It may not be a true eleventh-hour revelation, but pretty close, as the Mattapoisett Planning Board voted on April 5 to withdraw a new Solar Bylaw Article from the Annual Town Meeting Warrant after learning that legal edits are needed.

            For over a year, the board and its members, especially Janice Robbins, have been beavering away on solar bylaw drafts in preparation for a Town Meeting vote. Now, practically on the eve of having the warrant printed, the board learned that legal review would prompt a number of edits.

            Robbins, who has nearly single-handedly spearheaded the bylaw draft, said, “I thought town counsel had already seen it, but, no, they hadn’t. They made numerous edits including some that are substantive in nature.” She went on to say, “I can’t support going forward at this time; the better course is to pull it from the May Town Meeting.”

            Citing the time needed to absorb the legal edits and prepare the document for a Fall Town Meeting, Robbins said there is no point in jeopardizing the adoption of a new solar bylaw by having the Attorney General reject it on a technicality. “It’s a complicated bylaw; we need to get this right,” she said.

            The board unanimously voted to withdraw the article until fall.

            Another zoning bylaw, Flood Hazard Areas, is headed to the Annual Town Meeting in May. Acting Planning Board Administrator Mike Gagne said that adoption of the FEMA-mandated revisions had been sidelined due to COVID-19 closures, but added it is now time to seek voter approval. He said the town must accept new maps and language edits or FEMA insurance will be rescinded. “It’s so important that we do this,” Gagne said.

            Discussing the matter further, Robbins said there were actually two articles covering the topic – one for the zoning bylaw, and a second on associated definitions. The board decided to take another look at everything, repost the public hearing to include the definitions section, and return to the matter during its May 3 meeting.

            In other matters, Gagne advised the board that the lender agreement executed between the owners of Brandt Point Village and the town expired in August 2018. The beleaguered residential subdivision has seen its share of complications from several ownerships and incomplete construction for common-area features, and concerns over a shared septic system.

            In conversations with the owner’s representative, Al Loomis of McKenzie Engineering, Gagne said Loomis had responded to a punch list of comments from the town’s peer-review consultant, Field Engineering, and vice versa, but more time is needed for review. Gagne said, regarding the lapsed financial agreement, that more guidance is needed from town counsel.

            There were a number of Approval Not Required and Form A submissions on the lengthy agenda. They included an ANR for 3 Crystal Spring Road by Ryan Correira; Lots 85A and 86A located at Shagbark Circle represented by Jason Youngest of Outback Engineering for a Form A; Brandt Island Road Lots 56 and 57 represented by Douglas Schneider of Schneider, Davignon, & Leone, Inc.; and a Form A for Lots 121 and 122 in the Bay Club, also represented by Youngest. All were approved.

            A Form C application filed for property located on Park Lane was continued when Robbins returned to the unorthodox plan previous presented by the applicant’s representative, Doug Schneider. At issue is a proposal that the developers of the subdivision would reconstruct Park Lane, a public way. Robbins said she needed to consult with town counsel, having “never seen anything like this before.”

She noted that the roadway portion of the proposal would have the developers reconstructing the public roadway from dirt to pavement, as well as a realignment of the roadway in the cul-de-sac. The matter was continued until May 3.

            Also coming before the board was Robert Duffy, 4 Pine Island Road, requesting permission to repair and improve an existing rubble-stone wall feature located along a scenic byway. The request was approved after assurances that the wall would be placed on Duffy’s private property, not in the municipal easement.

            Board members also took up the issue of updating and setting a Planning Board fee schedule. Gagne said that Town Meeting would need to approve an amendment to the board’s Rules and Regulations before the board has the authority to set fees. He said that Town Meeting should approve their authority first, authority they currently do not have, then once that is in place, fees could be planned.

            Member Karen Field asked if Gagne had any details on the long-planned Tinkham Forest Trail. Gagne said that an access trail was planned, had been mapped out, and needed to be placed on local maps. A final step of having the trail recorded at the Registry of Deeds would close the loop.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, May 3, at 7:00 pm.

Mattapoisett Planning Board

By Marilou Newell

            With Marion set to host the town’s first body art and tattoo establishment, the Marion Board of Health on April 6 set its sights on May to hold a public hearing to adopt a set of body art establishment regulations.

            Marion’s regulations will be based primarily on the state’s own set of model regulations for local boards of health to use as a starting point in drafting regulations allowing for the authority to issue body art permits and conduct regular inspections.

            Board of Health Chairman Dr. Edward Hoffer said he had town counsel review the draft regulations and reported no apparent issues with the language that lays out the specifics concerning sanitation and sterilization measures and procedures, establishment recordkeeping, standards of practice, injury and complaint protocols, and permitting.

            Health Agent Anna Wimmer said the only addition she wishes to make would be to add “microblading” to the definitions section of the regulations to include as a form of body art.

