During Monday night’s meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board, member Karen Field commented that the houses being built on Chapel Road seem too close to Route 6. She said the building inspector confirmed that the homes have proper setbacks. This prompted resident Paul Osenkowski to share his opinion of the project and the board.
Osenkowski began by saying that Mattapoisett lacks diversity because housing is too expensive. He went on to admonish the board, which he said “screwed up” regarding an earlier, conceptual cluster subdivision plan. That concept was brought to the board by engineer Bill Madden of G.A.F. Engineering, representing David Nicolosi, through informal discussion only, not in a request for Plan Review.
Osenkowski told the board that instead of getting five “reasonably” priced homes including green space, the town is getting much bigger homes priced much higher and no green space. He alluded to unnamed persons whom he alleged blocked the original plans for personal reasons and accused the board members (with the exception of John Mathieu, who was not on the board at that time) of stonewalling.
For over 10 minutes, Osenkowski was allowed to continue. He repeated several times that the board knew about behind-the-scene matters that had negatively impacted the original concept. The board responded they didn’t know what he was talking about. Board member Arlene Fidalgo said the discussion was “absurd.”
Mathieu said that he understood what Osenkowski was driving at. He said at a future board meeting he wishes to discuss bylaws and review what he dubbed “flexibility” given to the Planning Board.
The 2022 Master Plan, which is pending Select Board review, speaks to the need for more housing and affordable housing that Mathieu said he wants to explore. A draft of the pending Master Plan is accessible at Mattapoisett.net.
Earlier in the meeting, the board approved the town’s return of $520.95 in 53G funding to David McIntire for the Skagbark Circle roadway construction being undertaken by the developer.
Site Plan Review of the 156 Acushnet Road solar array filed by Sun Partners was continued to March 6, pending state acceptance of the project.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, March 6, at 7:00 pm.
Mattapoisett Planning Board
By Marilou Newell