The Notice of Intent hearing for a plan to install two stone posts and a gate at the end of a driveway on Old Schoolhouse Road drew a large number of abutters but had to be postponed by Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday because not all of the address’s neighbors had been notified.
Commission Chairman Christopher Gerrior explained to those filling the hearing-room seats that proper notification had been sent to every direct abutter of applicant Nicholas Araujo, and the hearing will need to be continued to its next (August 6) meeting.
The move led to two more votes that the commission approved. Cochairman Ben Bailey motioned that Araujo be required to renotify all the abutters to ensure they all know of the changed hearing date.
Bailey later recommended the board set a new policy, that applicants be required to notify abutters of a hearing notice at least two weeks before the hearing date. After the commission endorsed the new policy, Bailey told Conservation Agent Merilee Kelly, “Add that to whatever cheat sheet of rules you give them when they apply so this doesn’t happen again.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday’s agenda, the commission tackled several long-completed projects that had yet to receive their certificates of compliance. It granted a Certificate of Compliance to Renewable Energy Development Partners, LLC, for its bog-canal-canopy solar project on Pierce Street after Gerrior asked the applicants who were attending via Zoom, whether they have seen any effects from the canopy over the bog bed. The Renewable Energy Development Partners officials said they have witnessed only cooler bog-water temperatures because of the shade.
The commission then granted certificates of compliance to Michael Cambra for his project to build a home addition at 157 Clapp Road and to Raymond Borthwick for his home-construction project at 28 Nathaniels Drive.
Lastly, the board finalized the Certificate of Compliance application for a home-construction project on New Bedford Road by checking off the “Never Commenced” box. Kelly reported the applicant had changed his mind about building a house there and work within the Notice of Intent was never done.
The commission then thanked Kelly for her extra work tracking down the projects such as these filed with the ConCom that had never sought their certificates of compliance.
The next Conservation Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 6, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco