The November 22 meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board was a “working” meeting to review a five-page list of projects and to begin prioritizing the to-do list into attainable goals for Town Administrator Mike Lorenco and department heads across municipal offices.

            The list contained over 25 specific projects ranging from roadway improvement, the study of school enrollment and two buildings, bike path phases, IT system upgrades, stormwater drainage issues, harborside needs, and the operating budget for the new fire station.

            Bubbling to the top of the list for immediate action with a completion date of February was the installation of a new generator for the senior housing complex off Main Street. With a price tag of $70,000 to install the needed equipment before winter arrives, Lorenco said that Representative Bill Straus was looking into grant money for the installation expenses. He also noted that Mattapoisett Housing Authority Chairman Chuck McCullough was also looking into funding sources.

            The Community Compact Grant that the town received for the study of municipal buildings including local schools and enrollment numbers was one of the seven top items to be tackled.

            Select Board member Tyler Macallister asked that the report on the local schools be completed with recommendation by the February deadline. While discussing the Community Compact grant that included study of the Transfer Station operation (not in the top seven), Lorenco shared that data requested by the study team was difficult to access but that new Board of Health agent Gail Joseph is now focusing on that project.

            Mattapoisett’s historic wharves were in the top seven list regarding the repairs needed for Long Wharf. Lorenco will gather existing engineering studies and work with bidders who have asked for more details on the current state of the aging wharf.

            In the category of the Complete Street grant monies the town received, the safety of crossing Route 6 at the intersection of Mattapoisett Neck Road was discussed. Board members discussed one aspect of the larger project, sidewalks being installed along Mattapoisett Neck Road from the intersection of the bike path to near the intersection of Route 6. But how to safely cross Route 6 remains an issue for the board. Lorenco will discuss safety options with Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including the possibility of painting crosswalks across the busy state highway.

            Emergency Preparedness plans, which were started but never completed, will once again see the light of day as Lorenco noted he has begun working with the police department’s safety officer.

            Lorenco also committed to completing a RFP for the sale of the soon-to-be-vacated, old fire station to ready the building for sale. He will also invite architect Steve Kelliher to a board meeting to ascertain the status of designs and cost estimates for needed upgrades and repairs to the Highway Department Building on Mendell Road.

            Earlier in the meeting, the board met with Kathy Costello, administrator of assessing for a tax classification hearing. Once again, the board agreed that a single tax rate is necessary, considering that the number of commercial units is too low to make an impact on residential property owners.

            Costello gave a brief report that demonstrated an increase in the average single-family home rose by 7.9 percent with the average home selling for $578,024. The total amount of revenue to be raised by both tax sources and non-tax sources during FY22 was reported to be $38,371,444, a 9.3-percent increase over the prior fiscal year. The proposed single-tax rate for FY22 is planned to be $12.47 per one thousand of assessed valuation, a $0.49 or 3.9-percent increase over FY21.

            The board approved the tax classification.

            The next regular meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is planned for Tuesday, December 14, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Select Board

By Marilou Newell

The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals met on November 18 and granted a Special Permit and a Variance, both decisions being made without controversy.

            Despite reading a lengthy abutters list of Sarah Sherman Road residents, no outside voices responded to an invitation to comment on Case No. 1168. The case, which was rescheduled from October 28 after that meeting was canceled by the widespread power outage that swept through the region, was settled on November 18.

            Applicant Ryan Correia was granted a Special Permit to convert an existing living space above his 91 Sarah Sherman Road garage into a multi-family dwelling under Chapter 20.40, Section F.9.a of the Rochester Zoning By-Laws.

            As he explained, his in-laws moved away four years ago but, after loss of a job, were looking to come back but could not afford to buy property in the area.

            Citing mobility concerns, ZBA Chairman David Arancio said he could not put his in-laws in a second-floor apartment. He was told that, right now, Correia’s in-laws have the mobility to use the stairs and that, from financial and economic standpoints the plan makes the most sense for the family.

            Given there is a mudroom or breezeway between the garage and the house, the applicant said that it would be a much more costly project to expand the footprint of the house.

            The current second-floor space measures 674 square feet. The gross floor space on the ground floor measures 1,360 square feet and the proposed amount on the second floor 1,219 square feet for a total square footage of 2,579. The required, 40-foot setbacks are well exceeded with 125.6 feet to the rear property line, 100.1 feet to Side 1 and 154.3 feet to Side 2.

