Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday agreed to keep pursuing the town’s rights to the water on Red Brick Farm East land that is part of a 241-acre Conservation Restriction giving Rochester no rights to the groundwater that the property might produce.
Commission Chairman Christopher Gerrior told the board Tuesday that he expected the issue to be on the agenda of the recent Tri-Town Select Board held January 9 in Mattapoisett, but the item was not discussed, he said, and he doesn’t want to let the issue continue unresolved.
When they first heard of the CR plan months ago, commission members complained that Rochester has lost the right to use its own water resources too many times over the decades.
The regional Conservation Restriction agreement that nonetheless became reality proposed giving Mattapoisett the water rights to the Rochester parcel, including possibly digging up to four new wells, under a co-ownership agreement with the Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Authority. However, the Rochester Conservation Commission was able to prod the authority to agree in writing it would “make every effort” to transfer the conservation land in Rochester to the town for $1.
That promise has yet to see reality. Gerrior said he would like to see the issue become an agenda item at the next Tri-Town Select Board meeting, which he said will be held the first or second week in June.
This prodded board member Carl MacDermott to note, “If we wait till May, we’ll only kick this problem further down the road.”
The ConCom, as a result, approved sending a letter to the Select Board requesting its assistance with addressing the issue with the Mattapoisett Water Authority sooner than that.
Board member Ben Bailey said he wanted to know, “Will the Selectmen work with us? Can we pursue this on our own? Ask them what they intend to do and that we want to address this soon.” Gerrior agreed to draft and send the letter.
In other action, the commission agreed to the Notice of Intent for BWC Snows Pond LLC’s plan to build a 2.39 megawatt, solar-energy array on 12.55 acres of a 31.23-acre parcel at 0 Cushman Road to include work within the 100-foot buffer zone. The commission will now draft the plan’s Order of Conditions that it will vote on at its next meeting on February 6.
The commission approved a request for a three-year extension of the Order of Conditions for a housing development planned for 22 Cranberry Highway. Its original OOC, which was issued in January of 2021, will now expire on January 16, 2026.
The commission continued its hearing into the Notice of Intent to build a 15-acre, self-storage facility at 25 Cranberry Highway and 0 Kings Highway, upon the petitioner’s request, until February 20.
The board approved a request for a Certificate of Compliance for 433 Neck Road filed by Matthew Magalhaes, certifying that work on the single-family home there has been satisfactorily completed.
The board also voted to issue a Certificate of Compliance for a portable dock on the pond at 536 Snipatuit Road filed by commission member Matthew Bache.
The Rochester Conservation Commission will meet next on Tuesday, February 6, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco