December 13 will be the decision date for several projects the Rochester Planning Board reviewed during a busy meeting on November 16.
First, however, the board endorsed the Approval Not Required application for minor changes to 31 Clapp Road, which is owned by Conservation Commission member William Clapp.
Clapp wishes to revise the lot-line design to add another lot and still leave the required 25 feet of frontage, said his technical consultant, Matt Leone of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc.
Planning Board member Ben Bailey made the motion, swiftly seconded by the other members, that the plan will not require site-plan review.
Next, Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering presented revisions to Rockland Trust’s plan to build a 7×13-foot, drive-up/walk-up kiosk on an 8×19-foot concrete foundation in the Plumb Corner shopping center parking lot.
Madden said the new plan relocates the kiosk to the westerly end of the landscaped island where the original plan placed it and reduces the work construction area.
In October, board members and Friends Market manager Rob Ciardi complained the kiosk is being built nearly right in front of the store, and its location will be a big hindrance to customer parking and truck access to the rear of the store. The latter is a concern, Ciardi said, because of the way large delivery vehicles must enter the plaza.
On November 16, Ciardi seemed satisfied by the changes. He asked when construction will start and how long will the trench that must be dug for utilities remain open. Madden said the trench will be there 30-60 days but will be covered by metal plates at night, and Rockland Trust hopes to begin construction in April or May.
Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman David Arancio noted the ZBA has heard nothing about the kiosk’s signage that his board must review if it exceeds a certain height.
In response to this, Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson said the Planning Board will include in the draft decision the condition that signage be no more than 9-feet tall. That decision will be written in time for the board’s December 13 meeting.
The Planning Board next reviewed the plan for a canopy-mounted, large-scale, solar photo-voltaic system that will be built over the parking lot at the Rochester Memorial School. The project will require a special permit and site-plan-review approval.
Jose Pacheco of Green Seal Environmental said two canopies, measuring 222-feet long by 438-feet wide and supported by seven columns, will be built on 13.7 acres in the school’s rear parking lot. All parking access and existing lighting and much of the existing landscaping will remain.
Fellow project representative Robert Bowman said the solar canopy is constructed to withstand and repel excessive snow. He told the board that the lights under the canopy will be powered by the school’s electrical system.
As it awaits further details and revisions of the plan design, the board continued this hearing until December 13.
Next up, the board considered Connet Woods’ proposal to modify its definitive, flexible subdivision plan. The project developer wants to eliminate a subdivision road and convert/downgrade 10 approved lots to three lots at Connet Woods and Box Turtle Drive.
Project representative Steve Meltzer said 105 units have been built at Connet Woods since the development was approved in 2007. The developer found a high water table where another road, McCombe Place, and more units were planned, meaning it would be too costly to bring in the fill that would be required to make the area buildable. He noted one of the advantages of this new plan is that there would be a 70-percent reduction in impervious surface.
The only pushback against this plan at the hearing came from neighbors appearing in person and remotely via Zoom.
Abutter Melissa Scanlon complained that when she moved to the area, she and her neighbors were told no more houses would be built on the wetland across from her. She said that preserving open space is what this town should be doing. She said she wanted this plan to be denied.
Johnson explained the flexible-subdivision plan classification of this project in itself is preserving more open land. The developer has already been talked down from 600 housing units.
Two other abutters, attending on Zoom, repeated Scanlon’s concerns, saying this project should be stopped with a denial of this plan.
Johnson said the board would need a legally enforceable reason to deny the modification or the town would get sued. “Our rules govern our decisions,” he said, “not what’s popular.”
Arancio, also a Box Turtle Drive resident, countered the complaints by noting, “This is the best outcome we could have wished for. To have three more (dwellings) instead of seven more.”
As it seeks more information from a peer review of the modification plan, the board also continued this hearing to December 13.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 13, at 7:00 pm at Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School, 476 North Avenue, Rochester.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco