The Rochester Planning Board met briefly Tuesday to approve the Groundwater Protection District Special Permit and Site Plan Review Permit for the proposed Eversource Substation at 214 Rounsville Road.
The final endorsement of the large project, upgrades necessary to interconnect distributed generation facilities in town, came with the addition of a waiver important to Eversource officials. Company Representative Heather Sykes had asked for a change in the draft language. She had said the company will have to use heavy lift crane equipment for a portion of the work and that it would be difficult to find such machinery that uses bio-hydrological fluids. These are fluids that don’t contaminate soil and groundwater. That is why their use is a Planning Board requirement for machinery at such work sites.
On Tuesday, Board Chair Arnold Johnson said an exemption allowing the use of crane equipment not containing bio-hydrological fluids will be included in the two Eversource permits after all. Specifically, he said, this equipment will be allowed on-site because it will only be used briefly to move heavy materials. The exemption decrees that this equipment will be at the site for no more than a week. The resulting approval vote for both permits was unanimous.
In other action, the board signed the permit for the Definitive Subdivision plan at 386 Snipatuit Road after an update from the applicant’s engineering consultant Rick Charron. He said he has finally heard from the Natural Heritage Foundation regarding endangered species. He reported that the property owners will do a turtle assessment of the property and then do whatever that assessment concludes needs to be done. The plan here is to divide 24 acres into one lot containing an existing home and outhouse on two acres and two other lots with frontage on a new roadway to be named Peter Crapo Cartway.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco