The Rochester Select Board was joined by the Finance Committee for Monday’s public meeting to vote recommendations on the warrant articles for the May 23 Town Meeting, but their activities were overshadowed by a cloud of concern after Town Planner Nancy Durfee presented on the state’s new designation of Rochester as an “adjacent town” to the MBTA’s South Coast Rail project that will run through Middleboro and Wareham.
As such, the state is looking at Rochester under Massachusetts General Law 40A, Section 3A as a town inside a zoning district where multifamily housing is permitted by right. As one of 175 communities so designated, Rochester is expected under Chapter 161A, Section 1, to set aside land where 750 residential units can be constructed at a minimum of 15 units per acre.
“We don’t have water, we don’t have sewer, how would we do that?” asked Select Board member Paul Ciaburri.
“We would have to build a very significant septic system to deal with this,” said Durfee, pointing out that her presentation is being for the sake of compliance.
New Town Administrator Glenn Cannon said the town anticipates a lot of push-back on the measure. “Right now, the only requirement is that we present to the board,” he said.
The reasoning behind the plan is the state’s housing crisis, the need for economic growth and transit development, thus the concept of population density around rail stations.
The fastest route from Town Hall to the Middleboro/Lakeville Commuter Rail station is 17 miles.
Durfee said an informational form is due back to the state by May 2; the penalty for noncompliance would be felt should Rochester apply for state grant funding.
At an average of 4.5 people per unit, a 750-unit residential complex would increase Rochester’s population from 5,517 (2020) by 3,375 new residents (40 percent.)
The annual cost to educate 1,621 students in the public schools at $13,570 per student would cost the town $22,000,000. It was also estimated that based on 300 gallons of water usage per unit per day, the town would consume an additional 225,000 gallons per day.
Citing sewer limitations, stormwater, groundwater supply and wetlands impact, Durfee called those figures the tip of the iceberg. The project would require a parcel-by-parcel analysis by an outside organization. Based on Rochester’s Zoning Map, Durfee said there are very few places that the project could be located.
“It’s a burden that we would have to bear,” she said, noting that it paints all 175 impacted communities with the same brush.
In 2019, Durfee was working for the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) on the South Coast Rail. The state-funded effort identified 27 communities in the region including Rochester.
“Development was designed to go where it was needed most and tempered in the towns not to be overly dense. That’s the kind of planning that I believe the state should go back to look at,” said Durfee, who told the Select Board she will update as more is learned. “This is complicated. This remains in flux as communities are now commenting on it.”
The next hurdle for the town is an Action Plan on how to create and adopt a multifamily district, due July 1, 2023. The plan is to be on the Town Meeting warrant submitted for approval by December 31, 2024.
The Annual Town Meeting warrant was reviewed by the Select Board in joint session with the Finance and Capital Planning committees, Town Clerk Paul Dawson and Town Moderator David Arancio.
Article 5, the town’s FY23 operating budget of $24,174,626 was approved for recommendation to voters at the May 23 Annual Town Meeting.
Article 13 was among the bigger-ticket items, as the Select Board approved the appropriation via borrowing and/or other funding sources of $380,000 to buy and equip an ambulance.
Article 15 is a $110,000 public-safety feasibility study involving the long-term future of the facilities of the Fire and Police departments. Assistant Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar explained that there is money already in the town’s public-safety stabilization fund. The vote authorized the town to allocate the funds.
Article 19 will authorize the town to spend $192,000 on six capital projects varying in expense, the most expensive being $82,000 for a fresh-air breathing compressor.
Article 2, addressing elected official salaries, was tweaked after Select Board member Woody Hartley recommended amending the constable’s rate to $15 per hour. The board approved the measure.
Article 3, a personnel bylaw amendment, will be subject to revision at Town Meeting.
Articles 22 and 23, which apply to zoning bylaws including screening for solar projects and tree clearing, will soon be heard by the Planning Board. Any proposed changes will be made at Town Meeting.
Article 25 would transfer from available funds $200,000 into the Capital Improvements Fund, and Article 24 would transfer from available funds $150,000 to the Public Safety Stabilization Fund.
When he heard Article 21 proposes the allocation of $49,500 for a dump sander truck and Article 20 the allocation of $41,000 for an Animal Control vehicle, Hartley asked why those are not capital items. Szyndlar explained that as capital projects, those expenses “chew up so much money that other sources (are) always preferred.” Hartley asked if the town should bump up Capital funding to $300,000 next year.
Arancio, who sits on the Capital Planning Committee, said the desire is to look at more of a three to five-year plan. “But the town has many needs,” he said.
Article 27 is a Citizens Petition seeking to authorize the town to essentially donate a 4-acre parcel of land on the south side of Perry’s Lane near Mary’s Pond for the purpose of constructing and maintaining affordable-housing units for Rochester seniors and veterans.
In other Select Board business, the contract for new Building Commissioner Carl Bizarro was approved. Woody Hartley was reappointed to his role as liaison to SRPEDD.
Pauline Monroe and Mary Bessey were reappointed to the Council on Aging Board of Directors, and the Select Board voted to appoint Sandra Charron to serve a three-year term, filling the seat being vacated on April 30 by Woody Hartley. The Select Board also appointed Patricia Joy to fill the remainder of Patricia Ryan’s term on the COA Board.
David Hughes was approved by the Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School Appointing Authority including Rochester School Committee members and Town Moderator David Arancio.
In a brief Town Administrator’s Report, Cannon discussed grant applications, noting that Representative William Straus and Senator Michael Rodrigues are supporting Rochester’s effort for a feasibility study for the town’s safety facilities. Cannon also said that interviews for a new library director are complete.
Arancio publicly thanked Kirby Gilmore, who is stepping down from the Zoning Board of Appeals when his term ends on April 30.
The Select Board voted to accept the letter of resignation of Dan Gagne from the Conservation Commission, pending acceptance by the commission.
Old Rochester Youth Baseball’s Parade will be held on Saturday, May 7, on Dexter Lane and Mary’s Pond Road.
The Select Board entered executive session and did not return to public session. The next meeting of the board was not set before adjournment.
Rochester Select Board
By Mick Colageo