            Microblading is a technique used predominantly for eyebrows involving several tiny needles that use fine strokes to apply semi-permanent ink into the skin.

            The board expects it will review a final draft at its next meeting and schedule a public hearing for May.

            On the COVID-19 front, Marion has seen an uptick in positive cases over the past several weeks, bringing the town’s total up to 401. As of press time, there were eight active cases.

            Sippican School has seven in quarantine awaiting test results with one positive case in isolation for a total of 36 confirmed cases since the onset of the pandemic last year.

            Tabor Academy, just back from a two-week spring break, reported “a few positive cases,” Health Nurse Lori Desmarais said, unrelated to any on-campus transmission and with no exposure reported on the school’s campus. Regular testing at Tabor Academy is ongoing.

            Sippican Healthcare Center has gone 56 days since its last confirmed positive case. All staff and residents have received both COVID-19 vaccine doses and are considered fully vaccinated.

            Marion will be distributing its final second doses to its elderly population that received the vaccine through the town before the state switched its strategy to focus on mass vaccination sites.

            A clinic was scheduled for April 7, and one final clinic is upcoming for next week for those last second doses.

            The board held a public hearing for a septic system variance requested by Eileen and J. Thomas Bowler, 17 Moorings Road. BOH members agreed to continue the hearing after concluding that they would not favor a variance from the town’s new regulation requiring new constructions to install state-of-the-art nitrogen-reducing septic systems while the couple awaits permission to connect to the municipal sewer service.

            Engineer David Davignon explained that the variance would allow the Bowlers to keep the existing 1,500-gallon septic tank system in place while demolishing the existing five-bedroom single-family house and rebuilding a new one with the same number of bedrooms. However, Marion regulations require a 2,000-gallon septic system for a house that size, and one that is more environmentally friendly, known as an “innovative/alternative” (I/A) septic system.

            According to Davignon, the existing septic system passed a Title V inspection, but the homeowners’ long-term plan is to tie into the sewer system, forgoing the septic system altogether. He said an abutter is also involved in the project, which includes installing a grinder pump and a 2-inch forced main down a shared driveway to Converse Road, where they hope to connect.

            Davignon said the couple had filed a sewer connection permit with the Water & Sewer Commission, which consists of the Board of Selectmen, and the plan is awaiting approval. Still, although the Bowlers intend on connecting to sewer, Davignon said, just in case, he wanted the availability of the existing septic system.

            BOH member Dot Brown said she had many questions, given that she had recently spoken with Department of Public Works Superintendent David Willett, who allegedly told her that he does not foresee the Bowlers receiving approval for the sewer tie-in. According to Brown, Willett said the Bowlers would not be able to use a 2-inch pipe to connect to Converse Road. Instead, they would have to run the pipe down Conserve Road to Cove Street and tie in there, making the project more costly.

            Brown said she also serves on a citizens’ advisory group undertaking a comprehensive wastewater management plan and that the Converse Road area does not place high on the priority list at this time. Furthermore, that wastewater management plan has been delayed by about a year due to the pandemic, so the group is nowhere near the point of determining when the area would be considered for sewer upgrades.

            Brown said she was not inclined to approve a variance from the board’s new septic regulations, especially without an I/A septic system plan in place should the sewer tie-in plan fail.

            Davignon argued that the existing septic system, if granted the variance, would not ever be used throughout the demolition and construction, and so no increase in flow was imminent. He said it “troubles” him that the board would require the Bowlers to replace the passing septic system with an expensive I/A system when all they want is to connect to sewer eventually.

            However, Brown would not concur. “If you can spend that much money on the house, then you can protect the water a little bit,” said Brown.

            Hoffer agreed with Brown that the new regulations require all new construction to install the I/A design, regardless of whether the existing septic system passes or fails a Title V inspection.

            Davignon expressed frustration with the details about the 2-inch pipe not being able to hook up to Converse Road, of which he said he was unaware. Brown said the Board of Health could not solve the sewer problem for the Bowlers, but nor could it grant a variance for a septic system outside the new regulations and for an undetermined amount of time. However, without the BOH signing-off on the system, the Bowlers would not receive the building permits they need to demo and rebuild the house.

            Davignon asked if the BOH would approve the variance, but with the caveat, should the Bowlers be denied a sewer connection, then they would install an I/A septic system.

            Brown was still not comfortable with that, and neither were the other board members. Without a plan submitted for an I/A septic system, the board was not prepared to move forward.

            J. Thomas Bowler spoke via Zoom and assured the board that the older septic system would never be used regardless of the sewer outcome, and also said he hadn’t heard anything mentioned about the 2-inch pipe not being able to connect to Converse Road. He wanted to know more about that, but the board did not have the information.

            Bowler’s frustration was evident in the steady raising of his voice as he questioned the board about the information it was relying upon that evening. He questioned the “conflating a master septic/sewer plan for Marion with one homeowner’s request,” and Brown said that perception was “exactly why we’re in this position now.”

