Ken Steen’s 120-unit, affordable-housing development planned off Route 6 near the Wareham town line is in line for its final public hearing with the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday, September 8, at 6:00 pm.
Town Counsel Jon Witten advised the ZBA not to close the public hearing during its August 25 public meeting in order to leave the window open for new information including signage plans inside the development, one of few areas causing pause during a straw poll taken on all 27 waiver requests.
The vast majority of Steen’s waiver requests fall into two categories: matters that had been talked out to the mutual satisfaction of both the ZBA and the applicant and clerical matters pertaining to the ZBA’s role as sole municipal vetting authority for the 40B project.
The ZBA acknowledged receipt of a letter from peer-review consultant Peter Palmieri stating approval that Steen’s representatives responded favorably to all of his concerns and questions. That cleared the way for a wrap-up discussion on waivers.
ZBA Chair Cynthia Callow told the members that the Heron Cove case had gone “way past the 180 days,” a time limit to close a public hearing once opened. Steen gave verbal consent to an extension to September 30, and his attorney Mark Bobrowski showed up prepared to email the extension in the necessary document form.
One plan that was scrapped as a result of the timeline revelation was an architectural review. Callow told the board that Marion Building Commissioner Bob Grillo “can do for us what the architectural review would have done.”
When ZBA member Will Tifft was asked for his vote to cancel the architectural review, he sought clarification on Grillo’s limits.
“Everything that I saw from the original proposal, from the architect to the peer review on the architecture, in my opinion either dealt with (state-building) code issues that I would deal with or aesthetic issues, which I think you were going to deal with,” Grillo told the board. “It’s probably going to be set up as a condition. I wouldn’t want to make those decisions. I think that should be on the Zoning Board.”
Grillo said that while the board should review paint color or the style matters, heating systems and the like would need to be in the conditions “up front.”
The vote to cancel the architectural review was unanimous.
Witten advised the ZBA to make further review in signage on the grounds of the project a condition of approval. “You don’t want to leave this (matter) open, notwithstanding good success with Mr. Steen’s past projects. … We don’t want to have this battle six months from now,” said Witten, stressing that “it’s perfectly fine” to approve the project contingent on further review of signage.
“You don’t want (Grillo) to be the responsible party for any kind of subjective review,” Witten said. “It’s not his job. All the subjectivity goes to the board.”
Callow said that Palmieri also notified the ZBA that he is satisfied that Steen has addressed his concerns regarding Marion Village Estates, and she asked the board to move to approve Steen’s recovery of his certificate of credit. The vote was unanimous, legally closing Steen Realty’s business with MVE and Fieldstone Lane. In attendance at the Police Station, Steen thanked the commission.
At the beginning of the August 25 meeting, Callow also sought to correct a procedural misstep, telling the ZBA that she had mistakenly been asking for seven votes when she should have been asking for five. Furthermore, she explained that while ZBA member Margie Baldwin was included in discussion, (due to attendance requirements) she should not have been asked for any votes related to the Heron Cove case.
For the August 25 meeting, Callow said Dani Engwert would not vote and designated Tucker Burr the alternate, joining Callow, Dr. Ed Hoffer, Dana Nilson and Tifft as a five-member quorum. Engwert would still participate in discussion only.
The ZBA will meet a half-hour early on September 8 to accommodate (in a small measure) A-Attorney Mark Bobrowski, who plans to join the meeting remotely from France.
The next meeting of the Marion ZBA is scheduled for Thursday, September 8, at 6:00 pm.
Marion Zoning Board of Appeals
By Mick Colageo