With active COVID-19 cases standing at 15 and the town’s infection status in the green zone, the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen discussed the reopening of at least two town buildings, the library and Town Hall.

            Coming before the board during its March 2 meeting was Library Director Jennifer Jones, who offered a phased approach to granting access to the public. Her detailed plans call for allowing interior building access to 30 people over a one-hour period. For the purposes of contact tracing in the event disease spread becomes a factor, Jones said names and telephone numbers would be recorded. Masks and social distancing will remain a critical component to the reopening of in-person services as well. Calling it a “slow opening,” Jones also said that a limited number of computer stations opened, and that staff would assist patrons with other office equipment.

            In the second phase of reopening, Jones proposed allowing up to 60 people into the building, again for no longer than one hour, and Phase 3 would be a complete return to normal scheduling.

            Selectman Jordan Collyer asked Jones to evaluate staying open for longer hours so that more people could enter the library while still limiting the number allowed inside at any given point in time. But Jones hesitated to extend hours to include a Sunday, given that staff members who work those hours have expressed concern as they await vaccinations.

            The library is planned to reopen on Saturday, March 13, with state and local guidelines implemented.

            The selectmen also discussed reopening Town Hall. Presently residents and others with business requiring face-to-face interactions are allowed in by appointment only.

            Town Administrator Mike Lorenco said that the building could accommodate five visitors at a time, and state guidelines for the wearing of masks and social distancing would be maintained. He said that the building is currently sanitized three times per week. He said that someone would be stationed by the front door to collect names and telephone numbers for contact-tracing purposes. He proposed opening the building on Monday, March 8. The selectmen were in agreement on both proposals.

            Regarding the Council on Aging and Recreation Department, the selectmen asked that those department heads submit a reopening plan, but most likely, those departments would not reopen to public access until sometime in April.

            In other business, Police Chief Mary Lyons came before the selectmen with her department’s proposed FY22 budget. Step increases, which are part of the department’s employment agreement, represent the budget increase, Lyons said. A year-over-year increase in salaries of $100,544 was noted as a 4.9 percent increase. The total FY22 budget stands at $2,400,028, or a 4.6 percent increase over FY21.

            Collyer said after Lyons’ presentation, “You need to find a way to reduce your budget.” He suggested backing out the cost of one of two new cruisers that the department was seeking, representing a cost of $55,000. Collyer thought that monies could be found in free cash to cover the cruiser. A second cruiser is planned for purchase in FY22 in the department’s Capital Planning proposal.

            On the topic of the cost of hiring officers to cover shifts when sick and vacation time are used by officers, Lyons said that she had taken $40,000 slated for part-time employees and spread that across other line items that were falling short. She said that reserve officers had been deployed as one way to cover shifts and keep costs in hand but that it is getting hard to recruit anyone these days. “People don’t want the job the way they used to,” Lyons said. She added that new police reforms would require that part-time officers take full-time training, directly impacting the department and staffing. Lyons said a state-level meeting next week would produce more answers on the reforms being planned by the state government.

            Collyer asked Lyons to review the budget further and bring the total increase closer to the 2 percent mark as possible. He also said he wanted to work with the chief and department management on a succession plan, adding that he thought if a part-time reserve officer knew they were next in “pecking order,” they might be inclined to stay in Mattapoisett.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen is scheduled for March 9 at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen

By Marilou Newell

            The Marion Board of Selectmen voted unanimously during its March 2 meeting to turn down Diane Bondi Pickles’ proposal of a memorial bench in honor of her late husband Raymond Pickles that she would donate and set near the Harbormaster’s office at her own expense.

            Ray Pickles, former Marion town administrator, town clerk, assessor, building inspector, and Carver, Marion, and Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District director, passed away on December 19, 2020, at age 86, while he faced six criminal felony counts of Grand Larceny for allegedly stealing $675,000 from the CMWRRDD. The CMWRRDD later dropped its civil suit against the surviving defendants on April 15, 2020, of which Bondi Pickles was one; the criminal case was dismissed after Pickles’ death.

            In publicly reading a letter she had sent the board prior to the meeting, Bondi Pickles emphasized her late husband’s 47 years of public service to the Town of Marion, including his 29 years as town administrator. “Ray loved this town,” she said, citing testimonials.

            Selectman Norm Hills, who served as treasurer of the CMW district for Marion’s final three years of membership, referenced “significant irregularities” and said, “Based on that, I’m not inclined to agree to this request.”

            Bondi Pickles asked Hills to be more specific, arguing that her husband was only accused and that the case never went to trial. Furthermore, she said she was the victim of slander. “I lost my job, I had to resign,” she stated.

            Hills agreed that the CMW was a very complex financial undertaking but said, “A lot of money missing when Ray was involved,” calling Pickles “captain of the ship at the time.” Hills said, “In the early years, Ray did an amazing job, but in the last three years…” Hills was interrupted at that point.

            Neither Selectman John Waterman nor Chairman Randy Parker offered comment, but all three voted against the proposal.

            In his Town Administrator’s Report, Jay McGrail publicly announced that DPW Director David Willett plans to retire on May 14, 2021; Willett will stay part-time through June 25 to help with the transition process and continue assisting with several large capital projects. He also said he would remain available on a consulting basis should the need arise. Willett started with Marion in April 2019. McGrail said he would start the process of finding a replacement within the next few weeks.

            McGrail expressed the town’s regret at the news that Lockheed-Martin is closing its Marion facility, affecting approximately 400 employees, the majority of whom he said would be offered work elsewhere but would need to relocate to stay with the company. The closure is one of several by Lockheed-Martin across the country.

            “Our priority is for a new tenant in the Sippican Office Park space that will enrich the community,” said McGrail.

            Marion has spearheaded a Tri-Town plan in partnership with the Old Rochester Regional School District and Superintendency Union #55 to host another regional COVID-19 vaccination clinic, this one for 1,192 Tri-Town educators over a two-day period. The proposed program would vaccinate educators in every school within the ORR District plus Tabor Academy and Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School, along with any educators residing in the Tri-Town who happen to work outside the Tri-Town area. State Representative Bill Straus (D-Mattapoisett) has supported the project.

            On February 25, the selectmen met publicly to view BHB engineering representative Scott Damelio’s presentation of a solution for Hiller Street parking problems. The plan under consideration maintains two-way traffic on the street but limits parking via diagonally striped areas marked along both sides of the road.

            In a public hearing, the selectmen voted to approve the application of Ansel’s Cafe, LLC, 403 County Road, for an on-premises license to sell all alcohol. “We don’t have a full bar or anything like that,” said owner Elizabeth Carter, who said all servers are over age 18. Ansel’s Cafe is open from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Tuesday-Sunday. McGrail told the selectmen that, with Ansel’s approval, Marion still has four available liquor licenses.

            The selectmen voted to approve Harbormaster Isaac Perry’s and Shellfish Officer Adam Murphy’s request for a one-year extension to the three existing aquaculture licenses as new regulations are formulated in partnership with the Marine Resources Commission. Perry expects the selectmen to be able to review the new regulations in the next three months.

            The selectmen voted to approve the DPW’s request to deficit spend on snow and ice removal. “We’ve spent the budget completely,” said McGrail, who estimates four snow-plowing efforts so far this winter.

            The board approved the appointment of Patricia White to the Scholarship and Education Committee.

            As Tuesday’s meeting opened, Parker was presented a large birthday cake and a song.

            The selectmen, who also act as Marion’s Water/Sewer Commissioners, set their next meeting in that capacity for Thursday, March 25, at 4:00 pm. The board’s March 4 joint meeting with the Finance Committee was postponed to Wednesday, March 10, at 7:00 pm. The next regular meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled to be held on March 16 at 4:00 pm.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Mick Colageo

            Walter Hartley will not be building a house on the 15-acre Pine Street parcel that was once in the family and recently acquired after all.

            Representing his daughter, applicant Katherine Hartley of 16 Walnut Plain Road, to the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals in a February 25 public hearing, Walter Hartley could not convince the ZBA to vote for the two variances that would have allowed construction under Chapter 20.40, Section D.1 of Rochester’s Zoning bylaws. One variance was for approval to construct the single-family dwelling on the lot with frontage falling short of the required 225 feet. The other variance sought relief from the requirement to build the house in a rectangle plan.

            The sticking point in the case was the immutable fact that the lot at 0 Pine Street only has 16 feet, 8 inches of frontage with which to work. Walter Hartley argued that, had the lot’s frontage been substantially greater, the driveway would not be made any wider.

            Two ZBA members, Kirby Gilmore and Richard Cutler, sympathized with Hartley’s situation, and Gilmore considered the short frontage a hardship because it had been established many years before zoning bylaws were established in Rochester and when the property was in the Hartley family.

            Walter Hartley’s revised plan was based on Fire Chief Scott Weigel’s comments requesting a widening of the bog road over its full length and a turnaround for vehicles. Zoned for agriculture, the property purchased in 2019 has an upland bog but no dwellings. Hartley argued that building the house would save the property from an uncertain future that theoretically could wind up hosting a solar array.

            The key abutter, Jeffrey Ponte of 45 Pine Street, asked the board to establish “the specific hardship is as far as the frontage is concerned…. What is that hardship?”

            When Cutler alluded to the variance requirement of 225 feet of frontage, Ponte repeated his question and cautioned the ZBA. “You’re setting a precedent for all future petitioners here that, no matter what kind of frontage they have [it will not matter].

