During the February 1 meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board, board member Nathan Ketchel reported on the Mattapoisett Neck Road Resiliency Project. This study program is being funded by a grant the town received from the state’s Coastal Zone Management division of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The town received $74,981 in grant monies with a 25 percent match.
Ketchel said the environmental engineering firm Fuss and O’Neil, along with consultants from the Woods Hole Group, convened a meeting on January 27 and included Highway Surveyor Barry Denham. Selectman Jordan Collyer and Town Administrator Mike Lorenco were also in attendance.
The environmental team detailed the scope of their work, which already has included a study of the effectiveness of the existing culverts along Mattapoisett Neck Road to flush in and out of tidal streams and marshlands that abut the roadway in critical low-lying areas. The study will also model sea-level rise created by ice-sheet melting and associated flooding events as far out as a “100-year flood,” Ketchel said. Another aspect of the program will be modeling improvements to the roadway, including but not limited to short raised spans.
In a follow-up, Collyer said, “It’s a multi-faceted project that will study tidal activity and the ability of both culverts to handle the flow.” He said that the culvert at Molly’s Cove was especially problematic, showing serious signs of aging. “That’s part of the reason the CZM grant was awarded,” he said, while also noting that the roadway serving the residential community needs to be protected.
Ketchel reported that data collection will be ongoing and that the next meeting of this environmental study group is scheduled for March 24, with public hearings following in April.
Lorenco said that more grants will be needed to fund any roadway improvements and culvert repairs but that these first steps were critical in understanding the full scope of issues facing Mattapoisett Neck. He also noted that there are other areas in town that need similar in-depth evaluation, adding, “By the Neck going first, the new modeling protocol can be applied to other areas in town.… Mattapoisett has 16 miles of shoreline.”
The Planning Board also gave the green light to a solar bylaw draft primarily prepared by Planning Board member Janice Robbins. She commented that in July 2021, changes made to the state regulations put a great deal of undeveloped land out of the running for large commercial solar arrays. “It’s disqualified the buying-out of conservation restrictions and using agricultural lands under Chapter 61A,” she said. In a follow-up, Robbins further explained that the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources issues the guidelines on the types of land that may be developed for solar arrays under a “land siting” statute. She went on to say that the solar arrays that have come before the Planning Board more recently were all grandfathered applications. “Those locations wouldn’t meet the current regulations.”
During her report to the board, Robbins also said that the governor had changed the requirement from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority when bylaw changes or additions come before voters in town meetings.
Those comments prompted engineer Douglas Schneider to say that if one looked at the latest state maps, one would find very little land suitable for any kind of development. Robbins concurred with that assessment. Schneider also questioned using the state regulations and mapping to write a local bylaw. “When you’re tying yourself to state maps, you’ve got to be specific [as to] what maps,” he said. Robbins confirmed that, as state maps change, so, too, would local bylaws that utilize that mapping. She also reminded all that the town currently only has site-plan review for solar-array construction.
The board members were pleased with the draft and targeted April 5 to schedule a public hearing on the bylaw. If sentiment is positive, the next step would be including the solar bylaw in the Annual Spring Town Meeting Warrant.
Planning Board Chairman Tom Tucker reminded the board that the Master Plan Committee’s next meeting would be on February 3.
Planning Board member Karen Field reported on her attendance at the Community Preservation Committee meeting on January 22. At that time, the CPC members agreed in principle with a grant filed by the Christian Church and Mattapoisett Museum for renovations to the front door and entranceway. The committee sought and received a legal interpretation that would allow the group to consider the application, absent consideration of any religious affiliation. The church leases the building space to the museum in an agreement that gives the museum use of the former Baptist Church structure for nearly 100 years. The legal opinion noted that, given the primary use of the structure as a museum, there was no conflict with the separation of church and state.
All other matters before the Planning Board were continued at the request of the applicants, and several also received filing extensions. Those cases were: Randall Lane, LLC for a large commercial solar array planned off Randall Lane, continued until March 1 with an April 5 extension date; Park Lane subdivision Form C, Andre Rieksts, Scott Atkinson, Margo Atkinson, continued until March 1 with an April 5 extension date; Eric Medeiros, Modification to Form C Definitive Subdivision, Selha Way, continued to March 1; 18 Crystal Springs Road, Raymond Hanks, Form A not Required, continued to March 1; and 3 Crystal Springs Road, Ryan Correia, Form A not required, continued to March 15.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, March 1, at 7:00 pm.
Mattapoisett Planning Board
By Marilou Newell