The Marion Select Board voted 2-1 against establishing a policy for public participation in Select Board meetings during its June 21 public meeting.

            Board member Norm Hills said he has no problem with how the policy was proposed regarding time limits, while member Randy Parker said he does not think time limits are needed.

            “My take on it is that one of our prime jobs as Select Board is to listen and, according to Mr. (Geoff) Gorman, there are only two court cases over the last five years in all of Massachusetts that have gone negatively,” said Select Board Chairman Toby Burr. “I think the risk of not having it is very small, and we give up a lot by … putting limits in a whole procedure for people to speak. I’d rather not limit people.”

            Hills sought clarification as to whether Burr is opposed to the whole policy or just the time limits on public comment. Burr said he’s opposed to the “whole thing,” including registering to speak, counting up how many people are going to speak and dividing that number.

            Citing examples, Hills said such a policy is not a new concept and that he is in favor of it. Parker, who is not in favor of time limits, suggested bringing up the matter “to bring it up occasionally when we think the tool is a little biased.” He also suggested not invoking the policy for a string of meetings and then employing it could by itself cause the board liability.

            Hills argued that the policy would be used in every meeting. The school committees, for example, routinely read their public-comment policy at the start of that segment.

            “Whether somebody speaks or not, that’s not the point. It’s there if we need it,” said Hills. Parker argued that potential speakers would need a copy of the policy. “It’s a little too busy for the Town of Marion, I’m afraid,” he said.

            Noting he is not in favor of a time limit until the need is proven, Burr said it would be advantageous to agree on how to handle a meeting being hijacked. “This would do it, it would be in place,” said Hills.

            “For me, it creates another set of rules for people to follow. I’d rather have the audience be relaxed and informed,” said Burr. “I can see it in a public hearing when you might have many people who want to speak.”

            Burr noted that the board limited public input to five minutes per person in the last public hearing held by the board. “No matter what time limit we put on people, there are some people we would want to listen to a lot more than the time limit will be.” Parker nodded his agreement.

            Gorman, the town administrator, suggested producing a list of norms for the board’s consideration and that the matter be indefinitely postponed per the majority’s preference in order to remove it from ongoing agenda items.

            The board followed suit with a 2-1 approval, Hills acknowledging his position in the minority.

            In his Town Administrator’s Report, Gorman said the Select Board’s summer meeting schedule has been modified to cancel its July 5 and August 1 meetings, resulting in one meeting per month for the two months.

            The board discussed the feasibility of a swap shed at the Transfer Station. The project is in the works with the DPW. Parker said he and executive assistant Donna Hemphill will present a plan at the board’s next meeting. The plan will include Rochester.

            The board voted to approve Monday, October 16, for a Fall Special Town Meeting that will feature a vote on the remaining funding of the new Marine Center and possible other capital projects. The board also approved a special Town Election on Friday, October 20, if needed, to address an override to fund ADA sprinkler upgrades to the Town House and like projects.

            Gorman told the board that “reasonable price tags” are driving the urgency to schedule a vote for the fall and avoid further cost increases by next spring. He said that documentation is in place that once an affirming vote is secured on October 16, construction can begin on the harbormaster’s new headquarters building.

            A plan is underway to “reset” the Bylaw Codification Committee so that it can directly advise the Select Board. Gorman said the maneuver will not take away any of the Planning Board’s authority or responsibilities vis-a-vis the town’s bylaws. Hills, the recently retired Planning Board chairman, is chairman of the Codification Committee, which until now has existed as a subcommittee of the Planning Board (appointed by the Select Board.)

            The town’s fireworks will be held on Saturday night, July 1. Gorman pitched changing the Fireworks Committee from a town committee to a nonprofit organization, simplifying the fundraising aspect of the annual effort.

            An employee-appreciation lunch was planned for Wednesday, June 28, at 12:00 pm, with plans to close the Town House for the event.

            Under Action Items, the Select Board voted to have its representative to the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee extend from a one-year term to three years to coincide with the committee and MRV District Commission.

            The board voted to close the traditional roads for the July 4 Independence Day Parade. Starting and finishing at the baseball field off Main Street at Sippican School, the parade starts at 9:00 am. It will run down Main Street toward the Town House, turning left (north) onto Spring Street, all the way up to Route 6, then right along Route 6 to Front Street, then right (south) down to Main Street, then right (west) back to the field.

