is not a public hearing, Saltonstall said it is important that Rocha be given an opportunity to also weigh in.

            It was agreed upon that the members will email their points to Guey-Lee, and he will craft a decision that the board will vote on at its May 2 meeting.

            Zuker thanked the board for its careful consideration of his latest application.

            In another intense discussion that preceded the voting question, the board held a public hearing regarding the proposed zoning change to Section 230-8.2, the Water Protection District, Zoning Map updates.

            Hills explained that the new content from the state Department of Environmental Protection changes the size of Marion’s Water Protection District. “It’s a different shape,” he said, noting that the matter had been brought up prior to Town Meeting last year and then pulled from consideration. He said the board has been working to get the wording and the maps to agree with Town Counsel’s blessing.

            Once Town Meeting approves the changes, letters will go out to Acushnet and Rochester because some Marion water comes from wells in those towns.

            Briggs introduced Marion’s only well and the fact Pheasant Run is entirely inside the well-protection district and was never tied into town sewer. He questioned the purchase of over $300,000 for vacant property to protect the well district when it is offline.

            “I don’t think there’s been enough work done to justify the new line. This is part of my concern,” he said. Briggs also discussed a stream at Benson Brook Road that crosses the Aquifer Protection District and suggested it could be vulnerable to pollution from the town’s abandoned landfill.

            Hills said Marion is soon to receive a report from engineering firm Tata & Howard, Inc. on all the wells owned by the town. “There’s been no conscious decision to abandon that well field (in Marion),” he said.

            Meantime, Briggs objected to a bylaw he says is restricting the ability to build within that district while the town’s greatest source of pollution could be town property. “I think these are questions that ought to be answered on Town Meeting floor. I just want to give you a heads-up,” he said.

            While Hills said he received direction on the bylaws from Town Counsel, Burr considers the change an “obtuse requirement” for instance, should a construction business be looking to satisfy the board’s requirements.

            Collings empathized with Burr’s concern. “I’m hearing what Tucker is saying, and I’m surprised that we’re moving from something that was concrete,” he said.

            Agreeing with Briggs’ concerns, Burr asked if the expanded coverage of the district to include several properties on Route 105 would prohibit the owners of those properties from building.

            “There are septic systems up there, but they were a lot younger than they are now,” said Henry, who said he checked with the Board of Health for records and believes it is now time for those lots to connect to town sewer.

            Hills said the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Program will address 11 needs in town.

            Saltonstall isolated the matter of, “Does the language put the potential use of a property in jeopardy? That’s the question we can ask.”

            The board voted to continue the public hearing to Monday, May 2, at 7:05 pm.

            In other business, the board voted unanimously to approve Kira Srisirkul’s amended application for an Approval Not Required division of lots at 362 Front Street.

            The revision did away with the sharp angle of the lot lines to the same frontage. With curb cuts on both Spring and Front streets, both dwellings now have the required frontage on public ways, albeit different roads.

            The membership voted to pay two invoices, one for $1,144 to The Wanderer and the other for $20 to the CPTC.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, May 2, at 7:00 pm.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo