The Marion Rochester Regional Health District would like to remind residents that we are in peak conditions for mosquito activity. The Department of Public Health has reported that mosquitoes infected with West Nile Virus are circulating throughout the state, and are not confined to the towns where the mosquitoes have been found. Please remember to wear mosquito repellent to help reduce exposure to mosquito bites.

Residents are also encouraged to: drain buckets, barrels, tarps, and wheel barrows to avoid water accumulation; change water twice a week in bird baths and outdoor pet water dishes; keep rain gutters clean of debris; check children’s outdoor toys for water accumulation.

Please feel free to contact the Marion Rochester Boards of Health if you have any questions.

Only time will tell whether it will be a Better Future for Marion.

The volunteer-led organization that campaigns against fossil fuels was granted a conditional parade permit by the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday night pending approval by the Fire Department. The faith-based group, formally known as the Better Future Project, plans to stop and spend the night in Marion during its Energy Exodus: March From Coal to Cape Wind event that begins later this month.

Ben Thompson, a representative from the Better Future Project, estimated his group’s participation in Energy Exodus at 100 to 300 people. The march is slated to begin at the Brayton Point coal plant in Somerset on August 28 and end in Barnstable on September 2. Thompson said the group will stay overnight at St. Gabriel’s Church – both inside and on the grounds – while in Marion, which drew concern from the Selectmen, as well as Police Chief Lincoln Miller, particularly when Thompson admitted he has never actually seen the venue.

“You might want to take a look while you’re in town tonight,” Selectman Steve Cushing said. “It’s very small. There is very limited space in the courtyard.”

Chairman Jody Dickerson agreed.

“I have no problem with the parade and march in Marion,” he said. “But the church is not designed for sleeping quarters. We just want to make sure everyone is safe.”

Thompson said that organizers could make the decision to shuttle overflow crowds to churches in New Bedford via 12-passenger vans, but both Miller and the Selectmen lamented the potential problems such a last-minute decision could pose.

“This could be the makings of a disaster, if there is a fire or something like it,” said Selectman John Henry, who pushed for an around-the-clock Fire Department presence. “We have a responsibility to the residents of our town.”

The officials insisted on improved communication from the Better Future Project, and approved the permit provided Fire Chief Thomas Joyce can work with organizers on a plan.

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Selectmen approved:

Catherine Brodeur’s request for a three-year extension on her agriculture license;

Two one-day all-alcohol licenses for the VFW for upcoming parties on August 25 and September 1;

Employment contracts for the Police Chief and Collector/Treasurer.

In addition, Town Administrator Paul Dawson addressed the Old Rochester Regional School District budget, which because of the disparity between expected and actual state funds, will require increased appropriations from Marion and Mattapoisett. Marion’s tab will come to roughly an additional $18,000.

Dawson said that officials have planned a “budget summit” for the early fall, to take place among Town Administrators and Finance Committee members from the Tri-Town, as well as Superintendent Doug White.

“It’s a chance to think about, to talk about, the process that we’re going to use next year,” Dawson said. “An open dialogue helping us to see each other’s issues and where each other is coming from.”

Cushing called the additional $18,000 “not a painless hit,” while Dickerson said he wished the ORR administration had listened to Marion’s Finance Committee, which advised the school district to not use the more optimistic budget figures.

Henry, for his part, said it was “reason number 900 to consolidate,” as public safety and education issues should not “pit the three towns against each other.”

By Shawn Badgley

With Town Counsel Jon Witten and Building Commissioner Scott Shippey in attendance to help navigate them through the working language of a bylaw intended for fall Town Meeting, the Marion Planning Board and Energy Management Committee met for another two and a half hours on Monday night to hammer out a policy on solar installations.

While members of the Planning Board – including Chair Patricia McArdle and former Chair Jay Ryder – extolled the “common ground” officials from the two entities had reached on guidelines for general-use ground-mounted residential installations after months of deliberations, infighting, and a divisive spring Town Meeting, a sticking point on regulations for solar farms in residential districts continued to stick.

Those regulations, as currently written in the potential bylaw, would allow landowners in residential districts to install extensive arrays on property greater than three acres with setbacks of at least 100 feet, with the purpose of selling back solar energy to the power grid. They would require a special permit and major site plan review.

“Solar farms by their nature are commercial projects,” said Planning Board Member Ted North, arguing that an alteration of zoning policy could be problematic for future governance and detrimental for property values. “There’s no difference between solar energy generation and small industrial gas turbines.”

“I completely disagree,” EMC Member Jennifer Francis responded. “It’s much less intrusive than what you’re talking about. It’s a totally different animal.”

Planning Board Vice Chair Stephen Kokkins reminded the parties about the possibility of separating the solar farm portion from the rest of the Solar Bylaw, while Ryder made the case for discarding it altogether.

“We’re biting off more than we can chew,” Ryder said. “We have come so far with the Energy Management Committee, and now we’re starting to muddy the water a little bit. It’s really important that the EMC and Planning Board are together on this bylaw. I think we’re getting a little far afield in discussing solar farms.”