            Pending the addition of page numbers and a verification of a $25 maximum fee, the board voted to approve a public-records-request policy revision to include Gorman, the town clerk and executive secretary to the Police Department.

            The board voted to authorize Department of Public Works Director Becky Tilden to file a required document with the state Department of Environmental Protection and Clean Water Trust to apply for a $55,000 Asset Management Grant that will fund infrastructure inventories and a five-year, gate-valve maintenance and replacement program for the Perry Hill and Main pumping stations.

            The board approved a request for a two-week mobile-home permit at 357 Point Road to begin on July 20.

            The board approved seven, Special One Day Liquor licenses to: Marion Social Club, 44 Pumping Station Road, for a birthday party with 100 attendees on Sunday, July 23, from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm; for a memorial service (100 attendees) on Saturday, August 12, from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm; for its Senior Citizen Bar-B-Que (attendees TBD) on Sunday, August 20, from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm; Marion Social Club for the Town Party (150-200 attendees) to be held on Saturday, August 26, from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm at Silvershell Beach (rain date August 27); Peter Krause for a wedding (80 attendees) at the Music Hall, 164 Front Street, on Saturday, July 22, from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm and two for the Marion Institute for its climate-change discussion (50-100 attendees) at the Music Hall, 164 Front Street, on Tuesday, July 18, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and Tuesday, August 15, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

            The board approved Water/Sewer commitments for quarterly billing of $1,346.37 (June 9) and $1,277,152.06 (June 14).

            Before the meeting ended, Gorman told the board that MassDEP had that day approved the new Watershed Permit and Title 5 Nitrogen Sensitive Area regulations effective Friday, July 7. The new regulations, he said, currently address only Cape Cod, with a note that the south coast is being studied for appropriate next steps but without an established timeframe.

            Gorman publicly recognized Isaac Perry, who after 19 years as Marion’s harbormaster has taken the job as Mattapoisett’s new harbormaster.

            The Marion Select Board has called a special public meeting and executive session for Thursday, June 29, at 3:00 pm at the Police Station.

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo

            Coming before the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission on June 26 was David Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., representing the Lisa Muller Trust Declaration regarding a proposed residential pier at 89 Mattapoisett Neck Road.

            The structure as described by Davignon will feature a board walkway over marsh, advancing towards the pier where a floating dock will be located. He said that beachgoers with access to the private waterside via private properties and those walking along the high-tide mark will be able to traverse the wooden platform, thus it will not impede recreational use of the area.

            Davignon shared that there is a mapped eel-grass meadow in the area but that the meadow will be 10 feet off the pier. In the offseason, the floating dock will be elevated out of harm’s way versus removed and stored elsewhere, Davignon explained.

            It was determined that any concerns regarding sand movement under the pier will be reviewed and regulated by agencies such as the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the Army Corps of Engineers. Concerns of this nature were raised by Colin Everett, 144 Fairhaven Road.

            Everett also inquired as to the size of the pier which is planned to be 74 feet of fixed structure with an additional 28 feet for the gangway and float. The Notice of Intent filing was continued until July 10.

            Also continued was a Request for Determination of Applicability filed by Andris Rieksts and Lisa Francis, 0 Park Place, for the construction of a single-family home on a previously approved, two-lot subdivision. Also represented by Davignon, the project presentation detailed that a retaining wall will encircle the entire footprint of the home and that the owner will be responsible for water and sewer piping from the end of the public service.

            The filing was continued to July 10 to give Davignon time to update the engineered drawings to include, among other things, drainage from the roof.

            Before adjourning, Chairman Mike King was voted into another tour of duty as the chair and newest member David Nicolosi as clerk.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for Monday, July 10, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

            Jon Delli Priscoli was voted an Order of Conditions for a proposed elevated staircase to the beach at 162 Point Road, per the Marion Conservation Commission during its June 14 public meeting.

            Project representative David Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & Leone, Inc., said he had an aerial photo from 1985 indicating a beach-access point, as corroborated by the property’s former owners in an email. That access, said Davignon, was destroyed by Hurricane Bob (1991.) Since then, the vegetation has grown to the edge of the lawn at the property and obscures a stone bank.

            The proposal plans a staircase with an air gap below the vegetation. The 20-foot drop would be bridged with 14 anchors. Two sections of deck would be prebuilt, then dropped into place, the staircase to be built between them.

            “We should be able to do the project with minimal disturbance,” said Davignon, noting that the work is along the coastal bank.

            He said the MassDEP issued a file number and had no comments.

            Conservation Commission Chairman Jeff Doubrava, who had visited the site, had no issues. Commissioner Shaun Walsh asked about the condition of the beach where the staircase will land. Davignon said the last step will land at beach grade. He said the surface there is “mainly cobble. … You wouldn’t want to lay out there on a blanket.”

            Walsh observed that a nearby staircase ends above the beach grade due to recent, storm-driven erosion.

            One of the certificates of compliance considered for William and Elizabeth Weber at 21 East Avenue was met with concern from Commissioner Ethan Gerber over a drainage pipe that as Doubrava described, is sending drainage unfiltered down into the cove.

            “That looked like a pretty significant deviation from what was permitted,” he said.

            Walsh said a catch basin had been installed where the driveway meets the road and a pipe under the landscaped area discharges. He noted that Davignon did not design the drainage pipe.

            “This concerns me because I have no idea the volume of runoff that’s going into that catch basin and hence the volume and velocity of the runoff exiting that pipe,” said Walsh, speculating that a Davignon design would have been similar to the one he did at the end of the causeway road.

            Estimating that the end of the drainpipe is 20 feet from the shoreline, Walsh wanted to clarify that a Certificate of Compliance does not constitute approval of that drainage design. It was not part of Davignon’s plan on behalf of the Webers.

            While he said the issue is not grounds for the withholding of a COC, Walsh indicated he would like to see Davignon design a reconfiguration of that system.

            Davignon said he was perfectly comfortable receiving a COC and a request to file a Request for Determination of Applicability to revise the drainage plan. Doubrava was not comfortable issuing a COC until the commission receives the RDA. Davignon requested a continuance of the discussion to July 12, and the commissioners voted to honor that request.

            Great Hill Marion LLC, Cathy Stone, was issued a Negative Determination of Applicability for spot treatment to halt the spread of phragmites in Areas 2, 3 and 4 at North Great Hill Drive.

            Stone told the commission her group has been working on the issue for a while to prevent the phragmites’ spread. “Hopefully, this will be the last time we have to apply for a permit to do this … it’s not gone completely,” she said. The treatment will include chemical treatment and swiping in individual spots.

            Doubrava said the area is much improved over several years ago.

            John and Theresa Cederholm, trustees of the Cederholm Nominee Trust, were voted a Negative Determination of Applicability for minor clearing and grading within land subject to coastal-storm flowage in order to access a building site at East Avenue.

            Project representative Brian Grady of G.A.F. Engineering said a third of the side is inside the flood zone, but the bulk of the work is outside the flood zone. Grady said that the dwelling on the lot, as well as the septic system and driveway, are outside the flood zone. He said the neighbors had long used the lot as a garden.

            Sally Gaglini, DGZ Realty LLC, was voted an Order of Conditions to renovate a single-family house to include a two-car garage and associated grading at 10 Hartley Lane.

            James Connolly was voted an Order of Conditions for the construction of a single-story addition to a two-story house at 92 Dexter Road.

            In his Conservation Agent Report, Doug Guey-Lee reported to the commission regarding two freshly cut pine trees that had been thrown into the water from 196 Point Road. He observed other items. Doubrava said the harbormaster observed debris that would have been a hazard to navigation.

            Appearing at the meeting, the resident at the address said the trees were dead, and while it may have been bad judgment to expect them to be biodegradable at the bottom of the hill, he said they can remove the trees.

            Commissioner Emil Assing said two trees should be replanted in the same area that the two had existed. Identifying the hill as a “coastal bank,” Walsh said it’s important to recognize jurisdictional areas, especially for waterfront properties as protected by the state’s Wetlands Act. He explained that the commission should have been given a say before the trees, albeit dead, were removed. The good thing, Walsh said, is that the stumps are still there.

            The commission’s position was that removal of the logs will suffice with a report to Guey-Lee.

            In separate votes, the commission voted to issue certificates of compliance to Dale and Laura Briggs for work performed at 23 Dexter Road.

            The Marion Conservation Commission was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, June 28, and is scheduled to next meet on Wednesday, July 12, at 7:00 pm.

Marion Conservation Commission

By Mick Colageo