Alternative Analysis Pending for Pine Island Road Lot

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            The reopening of a Notice of Intent filing by Craig Bovaird, 26R Pine Island Road, generated a request by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for an “alternatives analysis” to determine if the future residential dwelling could be situated somewhere else on the lot.

            Representing the applicant was Brandon Faneuf of Ecosystem Solutions. Faneuf confirmed that he had met with Conservation Agent Liz Leidhold at the site where wetlands and resource delineations were reviewed and refreshed. The most significant resource area noted was a perennial stream which is part of a riverfront area.

            In an earlier review of the application, it was noted that the project includes the construction of a new home, deck, patio, and in-ground swimming pool on the south side of the dwelling partially within a bordering vegetated-wetland system. The plan includes a one-for-one wetlands replication area and the removal of invasive bamboo planted by a previous owner.

            Chairman Mike King inquired about the removal of what was to have been permanent wetland fencing. Faneuf responded that his client was a new owner and unaware of the post removal, but that new boundaries would be established. The filing was continued to give the applicant sufficient time to pursue alternative site locations in the lot. The filing will be heard again on August 24.

            A new home proposed for 1 Harbor Road via a Request for Determination of Applicability filed by Brenda and Rocco Franciouse Jr. was heard for the first time. The project as detailed is for the demolition of an existing dwelling and the construction of a single-family home within a FEMA Flood Zone. Representing the property owners was Bob Field of Field Engineering, who said the project also includes a new septic system and adherence to all FEMA regulations. King asked how stormwater runoff would be handled. Field said a recharge trench system would be added to the plans. The project received a negative determination of applicability.

            Also receiving a negative decision for a Request of Determination of Applicability was William and Robin Snow, 1 Beach Street, for the construction of a 12-by-12-foot shed. Unique to this project will be the use of helical piles for the expansion of an existing deck area also planned.

            A Notice of Intent filed by Pete Saccone, Lot 2 off Park Lane, was represented by N. Douglas Schneider, P.E., P.L.S., for the construction of a new single-family home. Schneider said the area had been previously subdivided into house lots and that this filing was “the first wave of many new homes.”

            Schneider said the parcel was first delineated 15 years ago and that permanent wetlands marking would be established to prevent encroachment in the future. The new home will be serviced by municipal water and sewer, he said, and will have a walk-out basement. The hearing was continued until August 24 to give abutters sufficient time to review the plan of record and voice questions or concerns.

            Norma Klein’s Notice of Intent filing for 4 Indian Avenue was described by representative Richard Riccio of Field Engineering as the same project that was permitted in 2016. That filing received an order of conditions that have subsequently expired, prompting the new filing. The project plans consist of the razing and reconstruction of a garage as well as site improvements and renovations.

            Riccio said that the new construction would comply with FEMA regulations and procedures including erosion controls and stormwater recharge into a trench system.

            An abutter to the project, John Graf, 2 Indian Avenue, hired Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering. “The Grafs hired me to ensure that everything complies with FEMA,” explained Madden, who suggested that the site as it now exists was not adequately represented on the plan of record including possible jurisdictional areas such as a vertical wall that he described as “substantial.”

            Madden voiced concerns that wave action created on the applicant’s property would negatively impact the Graf’s home and asked that the plan be reviewed for accuracy. “The plan should reflect the site as it is today,” he said.

            Riccio said the plan would be updated as requested and the filing was continued until August 24 allowing for further study.

            Two enforcement orders were discussed, one for property located at 42 Marion Road, for which the commission had received a restoration plan for unconditioned activities within jurisdictional areas.

            The second enforcement order was for property located at 37 Water Street. King said a contractor had discharged a large volume of herbicide in and around a stream that discharges into the public beach. He said that a formal complaint had been filed with the licensing agency, Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, and notification to the property owner had also been carried out. Leidhold said she had not heard back from the contractor and had not received any remediation plans. King said another letter would be sent to the parties involved.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for August 24 at 6:30 pm via a remote platform. Visit mattapoisett.net for details.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

Rochester Cultural Council Seeks Funding Proposals

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The Mass Cultural Council has adjusted to the challenges brought on by the Covid pandemic and continues to support a variety of artistic, scientific and humanitarian projects that provide rich cultural activities for our communities. Many current grant recipients have had to alter their original proposals and use virtual format options, reorganize to comply with social distancing and postpone their events awaiting parameters from Governor Baker. In spite of the Covid restrictions and changes, we will still continue to provide funding in 2021 for organizations, schools or individuals who support cultural activities in the community. Please submit your application from October 1 through November 15. Awards will be announced in January. For more information contact the RCC at RochesterCulturalCouncil@gmail.com or visit www.mass-culture.org. The RCC is currently looking for new committee members. If you are interested, contact us at the g-mail address above.

Academic Achievements

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            Keegan Macewen of Mattapoisett, Tim Lydon of Rochester, and Justin Smith of Rochester achieved Dean’s List honors in the spring 2020 semester at the University of Maine.

Parent Group: Online Learning Plan Needs ‘TLC’

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            The idea is barely beyond infancy, but by Monday morning, the baby weighed over 400 pounds.

            A group called Tri-Town Learning Community (TLC) has formed to estimate and potentially try to address the dilemma that working parents will face when the academic year starts and their children are at school only some of the time.

            Monday’s School Committee vote made official the Old Rochester Regional School District’s plan to open the 2020-21 academic year with a hybrid learning model. That is, students will physically be at school only two days per week and learning by remote access the other three days.

            The state’s prior instruction to individual school districts creating three distinct return-to-school models to prioritize their in-person plan is evidence of the stress that a remote or even hybrid model puts on the families and, indirectly, the economy.

            On August 2, Marion resident Terri Lerman created a Facebook page called Pandemic Learning Pods South Coast (updated on August 11 to match the “TLC” branding) to discuss the matter and invite ORR-district households to participate in a survey. In less than a week’s time, the page’s group grew past 350 members. By Monday morning that number had grown to 419, and by Tuesday morning the survey had 78 respondents.

            The survey asks interested households in Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester for names, emails (only to be used for contact purposes in the event TLC achieves operating financial support), towns of residence, and if they have children in grades K-6. The survey expands to establish the number of children and whether the parent works full or part-time and in or out of their home. It then asks the question if the parent would be comfortable with a college-age student tutoring their children to interact with the ORR online curriculum.

            The goal is to field hundreds of responses to the survey so that TLC can document the level of need in the tri-town area. Here is the link: https://forms.gle/Z77gQWS6sZjwg9hm6.

            TLC’s vision is an army of college-age tutors sponsored by private industries and/or public agencies, spending time with children in tri-town residents’ homes, bridging the gap between the online portion of ORR’s curriculum and students that need something extra, be it attention span, comprehension, motivation, technical difficulties accessing the program, etc.

            “The hard part is where do we get that money?” said Lerman, a 30-year educator who teaches at the Global Learning Charter Public School in New Bedford. “When I finally decided to jump off this ledge, I also put out a cry for help to people who know more about (fundraising).”

            To that end, Lerman enlisted the assistance of Georgia McDonald and Jennifer Dubois to connect with local non-profit organizations that might be able to help. On Monday, Lerman reported having spoken with Liz Wiley, executive director of the holistically focused Marion Institute. Lerman is educating herself as fast as she can on how to apply for grant funding.

            It is getting late into the summer, but TLC is so young Lerman openly wonders if it would be more expedient to put together the resources and let parents use the money the way they want but with a system ensuring accountability. That way the parents would be vetting the people coming into their homes to tutor their children.

            Much has to be decided in a short timespan for TLC as a 2020-21 program to take flight.

            “I think what people are worrying about is they have a strange hesitancy because they don’t know what the schools are doing yet. But what they need to understand is we need this data to establish need,” said Lerman, who hopes to see 200-250 more families respond to the survey to publicly establish the need she has seen first-hand in another district.

            “There’s a lot of need in New Bedford for this because in my experience teaching remotely… at least half of my students never showed up to my Zoom classes no matter what I did,” said Lerman, who had letters translated into Spanish and asked administrators to make phone calls. “There were just kids who weren’t showing up, and with the kids who were showing up there weren’t parents around. They were going to work; there’s no one minding the kids.”

            Economic challenges in the Tri-Town cannot be equated to New Bedford, but Lerman’s research took her to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website. She says the Tri-Town is presently schooling over 30,000 children, counting Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School. Of that number, 15 percent are economically disadvantaged. Lerman estimates 467 families fall into that category, including 243 students in grades K-6.

            “I’m hoping for some combined effort for a fiscal sponsor so all these mechanisms can be supported, then a financial supporter like the United Way or individual donors,” said Lerman, who intends to meet this week with the United Way and reach out to the SouthCoast Community Foundation. There is no plan at this point to start a Go Fund Me page.

By Mick Colageo

Solar Array Moves Forward, But Steen at a Standstill

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            In the Rochester Planning Board meeting held on August 11, Phil Cordeiro of Allen and Major Associates Inc. came before the board to provide updates on the planned developments on Cranberry Highway. Cordeiro joined the hybrid meeting via Zoom to represent the application filed by Steen Realty and Development.

            After a meeting with the Rochester Conservation Commission last week, Cordeiro reported that their work with the commission had resulted in a conclusion of their discussion in terms of stormwater conditions. Cordeiro explained that though proactive work with the commission’s review engineer, Henry Nover, his team was able to address all of the concerns put forth. Cordeiro hopes that the next meeting with the commission will result in a positive order of conditions and ultimately conclude the conservation side of the planning.

            From an engineering perspective, Cordeiro moved to submit an updated plan to the board’s peer-review engineer to address any concerns that were brought up, and he expressed his hope that a response to those plans would come toward the end of the week. The peer review would allow Cordeiro to make the needed changes to his plans in order to satisfy the conditions required to obtain the necessary waivers and satisfy his team’s engineering requirements.

            One new potential addition to the site could be a Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority bus stop at the site. Phil Cordeiro and Ken Steen have been working with GATRA to determine the ideal location for the bus stop and bus shelter at the site. The proposed bus would provide alternative access to and from the Middleboro/Lakeville commuter rail stop.

            Ultimately, the main problem stalling the project is the traffic review for the site. “The board was engaging traffic-review consultants to review the entry conflict off of Route 58 relative to the Seasons Corner Market near the development,” said Cordeiro. “As I understand it, the peer-review consultant has not been fully engaged as of yet.”

            The conflict surrounding the access point has lingered since the board brought up concerns surrounding the turning radius for trucks entering Route 58. After numerous delays and multiple design proposals for the access point, the development is still at a halt. Cordeiro asked Town Planner Steve Starrett if there had been any updates to the traffic review. Starrett explained that two different traffic-consulting firms had said they would be willing to undertake the review of the plans, but that the board had yet to choose a consultant. With that, the board voted to continue the project until its next meeting pending a traffic review and a response from its review engineer.

            The Rochester Planning Board moved to address an application submitted by Greg Carey pertaining to his proposed solar array located at Sarah Sherman Road. Carey explained that since the last meeting with the board he had been issued a letter stating that he successfully complied with any comments and that there were no outstanding issues related to the proposed plans.

            Carey also provided the board with copies of signed easement agreements from the abutting property owners. The added vegetative easements to the site will satisfy the concerns from neighbors and effectively shield the solar array from abutting properties.

            Satisfied with the current plans, the board went through a number of bonds and waivers pertaining to the project that were necessary for its ultimate approval. The board approved bonds relating to stormwater maintenance and landscaping upkeep. In addition, the members unanimously voted to waive requirements relating to traffic studies, maintenance plans, and vehicular emergency access, as Carey had made sufficient explanation for the need of those waivers in his proposal.

            The Rochester Planning board voted to close the public hearing on the matter and await the draft resolution that would be brought before them at the board’s next meeting. With the conditions satisfied, Chairman Arnold Johnson explained that the project would very likely achieve full approval in early September, which would allow the development of the site to go forward.

            With the public hearings concluded, the board addressed internal business. After over a month of hybrid meetings, with access provided in person at the Rochester Middle School and via Zoom, the board discussed whether or not now is the right time to make the transition back to full, in-person meetings.

            Johnson initially proposed the idea but sought insight from other board members about their feelings toward the hybrid meetings. Though he stated that he prefers in-person meetings, board member Ben Bailey explained that the Zoom access provided a convenience for members who may not be able to attend in person. Town Planner Steve Starrett agreed and added that the addition of Zoom did not hinder the capacity of the meetings in any way and ultimately allowed for more participation.

            The board agreed to continue with the hybrid meetings but decided to revisit the subject in September. The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is set to take place on Tuesday, August 25, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Planning Board

By Matthew Donato

Wind Back in Racing Sails at MYC

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            Participation may not be at normal levels yet, but Mattapoisett Yacht Club is back to having fun.

            Just like youth sports leagues and other recreational clubs in the Tri-Town area and all across Massachusetts, Mattapoisett Yacht Club felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to shut down all activities as the state closed its doors.

            “We’d have our conference calls (as a staff) and we’d all discuss where we were,” Mattapoisett Yacht Club commodore Kai Srisirikul said. “Everyone was on the same page. The safety of our members is the most important thing.

            “(Members) were supportive and everyone understood what we had to do. It was really out of our control at that point. As an organization, we really wanted to keep up with whatever the guidelines were from the state.”

            Mattapoisett Yacht Club’s original target date to resume activities was June 30. As the state delayed its reopening process and pushed things back, the club had to do the same, but only a smidge. By the time July 6 rolled around, Mattapoisett Yacht Club was back in business and has been running its races ever since.

            On Tuesdays, members are back to competing in the one model Ensign series, as is the case on Wednesdays with the PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) races. However, there hasn’t been the same number of racers as there normally are. Participation is at about 50 percent of typical participation in a regular summer.

            “Attendance is very light, which is explainable and understandable,” Mattapoisett Yacht Club Vice Commodore and Race Chair Rick Warren said. “We have a lot of older sailors that have chosen not to participate.”

            Srisirikul and Warren made sure to communicate with the members who planned to get back in action in order to go over regulations and guidelines. Because, unlike some other recreational activities, with sailing, officials cannot be on the boats to ensure everyone is sticking to code. It all falls on the shoulders of those who are on the boats.

            “We were in touch with all the skippers and said that. ‘We can’t control what happens on your boat so we need you to be responsible for your boat and the people on your boat.’

            “So far, that’s been good. We have some boats that don’t have very many people on them and other boats that do, the bigger boats. And most of the skippers have their family and/or close friends with them. So, it’s their own little circle or bubbles, as they would say.”

            Events that were scheduled to be held prior to July 6 will not be rescheduled. Additionally, Mattapoisett Yacht Club has canceled all social events for the remainder of 2020. “We just thought it was better that we just cancel all social events this year out of an abundance of caution,” Srisirikul said. Mattapoisett Yacht Club has also shut down the use of its clubhouse for the year.

            “We’re one of the easier-to-deal-with yacht clubs… with the COVID because we don’t depend on the yacht club itself making money from having like a bar and drinks, and all that. Our social (events) are usually bring-your-own-everything. Even our own board meetings are over Zoom. We don’t really get together as a group.”

            Right now, the board and members are glad to have racing back again. Even with the lower numbers, the chance to be out on the water and competing has given them back a feeling they missed.

            “When you’re out there, things are back to normal,” Warren said. “You don’t have the volume of boats, but when you’re into sailboat racing and you get a little competitive, it really doesn’t matter the volume. You’re competitive and you have fun with the people that are out there.”

Sports Roundup

By Nick Friar

From the Files of the Rochester Historical Society

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            As we watch the protest marches of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is interesting to look back at the years of similar marches, protests, and arrests that finally resulted 100 years ago in women gaining the right to vote.

            For all the preceding centuries, women were second class citizens and in most cases without the right to not only vote, but also to own businesses or to access their own money, including inheritances. If a woman married, any family wealth or business that was hers reverted to her husband. Unmarried women or widows had their affairs managed by male relatives.

            At times the women’s struggle coincided with the fight for black men to gain suffrage. At the first Women’s Rights convention in 1848 at Seneca Falls, N.Y., it was Frederick Douglas’s support that put the right to vote on the convention’s platform. Unfortunately, as each group fought for the same goal, the groups argued over which one should receive suffrage first. Acrimonious accusations and bad feelings caused a large rift between them.

            However, the twin causes suffered many of the same dangers and indignities. When women spoke out at suffrage rallies, they were heckled and subjected to everything from threats to thrown tomatoes. Many were arrested and some, like Lucy Burns who went on a hunger strike in jail, were subjected to force feedings. On November 14, 1917, known as the ” night of terror ” many suffragists were tortured and abused in the jail where they were held.

            The women in the movement knew that equality came with education, career opportunities, and political power, all things absent in most women’s lives prior to 1920. (Of course, just as the Civil War and emancipation did not provide black Americans with equal access, gaining the right to vote did not take away all discrimination for women).

            Given that many women were forced to live powerless, uneducated lives of drudgery, it is empowering to look at two sisters whose lives took different paths and who called Rochester, home, in their adulthood. Mary Hall Leonard and Caroline Leonard Goodenough’s connection to town comes through their mother, Jane Thompson, sister of Zebulon Thompson, a stone cutter and philanthropist who lived on New Bedford Road. Zebulon supported his brothers and sisters and helped all to get educations after their father’s death.

            Jane married James Leonard of Bridgewater and over the years, they had seven children. Unusual for the time period, James provided all of his children, both boys and girls, with education beyond grammar school. The third oldest child, Mary, graduated from Bridgewater Normal School and taught school for a time. After a trip to the Continent with relatives where she was able to do some post graduate work in Germany, she returned home and her career diverted from the norm.