            “The Planning Board was 5-0 against this…. I just can’t see this board being in favor of this petition. This is ridiculous…. You’re just shredding the bylaws…. He does not have the frontage [because] driveways are not frontage.”

            Abutter Charlene Haws, 48 Pine Street, lives directly across from the entry to the driveway and told the ZBA, “Part of the reason I moved here [was] the charm and the character, the bogs and … undisturbed. If you do this, you are opening a can of worms. It’s not remotely close to what should be allowed.”

            The tipping point for Gilmore was the testimony of Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson, who alluded to much smaller lots at Connet Woods being granted variances with as little as 30 feet of frontage. The safety-access minimum, he said, is 18 feet, and for a solar field, 16 feet.

            Johnson acknowledged that the lot in question was created before zoning altogether, “So we try to apply some common sense,” he said, referencing the rectangle requirement. But the most extreme frontage situations, Johnson pointed out, do not approach the Hartley request.

            Gilmore accepted Johnson’s answers to his questions and joined the ZBA in its unanimous 5-0 denial to grant the frontage variance. Katherine Hartley can file an appeal within 20 days of the decision.             The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for March 11 at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo

            The proposed campus center at Tabor Academy was closing in on a motion by the Marion Planning Board to vote to approve until Town Planner Gil Hilario told the board during its March 1 meeting that he had just confirmed by phone with Town Counsel Barbara Carbone that the board’s 4-1 vote just minutes before, presumed to have granted a special permit to the prep school for a reduction in the required number of parking spaces, was invalid.

            “It has to be a supermajority,” Hilario told the board, citing a state requirement. That meant a special permit-granting approval of a reduction from the zoning-required 58 parking spaces down to 50 needed five votes to pass. It didn’t matter that only five of the board’s six members were present.

            The result of the correction was a motion to reconsider the vote, the focus being on lone dissenter Chris Collings— until one step before the roll call reached his turn when Planning Board member Eileen Marum preceded Collings’ vote with her own ‘nay.’ The reconsidered vote was 3-2 in favor of the special permit, which was denied.

            Tabor Academy’s representative, Tristan deBarros, agreed to a continuance to March 15. At that point, he will present a revised parking plan for the proposed campus center at 85 Spring Street, where the Hayden Library presently sits.

            The board’s decision was a stunning turnaround from what almost became a 149-minute meeting ending in Tabor’s favor when the mistake was discovered.

            Engineer Bob Field, working for the applicant, cured some of the exasperation when he asked if the eight parking spots considered a logistical impossibility by all parties in attendance could be placed elsewhere on the parcel. Collings and Planning Board Vice-Chairperson Andrew Daniel applauded the suggestion.

            Hilario stressed with deBarros that a revised plan need not necessarily include 58 parking spaces but merely be amended in any form that the board would find satisfactory. “It can’t be anything because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said a frustrated deBarros.

            The parking hearing was thought to be a prelude to the piggybacked public hearing’s main course addressing the entire project, the major site plan review. The board unanimously voted to accept Jon Connell’s peer review, but vehicular traffic once again became a contentious point.

            Collings’ said that the town has been doing all the compromising while Tabor has not demonstrated an interest in using the construction to address any of Marion’s needs. Marum’s turning point from for to against was a disagreement over electric car charging stations.

            Weeks ago, Tabor had agreed to install the conduit for the possible future addition of two charging stations. On this night, Daniel said he wasn’t satisfied with the conduit alone but wanted to see the charging stations on a site plan. Dissatisfied with deBarros’ argument that the Planning Board could request but not require more charging stations, Marum implored deBarros to consider the ramifications of climate change on the very students the new campus center is being designed to serve.

            Interim Head of School Julie Salit insisted the school is planning charging stations in other campus locations where they will better serve the students and faculty.

            Marion’s Planning Board has the capacity for seven members, with two vacancies. The other missing piece was Chairperson Will Saltonstall, who recused himself from the public hearing because he is the project’s lead architect. Daniel has presided over Tabor’s public hearings with the Planning Board in Saltonstall’s absence.

            In a prior public hearing for a special permit and major site-plan review, Saltonstall presided as Sherman Briggs & Hamblin Homes, Inc., presented a revised plan to construct 28 townhouses on 3.55 acres in a residential zoning district off of Spring Street near the intersection with Mill Street. The original plan, said project representative Steve Poole of Lakeview Engineering Associates, featured 27 regular units plus three affordable housing units. In lieu of units classified as affordable, Poole said Briggs would satisfy state housing requirements by making an offsite donation.

            Planning Board members said Poole’s presentation lacked visuals to put the project into context against surrounding buildings. A nearby resident, Kai Srisirikul of 362 Spring Street, articulated concern over drainage. Marion will use Beals and Thomas as its peer-review engineer. The case was continued until March 15.