            It was pointed out that there is no permit on file because the second-floor space had only been permitted for storage space.

            “By right, they would need 105,000 square feet so we’re getting pretty close by right at 87,120 and frontage of 300 square feet,” said ZBA member Richard Cutler. “I’m not having much of a problem with this. The fact that they’re not increasing the footprint, I’m having even less of a problem.”

            After no one responded to an invitation for public comment, the board voted to close public comment and discuss the matter.

            ZBA member Thomas Flynn said that the project is not out of character with the neighborhood.

            Member Davis Sullivan pointed out that, according to the letter of the bylaw, the frontage required is 222 feet. The applicant explained that the town had incorrect information on file and a subsequently submitted site plan shows that the amount of frontage exceeds the requirement of the bylaw.

            The ZBA batted around the ramifications of the Special Permit, and Arancio suggested conditioning the project with no future expansion of the existing structure allowed without coming back to the ZBA for a Special Permit.

            As outlined in a motion by Flynn, conditions would make approval of the Special Permit subject to an engineering survey for existing unpermitted work in the space above the garage. In addition, one unit must be owner occupied, all parking must be off street, and any increase in the footprint of the existing structure or expansion of the existing structure would require reapplication to the board.

            Flynn, Sullivan, Cutler, Arancio and Kirby Gilmore voted 5-0 in favor.

            The ZBA also heard Case No. 1169, in which applicant Molly Fournier sought a variance to her rear setback under Chapter 20.40, Section D.1., so she could construct a deck in the back of her 1950-built house located at 447 Neck Road.

            Gilmore drew some chuckles when he speculated as to whether Fournier’s house had been moved to its present location. Arancio doubled down on the humor, noting that he almost bought a nearby property. Asked if the property is still available, Arancio said no but noted it’s still a sore subject.

            Fournier was asked the nature of her hardship requiring the need for a variance. The septic system sits on one side of the house and on the other side a well, leaving only the back side of the house as a place for a deck.

            The required rear setback is 40 feet, and the raised deck would come to within 22.8 feet of the property line. Grading up to the deck would require 2 to 3 feet of fill, an expensive endeavor, so Fournier’s hardship was also deemed to be financial.

            Asked for comment, the conservation agent stated that there are no wetlands on the site so no comments were made. Likewise, the Rochester Historical Commission took no position.

            Fournier was voted the variance, allowing construction of the deck.

            The ZBA has no cases for December 9 so the next meeting of the Rochester ZBA has been scheduled pending new cases for Thursday, December 23, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo

On November 16, the reopened hearing for a Notice Of Intent filed by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for a secondary roadway at 45 Kings Highway turned into a marathon of correspondence between engineering teams, the MBTA and the Rochester Conservation Commission’s peer-review consultant Environmental Partners, as well as deep dives into technical drainage data.

            The public hearing lasted more than an hour and a half and was, as Chairman Chris Gerrior would comment, “a very big bite.”

            Coming before the commission were members of the MBTA engineering teams, primarily headed up by Jonathan Niro of the BETA Group. Niro would spend the lion’s share of the hearing reviewing pages of documented interactions between his firm, members of at least two MBTA engineering firms and Environmental Partners. Point by point, Niro read comments and offered responses to such matters as to whether an existing structure on the property is jurisdictional and whether drainage systems are adequate, including the design and infiltration studies of stormwaters and stream replication plans.

            There were several areas of the review that especially piqued the interest of the commission, notably Vice Chairman Daniel Gagne’s interest.

            Gagne questioned several times why the building on the property should not be included in the commission’s review, given that stormwater flowing from beneath the structure ended up in jurisdictional areas. He said that treatment standards for stormwater runoff were set by the state, yet it seemed a state agency was not abiding by those regulations. He also questioned why the commission had not received a report on the separation between groundwater and a planned detention basin.

            The MBTA’s project manager, Tess Paganelli, said that wetland scientist Brad Holmes had confirmed the acceptance of wetland flagging, however during his site evaluation additional streams were identified, all part of the original cranberry bog located at the site. She said the streams are outside the planned roadway construction but that those would be mapped and added to documents.

            While the commission was generally satisfied with wetland replication planning, there remained a long list of unresolved matters.

            Gagne stated, “They haven’t done what they needed to do … I don’t buy it.”