As he would all evening, Planning Board Member Norm Hills, also an EMC member and solar advocate, disagreed with Ryder’s view, as well as that of Kokkins and North, while Planning Board members Steve Gonsalves, Rico Ferrari, and McArdle maintained a neutral position in advance of a Public Hearing on Sept. 3.

As it stands, officials will present three options that night: The Solar Bylaw including the solar farm portion as is; the Solar Bylaw including the solar portion with a provision for a “surgical” zoning overlay allowing for solar farms in specifically designated areas within residential districts (a proposition that EMC member Bill Saltonstall balked at, noting that it would be unfair to present such a plan without first drawing up an overlay); and the Solar Bylaw excluding the solar farm portion.

By Shawn Badgley

Mattapoisett’s Planning Board had only one item on its agenda: a meeting with Sandy Conaty, Comprehensive Planning Manager from SRPEDD. But this meeting is perhaps the beginning of massive zoning changes that will shape the complexion of Mattapoisett for decades to come.

The Board had submitted their comprehensive master plan to SRPEDD to get “the ball rolling, to get the road map started,” Chair Tom Tucker said.

Mattapoisett had applied for and received grant money to work with SRPEDD, to get expert assistance as the Planning Board and other entities move forward in shaping the future of land use.

Noting that the present zoning bylaws are a patchwork quilt that has been added to over time, inhibiting the public’s ability to easily and clearly understand the objective of any bylaw. Board member Ron Merlo said, “I have a concern that through the ages things have been put on and put on and put on … things need to be cleaned up. I’d like to see some administrative assistance to make things easier to use.”

He added that oftentimes residents and others have to go back and forth between various boards charged with handling zoning issues, and he felt the town could do a much better job for the public and the necessary improvements the town needs in the future.

Conaty said she had started going through the housing bylaws, the five-year update of priority protection areas, but had not yet tackled review of the master plan. She was aware of the effort the town has put into trying to secure public opinion on the future of open space and recreational areas. She will be looking at bylaws that will help the town address diverse land use needs.

Several members said that the lack of zoning bylaws for utilities like solar and wind need to be addressed so that they wouldn’t be blindsided, as they were when a telecommunication tower slid past their purview.

Conaty asked if the board members had studied zoning bylaws from other towns to acquaint themselves with what is working well in those locations. None had to date, but thought that might be a good starting point. Dartmouth, Conaty said, used a good model for zoning with the establishment of sectors. She said that each zoning sector simply had to look at the packet for that specific type of permitting to know what the town would require, rather than skipping from one board to another asking if their involvement was needed in the process.

“If your property is in the business district, that’s all you need to look at,” Conaty said.

Board member Karen Field said, “I think people move to Mattapoisett for its quaintness, its schools; it’s a special space,” intimating that Dartmouth’s land use might not work well for Mattapoisett. Conaty assured her that she was not recommending their bylaws or zoning districts but their format, which may be useful.

“I’ve been wondering about signage,” Member Mary Crain said. It was pointed out that depending on where the sign is proposed to be placed, or the type of use of the location, dictated the type of sign that would be allowed. However, one has to skip around the bylaws to ascertain what the requirements are. This was one example of the present state convoluted condition of the zoning bylaws.

Merlo commented, “Things like that are missing, and it’s a great opportunity to incorporate things.”

Conaty said another item that might be beneficial was a table for parking requirements. She pointed to Seekonk as a town that had done a good job in making parking requirements clear.

Tucker suggested that the public be made aware of the process and the assistance that SRPEDD will be providing through this grant. Member John Mathieu said that one bylaw at a time should be tackled in upcoming meetings, rather than trying to attack everything all at once. Tucker said he wanted to give the public ample opportunity to understand the work at hand, the importance of their input, in the hope that by doing so, residents won’t feel left out of the process and would actually come forward and participate.

Conaty said it’s vitally important that the public understand SRPEDD is not writing bylaws but instead assisting in format changes that will make the bylaws easier to understand and work with. She said she would submit a process flowchart with deliverables and goals so that everyone could work toward better bylaws.

Time once again became the enemy, as the board looked at how to pack in public hearings by December. The deadline for using the grant money and completing the work is Dec. 31.

The public will be invited to participate in a “Framework Meeting” on Sept. 16 to kick off the review of the town’s zoning bylaws. The first meeting will give the Board the opportunity to show the public an overview of the entire process and what zoning bylaws will be addressed at each subsequent meeting until all had been reviewed and rewritten in the updated format. In this way, people with only interest or special interest in specific bylaws need not necessarily attend all the public meetings; just those they were most interested in.

“SRPEDD will make recommendations … on what the Planning Board can do to improve the layout of the bylaw, with better continuity of the bylaw,” Conaty said. “Overall, to make it more understandable.”

The Planning Board discussed ways to engage the public, noting that the poor showing thus far to an invitation to take the land use survey on line was dismal at best. To date, only 60 residents have completed the survey. Public hearing notices will be sent to local newspapers and possibly fliers left in public locations. Engaging the public to solicit their opinion on the future of Mattapoisett’s land use continues to be an ongoing struggle, but has been deemed necessary for the future health of the community.

By Marilou Newell