Marion Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Cynthia Callow met a milestone on June 22 in presiding over her first public hearing for a variance that was ultimately granted by the ZBA.

            Alan Minard and Nan Johnson applied for a variance seeking relief from the side setback requirements under Marion Zoning bylaws in their proposed addition of a garage at their house at 123 Allen’s Point Road. Because of the odd shape of their lot, Minard and Johnson have had difficulty locating a 22 or 24-foot garage. Either size would violate the setback requirements.

            “For many years we have been trying to build a garage,” said Minard in presenting their case. Citing the leaching field and setbacks that, he said, “really limit where a garage can be built,” Minard said he has thought that he would need to build the garage in the 3.1 acres of open space across the street. “Basically, all that land is wetland or flood zone…. I don’t think it’s responsible in this day and age to build anything in a flood area.”

            Theoretically, Minard and Johnson could build the garage closer to the main house by destroying the old horse stables that exist. Menard would dearly love to preserve those stables that he said are 100 years old.

            Calling the lot “wonky,” Callow acknowledged the applicants’ hardship.

            While his abutter, Rid Bullerjahn, 111 Allen’s Point Road, would support the project, including if it required the transfer of some property to help Minard and Johnson achieve compliance, Minard said such a project needing demolition would cost approximately $10,000.

            “I don’t think that particular expense does anything for the town or the neighborhood, so I would like to avoid that expense if we can,” said Minard. “I don’t think there’s any public impact here.”

            Requested for comment by the ZBA, the Planning Board deferred to the ZBA, and the Conservation Commission considers the matter non-jurisdictional.

            After ZBA member Will Tifft posed the question as to the potential of changing use in the future, Marion Building Commissioner Scott Shippey advised the board that the members can only vote on what is in front of them in the case and, as a hypothetical example, noted that should Minard and Johnson seek to build an apartment atop the garage, they would need to apply for a special permit.

            ZBA members Margie Baldwin and Ed Hoffer supported the project.

            The ZBA, with alternate member Tucker Burr in attendance, had five voting members present. Needing a supermajority of four out of five votes to approve the granting of the requested variance, a unanimous vote granted the variance.

            Callow commended the applicants on a well-founded and presented petition.

            Because a public hearing originally advertised for an in-person ZBA meeting on Thursday, August 12, at 7:00 pm will now be held via Zoom, that public hearing will be readvertised.

            The next meeting of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals will be on August 12 at 6:30 pm.

Marion Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo

The Rochester center property of 0 New Bedford Road was back on the radar of Rochester on July 22 for the Special Permit application before the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals filed by two potential new property owners looking to use the 10.19-acre wooded lot for a private workshop and garage to restore and keep collectible and antique motor vehicles.

            Under the Limited Commercial District Zoning Bylaw, however, such use isn’t immediately allowed. And although this request so far has garnered less resistance from abutters and townspeople than the failed 2016 proposal to install a large-scale solar farm smack dab in the middle of the historic center, there were still a few concerns and questions about the size of the proposed building and its impact on neighbors.

            Mark and Ashley Briggs, residents of Marion, have a purchase and sale agreement to buy the primarily wooded lot nestled inside the Residential/Agricultural Zone as a spot to build a hobby-style

collectible car restoration, detailing and storage facility. The vision is to have a place for Mr. Briggs to work on his passion, restoring antique vehicles, with the benefits of a climate-controlled space large enough to store the vehicles, restore them, carve out a woodworking carpentry shop, and have a bathroom and kitchenette close by. He does plan on occasionally selling a car or two that he restores at the site, but not enough to require a car dealership license from the town (more than two car sales per year). Speaking on the Briggs’ behalf was Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering.

            “Mark restores cars and other motor vehicles … in some way, shape and form,” explained Madden. The applicants are looking to erect a 100-by-20-foot building while maintaining generous setbacks that exceed the stringent zoning requirements, minimize disturbances to existing vegetation and trees, and keep adequate buffers so that abutting residences won’t be disturbed by their presence.

            Straightaway, Madden addressed Mr. Briggs’s intent to likely sell about two of his restored cars a year but without planning to use the location as a “sales facility” of sorts.

            “We wouldn’t want the ZBA to believe that this is going to be abused … or [used as] a place where cars are going to be sold on a regular and consistent basis,” said Madden. “That is absolutely not what is intended here.” He said sales would be by online appointment only and with no need for a formal parking lot. All that is required is an access driveway off New Bedford Road that also provides access around the building to accommodate fire apparatuses and a circular flow of traffic.

            Madden emphasized that, after ZBA approval, the project will undergo a Site Plan Review with the Planning Board when all the details would be finalized and conditioned.

            Overall, the property would undergo development in 30 percent of the property, said Madden, to “really [maintain] some of the rural character of the town.” Madden also does not expect to need Conservation Commission approval. The project will, though, require Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program permission and, possibly, Historic District Commission review.

            “To summarize, we think that the use is pretty innocuous, the building is well sited [and] we’ve kept it away from the abutting properties to the maximum degree possible, we’ve preserved as much natural buffers as we can … and we’ve minimized the views from public ways…. We think this is an appropriate use for … this zoning district,” concluded Madden, especially given that “much more intense” uses are allowed in the Limited Commercial District than the one Mark and Ashley Briggs propose.