            Every homeowner over the last 50 years has asked the same question, she said.

            Bowler took “huge exception” to what he said was Brown’s assumption that he was “trying to get out of” installing the I/A septic system. He defended himself by saying that he and his wife care about the environment and water quality and never intended to circumvent regulations. He continued speaking in a loud tone for some time until Hoffer turned to Davignon and asked if he would like a continuation of the public hearing to allow for time to obtain written permission for the sewer tie-in or, in the absence of that, to put together a plan for an I/A system as a backup plan.

            Davignon accepted, and the hearing was continued until 4:10 pm on April 20.

            The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health will be on April 20 at 4:00 pm.

Marion Board of Health

By Jean Perry

            The elephant in the kitchen proved too big not to talk about when the Marion Planning Board met via Zoom on April 5.

            In a public hearing opened to entertain applicant Matt Zuker’s request for a zoning reclassification of 30 acres of land on Bournhurst Road and Wareham Street (Route 6) from single-family housing to multi-family (Residence Zone E), the board intended to limit its discussion to the merits of the zoning request and avoid the housing development itself.

            “They’re intertwined,” countered attorney Patricia McArdle, addressing the board on behalf of Zuker.

            McArdle introduced a deed restriction that would limit any development on the four lots (30 acres) to 48 units, still falling far below the zoning change that will go to Town Meeting floor on May 10 seeking to reduce Zone E multi-family housing from a maximum of 12 units per acre to six. This development, McArdle pointed out, is less than two units per acre.

            “The zoning (request) is not about density, it’s about flexibility,” said Zuker. “We want to work with the town.”

            Planning Board Vice Chairman Andrew Daniel, acting as meeting chair in the absence of Chairman Will Saltonstall, asked McArdle and Zuker, “Does it have to be an E? …Would [D] suit the town better in that area? Still a greater density than a B.”

            Town Planner Gil Hilario was more concerned that the board consider the ramifications of a third major housing development in Marion, while two comparably sized developments are in the vetting process.

            Between Steen Realty’s Heron Cove development on Route 6 and Sherman Briggs’ project off Spring Street and Mill Street, said Hilario, Marion will soon go from adding four new residential units per year to 138. “That’s over 1,000 percent,” he said. “We’re getting to the point where we really need to discuss how the zoning change is going to impact Marion and its future.”

            Hilario mentioned sewer capacity, school system, utilities, and taxes as entities all about to be severely impacted just by the two residential developments in the works.

            “The number of units we’re getting is incredibly high over the year, and now we’re talking about a third development,” he said. “I think the discussion needs to be on the zoning change.”

            Planning Board member Chris Collings asked where Marion stands on its build-out of available lots. Member Norm Hills said, “We are running out of buildable lots, between wetlands, flood zones, and what’s already been built out.”

            Hills suggested an analysis be done, especially now that the Steen, Briggs, and now Zuker developments are being sought.

            McArdle said that Zuker is seeking a low-density development and openly wished she could satisfy the questions asked with a financial report put together by the development team that was not ready for distribution.

            Meantime, the Planning Board is waiting on the Board of Assessors for a requested comparative analysis that would presumably yield a reliable sense of expectation of financial impacts on the town with and without the requested zoning change.

            Daniel concluded that there is not yet enough information available to adequately inform the board, and McArdle requested a continuance. The board voted unanimously to continue the public hearing to Tuesday, April 20.

            A major site plan review of Briggs’ project, which seeks in partnership with Hamblin Homes Inc. to construct and 28 townhouses on Spring Street at Mill Street, was also on the schedule of continued public hearings but was continued to Tuesday, April 20.

            A public hearing was opened to discuss proposed bylaw codification for Town Meeting articles and continued to Tuesday, April 20.

            Along with the aforementioned, zoning bylaw change for multi-family housing developments, Marion residents will be asked to vote to adopt the state’s latest flood hazard district bylaw, retiring its own language. Daniel told the meeting that the public can visit marionma.gov and view the maps and see the changes.

            In a continued public hearing that was closed, the Planning Board voted to grant Kristina Nelson, 3 Wells Road, two special permits for her nutrition club – one permit for what is categorized as a fast-food restaurant and the other as a general retail establishment. The special permit Nelson had sought for a reduction in the parking requirement was deemed unnecessary.

            In response to a request from the Board of Selectmen, the Planning Board discussed the Papas Real Estate, LLC project, an application for a special permit to run a propane business on Luce Avenue and Highland Avenue.

            Member Eileen Marum told the board she walked through the project area and noticed that “both roads are narrow.” She is concerned about traffic flow and safety, including parking and loading.

            According to Hilario, the propane business will need a special permit because it would be located in a water supply protection district.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, at 7:00 pm.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo