The Marion Planning Board is exploring taking on a greater role in assessing Marion’s long-term future, with particular attention to the town’s capital assets.
At the Planning Board’s March 19 meeting, board member Ted North spoke of his intention to present a PowerPoint presentation at the board’s April 2 meeting regarding long-term planning of the town and how the board could get involved. This led to an impromptu discussion on whether the Planning Board has statutory rights to get involved in assessing the town’s future, in particular its investments.
“[Marion] has approximately $50 million in debt and $12 million in unfunded liabilities. Right now, as we sit here, we are looking at $60 million in debt. As we go forward with capital projects, we have very little room to incur a heck of a lot more debt,” North said.
The board members expressed interest in exploring the idea, but with caution.
“I’ve been involved in the Planning Board for 10 years, and I’ve never been involved in those discussions,” board member Tom Magauran said. “As a town, we recognize there has been a weakness at looking at our assets, and there is little to no maintenance going on – except at the harbormaster’s office.”
“We need to square away our statutory authority. I don’t want to step on places where we don’t belong, but on the other hand if it is within our jurisdiction we should look at it,” Magauran added.
“It appears to me we are breaking new ground. If it is within our responsibility, then so be it,” said Chairman Jay Ryder.
“We’ve let the maintenance of our town fall apart. From the sewer to the roads to the buildings. It’s obvious. We always make things difficult to get new growth to support our tax base,” Sherman Briggs weighed in.
The discussion touched on the YSI Building, a 18,000 square foot industrial building at 13 Atlantic Ave accepted by the town as a donation at the Special Town Meeting last fall.
“The YSI Building is a great poster child for lack of planning in the town,” North said, comparing it to the “Pascal Principle.”
“The harbormaster has moved boats in there, and then the carpentry shop moved in, and now the natural history museum [will be] asking for space… This is like the old Oklahoma land grab, everyone wants space over there,” he said.
“It could get filled up with stuff that does not necessarily drive costs down in town, but alternatively it could drive costs up,” Magauran agreed, noting that although the building is a donation worth $400,000 it could end up costing the town much more in maintenance and other expenditures.
North said that unlike the Capital Planning Committee – of which he is a part – the Planning Board is more than an information-gathering committee as it has statutory authority.
“We are the guys who should be taking the lead and getting this done,” he said.
Stephen Kokkins, a resident who is running for the Planning Board, said in his research on regulations, assessment of resources is a legitimate Planning Board function – even if it isn’t done for a Master Plan.
“[A Planning Board] can give information on the condition of a city. I don’ t think you have to be weighted down so that a Master Plan has to be undertaken,” he said.
The board also touched on the recent effort to evaluate the Town House. Chairman Ryder, who is also Chair of the Town House Advisory Committee, said that it might disband at its next meeting because it doesn’t have enough authority to be effective.
Ultimately, the board endorsed spreading the word that it is available to town committees and officials to solicit bids for small assessments on projects. It decided to invite town boards, the public and other interested parties to attend North’s April 2 presentation
In other business at the meeting:
• The planning board approved an ANR application to combine two parcels at 80 Piney Point Road, as presented by Christian Farland.
• The board approved an ANR Application for a garage addition at 15 Allen Street, as presented by Paul Matoes. The case had gone to Land Court, and Matoes had provided additional records to settle the matter.
By Laura Fedak Pedulli