            Gerrior said that Environmental Partners noted that the plan was not complete. He also asked that at the next meeting BETA should come with two documents, one listing everything that has, to date, been agreed between all parties and another with open matters pending completion in an effort to make the meeting more concise.

            The hearing was continued to December 7.

            A.D. Makepeace Company representative Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering returned to the commission with a seven-point commentary on restoration plans for a massive site known as Morse Swamp Reservoir.

            To recap, the cranberry operator had performed unpermitted activities in the form of wetland dredging, leaving enormous piles of soils in and on jurisdictional wetlands. The filing noted the area in violation as 1,458 linear feet of banking, 17,001 square feet of bordering vegetated wetlands, 200,376 square feet of land under a waterbody, 29,305 square feet of land subject to flooding, and 2,737 square feet of riverfront area. An Enforcement Order had been issued.

            On this night, Madden offered a comprehensive restoration plan that included removal of soils, a planting plan, and procedures for performing all necessary activities in jurisdictional locations. The plan was approved by the commission.

            An Emergency Certification request by Tom Gadmonski of Agilitas Energy for a culvert repair and new culvert placement at 0 Middleboro Road was granted. Gerrior instructed Gadmonski to advise the neighbor of planned construction dates and timing.

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

Rochester Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

            In voting applicant David Croll a Negative Determination of Applicability for the request he filed for a proposed driveway at 10 Lewis Street, the Marion Conservation Commission engaged in a discussion to more reliably interpret what constitutes an accessory.

            “I don’t look at an addition to a house as an accessory addition. I think of things like putting a patio in or putting a deck on or you’ve got a shed …” said Chairman Shaun Walsh during ConCom’s November 17 meeting. “If we consider additions to houses as accessories to houses, one could build a tiny, little house and keep on adding on and adding on. … Convince me otherwise.”

            In offering his interpretation of exempt activities, Conservation Agent Doug Guey Lee talked about “a certain scale” or “a certain understood use” so decks in his viewpoint fall on a certain scale or use but also “a certain intensity of alteration.”

            After Walsh asserted that considering additions to a house an accessory “a slippery slope” and suggested the commission checks Negative Boxes 2 and 3, Vice Chairman Jeff Doubrava amended his motion to deleted Box 5.

            The members agreed that living space is a reliable guideline in the interpretation of what constitutes an accessory to a dwelling, and they voted a Negative Box 2 and Negative Box 3 Determination, paving the way for Croll’s proposed work.

            Jonathan and Jennifer Alexander filed a Notice of Intent for a proposed house addition and deck expansion at 24 Brook Haven Lane. Following a commission site inspection on November 13, the members voted to continue the public hearing to December 8.

            A bordering vegetated wetland wraps around the property, according to representative Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon and Leone Inc.

            Noting that the goal of Marion’s Riverfront Area Regulations is to keep things as far away from the river as is feasible, Walsh asked Davignon why not construct the master suite on the southwest side of the house. Davignon said that change would only gain 10 to 15 feet while gutting out the house.

            Walsh said he thinks the plan constitutes redevelopment of a previously redeveloped area. He suggested Davignon and Guey Lee discuss the matter in greater detail to determine whether the plan fits into the regulations.

            The Marion Lands Trust LLC filed a RDA for a reconfiguration of property lines at 371 Wareham Street but with no change in the work already approved by the Marion Planning Board for the driveway. Essentially, the vote allows replacement of the plan of record submitted by Schneider, Davignon and Leone Inc. without filing for an amendment of the Order of Conditions.

            J. Thomas Bowler Jr. and Ellen Bowler were voted an Order of Conditions for vegetation management at 7 Moorings Road. ConCom member Mark Bellanger made the motion including “a unique erosion-control condition” that would including storm-damage prevention and flood control.

            After a November 13 site visit, Kitt and Heather Sawitsky were voted a Negative Determination of Applicability for the planting of trees and bushes at 75 Holly Road.

            Applicant Jay Flanagan was voted an Order of Conditions for a septic-system upgrade and garage additions at 26 West Avenue. Walsh thanked Dave Davignon, the applicant’s representative, for examining a pipe on the property.

            John and Pamela Lees, who filed a Notice of Intent for reconstruction of a single-family house, an inground swimming pool, along with repair of a seawall with associated work at 49 Water Street, sought and were granted a continuance of their case to ConCom’s December 8 meeting.

            The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, December 8, at 7:00 pm.

Marion Conservation Commission

By Mick Colageo