            Citing a prior business relationship, Saltonstall also recused himself for the night’s opening public hearing, a special permit to construct a pier. The applicant, 122 Register Road, LLC, was represented by Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon, and Leone Inc. Impressed with the presentation, the board approved the special permit.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for March 15 at 7:00 pm.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo

            The Marion Marine Resources Commission wants some explanation after hearing that the federal government plans to cut down on the spaces allowed for shellfishing along the eastern seaboard, including specific application to the town’s inner harbor.

            Aquaculture has already been a challenge for licensed shellfishermen, between delays relating to the coronavirus pandemic and the Board of Selectmen’s recent request for an overhaul of Marion’s rules and regulations.

            Predictably, the February 22 meeting of the MRC was wrought with frustration.

            Deputy Harbormaster/Shellfish Officer Adam Murphy asked Harbormaster Isaac Perry to speak about the latter’s message from the Division of Marine Fisheries during his Saturday visit with state representatives.

            “Some new regulations are coming down that are going to kind of cut short some of our available shellfish area,” said Perry.

            Marion’s inner harbor hosts 20 or more boats in its main mooring fields that are larger than typical center-console boats. Those vessels are considered to be too close to shellfish areas, and the result will be a restriction on shellfish areas in the town’s inner harbor.

            Perry said that the area of the harbor from Black’s Point to the southern end of Mitton’s flats would be severely limited in the amount of shellfishing allowed. “This is all preliminary,” he said, noting that no official mandates have come down from the federal government as of yet. “This is something that’s coming; we don’t have a choice…. We are going to lose about a half-mile of viable shellfish shoreline to these new regulations. The effect on that grant [is] going to be problematic.”

            MRC Chairman Vin Malkoski concurred, saying, “If the close line extends into that grant, aquaculture can no longer be conducted.”

            MRC member Toby Burr said, “We’ve been fishing those shores for over 100 years. What makes them so sure they should shut them down (without comments from the locals)?”

            Perry said he first heard of the restriction three to four weeks ago but anticipates it over the next couple of months. “It’s kind of a surprise when it came in that we’re going to be losing these areas…. I share your concern,” he said.

            MRC member Scott Cowell has attended Zoom meetings with Duxbury and Plymouth fishermen and reports strong discontent.

            “Maybe we should be writing our congressman,” suggested Burr.

            Andrew Bonney, who attended the meeting, asked permission to speak and said, “It’s appropriate for this community to ask questions about it rather than just accepting…. As a Marine Resources Commission, it would be totally in your wheelhouse and engage Congressman (Bill) Keating.”

            Not only are shellfishing areas shrinking, so is the footprint for the proposed Harbormaster’s facility from 5,600 square feet to 2,600.

            “My only concern is the facility we finish with does not jeopardize any of the work that you guys and the Marion Police Department has to have in space,” said MRC member Peter Borsari.

            “The total footprint is down quite a bit,” said Perry, explaining that the most noticeable revision is in the subtraction of decking and public bathrooms in favor of some other options. “It’s just a draft at this point, so I want to make sure I have all the language nailed down.”

            In his report, Perry said he is working with Malkoski, Town Administrator Jay McGrail, and Building Commissioner Scott Shippey and has tentatively set March 16 as a date for presentation to the Board of Selectmen. Perry said he would provide a frequently-asked-questions document, why the facility is needed, its revised size, and what has changed since the last proposal.

            Perry planned not to wait on petitioning the selectmen during their Tuesday meeting to extend the three current licenses that are held in good standing by one year so as not to hold them up from operation.

            The Island Wharf pump-out shed has been rebuilt, but winter weather has stalled aesthetic completions.

            Pandemic-related delays have stalled the completion of a couple of new 6-by-20-foot floats by a month. Perry said they are waiting on hardware from a supplier. “They were missed, but … there was no one coming or going that couldn’t tie-up,” he said.

            A pump-out grant of an additional $15,000 for calendar year 2022 is likely, according to Perry, with a six-month window in which the town can finance the replacement of an outboard motor on the pump-out boat. Perry said he still intends on taking the original $16,000 request to Town Meeting, but plans on taking that figure down to $5,000 on Town Meeting floor “once we’re sure” the town will receive the $15,000 pump-out grant.

            The Kittansett Club’s apparent interest in a potential pier with moorings attached motivated the MRC to discuss a commercial mooring moratorium that has been in place for the last 30 years. “It’s worth taking another look at it,” said Perry. “There’s a lot of interest out there.”

            The next meeting of the Marion Marine Resources Commission is scheduled for Monday, March 15.

Marion Marine Resources Commission

By Mick Colageo