            ZBA Chairman David Arancio asked about outdoor lighting, an exterior elevation plan, and why the building has to be so large in scale. Madden said he did not have all the information Arancio was looking for, and the Briggses, away on vacation that night, could appear at the next meeting to answer any questions about building size.

            The hearing was continued until August 12.

            The next meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals will be held on Thursday, August 12, at 7:00 pm in-person at the Rochester Town Hall and via Zoom.

By Jean Perry

It was with mixed emotions that Marion Town Planner Gil Hilario told the Energy Management Committee that he will soon be leaving for the same position in North Attleboro where he grew up. Hilario’s last day working for Marion will be Monday, August 9.

            “It’s been a great learning experience; I loved knowing everyone here, we became a Green Community,” said Hilario, his comments closing out Monday night’s July 26 public meeting of the EMC. He referenced many projects, including the beginning of electric town vehicles and charging stations. “We’ve done every little thing. This community has really charged ahead.”

            EMC member Eileen Marum told Hilario that he has done a tremendous job and “really grown into the position,” leading Marion in its successful and ongoing pursuit of grant funds that she said have made a “huge impact…. More than you realize.”

            EMC Chair Christian Ingerslev agreed, saying that Hilario has been “invaluable to this committee and does an excellent job.”

            Hilario thanked the members for their words.

            On the prior bookend, the EMC slightly reorganized, but not quite to the degree Ingerslev had hoped after admittedly being thrust into the position of chair, a role he will continue to fill.

            After soliciting nominations, Ingerslev was unanimously voted to continue as chair.

            Alanna Nelson will serve as vice-chair, and Tom Friedman, who was not in attendance, was voted to become clerk effective with the EMC’s next meeting. Nelson made the nomination “because he’s a very thorough person.” Marum acted as clerk for the final time in Monday’s meeting, and member Bill Saltonstall publicly thanked her for fulfilling that duty.

            The larger question for the EMC going forward is the committee’s evolving function, emerging identity, and potential name change. Having notified the Select Board of this interest, the committee recently received a response from Select Board member Norm Hills looking to identify a title and an accompanying mission statement.

            EMC members batted around several variations, ultimately steering away on the word “sustainability” on the advice of alternate member Jennifer Francis, who also believes that the word “green” has become politicized and may not be the right choice for a title that needs to identify the committee’s purpose.

            “Green Communities has been one of the core missions, but I fear it doesn’t say everything,” added Nelson.

            The title the members settled on to pitch to the Select Board is the “Energy and Climate Resilience Committee.”

            Francis recommended a brief mission statement to avoid stepping over the purviews of other town boards, commissions, and committees and at the same time avoid becoming entangled by any particular words or phrases.

            Marion, which has been leasing four 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander compact sports-utility vehicles, needs to decide whether to lease new vehicles or buy out the ones currently being leased. The approximate buyout price for each is estimated to be $18,000. If the town took that approach, the SUVs would be kept five years, then the town would lease or purchase newer vehicles.

            Marum suggested checking in with the Finance Committee before making any recommendation.

            Hilario reported that the employees in the Building Department, Council on Aging, Department of Public Works, and Recreation Department all like the model. He said that Finance Director Judy Mooney could work on a proposal to bring to the Finance Committee.

            Nelson said that the town is down to $5,000 in available money for this purpose, and Hilario said that a $7,500 grant is not enough to pay for replacements.

            Francis is working on developing a tree preservation bylaw, having studied and modified Concord’s. She has worked with Norm Hills and Margie Baldwin and will next bring it to Town Administrator Jay McGrail. The bylaw change could be co-sponsored by the EMC and the Parks Committee.

            “In a nutshell,” said Francis, “the idea is to not tell property owners what they can and cannot do but give them options with the goal of becoming a net-zero tree town.” She called it the best hope of sequestering carbon.

            The bylaw would apply only to living trees 6 or more inches in diameter, the stipulation of removal being to either replace on one’s own property or on an adjacent property with a new tree of at least 2 inches in diameter or pay into a fund to manage trees in other parts of town.

            EMC members asked questions of application to solar projects, to trees threatening houses, and unhealthy trees, among other things.

            Part of Francis’ proposal includes a tree preservation mitigation plan that would necessitate the hiring of an arborist to determine the condition of the tree in question. A tree threatening to fall onto a house could theoretically fall under an exclusion clause and could come under the purview of town Tree Warden Lee Gunschel.

            Saltonstall referenced a situation his son Will was facing with tall evergreen trees on Point Road and, being worried about the house, cut them down. “We’ve done that, too, but I don’t think it’s a big ask (to follow the proposed bylaw),” said Francis, who said she took down a dozen white pines after the Nor’easter storms. She suggested citizens can plant trees somewhere else on their property or pay a fee into the Tree and Parks Committee fund.

            Francis said the goal is “not to be punitive or negative or controlling but to encourage … to make people to think harder when trees get cut down when they build anything.”

            The next meeting of the Marion EMC was not scheduled at adjournment, but Ingerslev confirmed that the committee will meet via Zoom through the end of 2021 while still trying to get onto the schedule at the Music Hall for in-person meetings in 2022.

Marion Energy Management Committee

By Mick Colageo