Rochester’s Planning Board meeting on Tuesday night approved the request by Snipatuit Solar LLC to extend for one year the special permits for its proposed solar-energy installation on 128 acres at 529, 523 and 0 Snipatuit Road and Featherbed Lane within the Mattapoisett River Valley Watershed and groundwater protection district.
The vote came after project engineer Greg Sampson agreed to new terms that include the town being indemnified on the project owner’s liability insurance policy and increases in the bond amounts that the company must post.
The five-year performance bond the company must pay has been increased to $21,000 and the decommissioning bond to $350,000. Sampson said a simple yes when Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson asked him if he was amendable to both increases.
In other action, the board signed the draft letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding a Use Variance petition for a plan to construct a multifamily unit on a lot barely more than one acre in size at 48 Pierce Street. At its previous meeting, the board had agreed to send notice to the ZBA that it opposes such a plan.
The Planning Board also signed the Site Plan Review draft decision for the four-building, self-storage facility proposed for County Road that will include one multistory building.
The board’s lengthiest discussion came when it reviewed the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee’s proposed bylaw changes for the January 6, 2025, Special Town Meeting warrant. One change would enact regulations for short-term rentals. A second would create regulations for accessory-dwelling units. A third would eliminate use variances.
Review committee member Mark Wellington presented the Planning Board with the way the Cape Cod town of Truro regulates short-term rentals as an example for a possible Rochester bylaw. Truro considers a short-term rental if it is 120 days or fewer and requires an application fee; Truro’s is $450.
The property’s well must be tested, and the property owner must present a Mass Tax Connect Certificate of Good Standing. In Truro’s case, the application can be completed online.
As the Planning Board reviewed this example, its members added that well tests might be needed yearly for such properties, and septic-system capacity should be judged on the number of bedrooms.
Zoning Bylaw Review Committee Chairman Richard Cutler said his committee’s plans for accessory-unit regulations are being complicated by new state regulations allowing such units in many cases by right.
Regarding elimination of the “use variance” in favor relying on special permits for special requests instead, Cutler said most communities in the state have done away with them. “A use variance stays with the property,” Cutler said. “It confuses people applying for something. They go for use variance when a special permit will do.”
Board members concluded that further review of the three changes should await discussion with Town Counsel. Johnson said that meeting is scheduled for September 24 and that boards are required to submit only placeholder articles, with language lacking specifics if necessary, for Town Meeting by October 31.
The Rochester Planning Board’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Planning Board
By Michael J. DeCicco