            Her next job was as an instructor teaching prospective teachers at the Normal School. She was not only successful, but earned the respect of many in the educational field. Her reputation was so strong that she was hired to be the principal and first instructor at Winthrop Training School in Columbia, South Carolina. The unusual decision to hire a woman as principal paid off. Under her leadership the school went from 19 students in 1886 to 100 by 1894. However, in 1892, her title was changed to just first instructor (glass ceiling?) and two years later, she left and returned home. She moved in with her mother (who had left Bridgewater after her husband’s death) and her uncle and lived at 487 New Bedford Road.

            Mary Hall Leonard was a prolific writer who wrote technical articles on the art of teaching, novels, books of poetry, and an excellent reference book for local historians, Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, as well as Old Rochester and Her Daughter Towns, and was considered Rochester’s historian for many years.

            Mary’s younger sister, Caroline, also received a college education. Her life’s direction was affected by her marriage to Herhert Goodenough, who trained to be a missionary. The couple spent 35 years in Africa working as missionaries to the Zulus. After Herbert’s death, Caroline like her sister moved into her uncle’s Rochester home. Also like her sister she was an author. She wrote many books of hymns and poetry and the memoirs and genealogy of the Leonard, Haskell, and Thompson families titled Legends, Loves and Loyalties of Old New England. Both women are buried in Rochester’s Center Cemetery.

By Connie Eshbach

Author Margot Livesey Book Discussion

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Everyone is welcome to join the Mattapoisett Library Book Discussion Group in welcoming author Margot Livesey on Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 pm to discuss her novel Eva Moves the Furniture. The novel is a captivating story of a young girl who is visited by two ghost “companions” throughout her life, a woman and a girl, and isn’t always sure if they are there to comfort her or otherwise. Set in Scotland, this heartfelt tale captivates and challenges readers’ sense of reality. 

            The discussion will be via Zoom, and those wishing to participate should email spizzolato@sailsinc.org to receive the meeting invitation link. 

            The library is welcoming Margot Livesey again, as she was very well received in 2009 when she read from her novel Banishing Versona as the speaker at the Friends Annual Meeting.

            Her new novel The Boy in the Field has just been published and she will be giving the group a preview.

            Livesey is the author of eight novels, one collection of stories, and a work of nonfiction. She has taught at numerous writing programs and universities, and resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the author Alice Sebold, “Every novel of Margot Livesey’s is, for her readers, a joyous discovery. Her work radiates with compassion and intelligence and always, deliciously, mystery.” 

            This virtual program is part of the Purrington Lecture Series sponsored by the Mattapoisett Library Trust.

Marion Early Voting Information

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Marion will be offering three ways to vote in the September 1 State Primary. There will be voting by mail, early voting in person at the Town Clerk’s office, and regular voting at the polls. The deadline to register to vote in the State Primary is Saturday, August 22.

            The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Wednesday, August 26; however, remember we must mail you the ballot and receive it back by Tuesday, September 1. Vote-by-mail ballots may be returned by mail, in person to the Town Clerk’s Office, or in the locked drop boxes in front of the Town House on Spring Street.

            In-person early voting will be held at the Town Clerk’s office at 2 Spring Street at the following times: Saturday, August 22, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and from 7:00 to 8:00 pm; Sunday, August 23, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and then Monday, August 24 through Thursday, August 27, from 8:15 am to 4:15 pm and Friday, August 28 from 8:15 am to 3:15 pm.

            The polls at the Benjamin D. Cushing Center will be open from 7:00 am until 8:00 pm on Tuesday, September 1. There will be COVID-19 safety precautions in place such as hand sanitizing stations, socially distanced check-in/check-out lines and voting booths, and separate entrances and exits. Please wear a mask and bring your own blue/black ink pen.

            For any questions or concerns, please call 508-748-3502 or email (lmagauran@marionma.gov) the Town Clerk’s office.

Water Agreement Amended to Delete Destination of Funds

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            The Rochester Board of Selectmen met on Zoom for a specially called session on August 7 to execute the amendment of the town’s water agreement with the Town of Wareham.

            Two weeks prior, the Rochester selectmen had signed the water agreement that included a sentence saying where the funds from a 15 percent user fee would go. The latest amendment unanimously approved in Friday’s remote access meeting deleted that sentence and restored the agreement to its original wording.

            The agenda had listed an executive session, but there was none, nor were there minutes or people on the agenda or a Town Administrator’s Report. There was no old or new business, and the meeting adjourned approximately three minutes after it started.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Monday, August 17, at 6:00 pm.

Rochester Board of Selectmen

hallBy Mick Colageo