The Rochester Planning Board Tuesday permitted the construction of an in-ground swimming pool behind a multi-unit home at 7 Marion Road. Building owner Kerri Souza received approval to install an 18×36-foot, 6-inch-deep pool with a steel-wall vinyl liner that she alone will use behind her four-unit building.

            The project’s installer, Gary Medeiros, promised the board the pool won’t be visible from the road. It will be surrounded by an ornamental aluminum fence, and all the fill created by the work will remain on site.

            In answer to the Planning Board’s questions, Medeiros said the pool will be situated 24 feet away from the main building and 30 feet from the accessory building. Souza assured the board this will be a private pool for her use only. It will be accessible from the back door of her unit. She rents out the other three units.

            Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson signaled the panel’s approval by instructing Town Planner Nancy Durfee and Board Administrator Dawn DiMaggio to draft a decision that the board members will sign at their next meeting.

            Prior to this hearing, the board approved and signed the Scenic Highway permit application to place a 1,100 foot-long, 8-foot-tall, deer-exclusionary fence along the Elliot Farm property on Marion Road.

            The board then continued until February 28 its hearing into the special permit and site-plan-review application for a large-scale, photovoltaic canopy system being proposed in the rear parking lot of Rochester Memorial School. Durfee said project petitioners told her they have yet to complete their landscaping plan.

            Rochester’s new Building Commissioner Paul Boucher asked the board for direction on handling proposals to build in-law apartments. He said this type of construction is not addressed by town bylaw. “What direction or information can you give me?” he asked. “Or do we entertain a new bylaw?”

            Boucher said he liked the board’s simple answer. Johnson said this type of application should be forwarded to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

            The board’s business ended with a discussion of zoning articles for the spring annual Town Meeting. Durfee said that what’s needed will be language revisions to regulations regarding “orderly development,” marijuana retail and production regulations and agricultural/residential regulations.

            Johnson said, at this point in time, “placeholder” articles are what’s needed. Exact language won’t be necessary until April.

            The board’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 14, at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room, 1 Constitution Way.

By Michael J. DeCicco

            The Marion Affordable Housing Trust discussed a potential Accessory Dwelling Bylaw for the Town of Marion during its January 10 public meeting at the Music Hall.

            “If you look at how this is written, it’s written so as not to promote accessory dwelling,” said Chairperson Terri Santos, who told the members that the Town of Salem gives incentives to create smaller units. “We don’t do that. We, in fact, frown against, in this town, having any type of accessory dwelling.

            “There’s pro and con. It is a way to create some benign, smaller units that aren’t going to … be like 10, 20, 30 units but will create housing.”

            Santos said the main thing to know is that except in the case of family members living in an accessory apartment, each unit has to be listed on the subsidized-housing inventory.

            “If more and more of these units are going to come online, it certainly makes sense to keep them more affordable,” said member Toby Ast, who noted he would like to get more feedback on why Marion resists the idea. “And it might be something good as well for the homeowner, you know, a little bit of extra income. They’re struggling for affordability as well for their primary residence.”

            Member Minhtram Tran noted that other aspects including lot size, and Santos said the maximum unit size is 1,200 square feet. She wondered aloud what happens if a family, for instance, has a parent living in an accessory apartment and then she leaves. What happens to the dwelling?

            Santos said the bylaw is accessible online at marionma.gov.

            Earlier in the discussion, member Susan Miller noted that Salem tries to put its housing developments within walking distances of services. “Transportation is a huge factor,” she said.

            Santos said that Marion also has bus service and that the Affordable Housing Trust plays a role in facilitating the arrangement.

            The Affordable Housing Trust also discussed potential proposals for Community Preservation Act funding consideration. According to Ast, who worked many years for an affordable-housing developer, 10% must be distributed for housing-related proposals.

            The last Community Preservation Committee article related to housing was for $45,000 to conduct a feasibility study on the former Lockheed Martin property. Santos said, in Marion, CPA funding requires a specific project, and she asked the membership for ideas.

            Ast said he would attend the CPC meeting scheduled for January 13 and asked how complete a proposal needs to be to qualify for consideration.

            Affordable Housing Trust member Nancy McFadden brought information on what other town’s housing webpages are doing, as Marion looks to improve its own site. The members discussed the need for some technical help.

            The next meeting of the Marion Affordable Housing Trust is scheduled for Tuesday, February 14, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Affordable Housing Trust

By Mick Colageo

            It’s that time of the fiscal year when town departments draft new budgets and review their capital needs. For Mattapoisett’s Capital Planning Committee, it’s also a time to continue casting a wide net that captures all capital expenses in an effort to shed light on all proposed expenditures. The process now includes data on how expenditures will be funded, a data point not previously defined.

            On Tuesday night, the committee met to review the 10-year plan as drafted and accepted by the Select Board in May 2022. Chairman Chuck McCullough said no surprises have arisen since that time that would cause an economic blip for FY24 planning. However, he said that the unexpected feasibility study Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School is planning needs to be added to the FY24 schedule. The school recently met with the Mattapoisett Select Board, saying it plans to ask its member towns to put a warrant article in their spring town meetings to fund the anticipated $1,000,000 needed.

            Old Colony Superintendent Aaron Polansky attended that meeting and provided an updated building plan. Polansky said that in order to provide the level of programming needed by students, improvements to the overall school structure were imperative. He said the first step in bringing the 1970s structure up to today’s standards was the drafting of a feasibility study. McCullough said the estimated total needed for improvements to the school are $16,000,000.

            Speaking of schools, the committee discussed the study being conducted by the UMass Collins Center, part of which includes school facilities and the condition of Town Hall. McCullough said it is important for residents to understand that the study is not intended to provide any recommendations regarding the feasibility of shutting down a local school for the relocation of Town Hall.

            “It’s not a recommendation, it’s just information gathering that can be part of the input used when looking at our options. It will go into a feasibility report,” he said, noting the importance of the distinction between evaluating the buildings versus recommending an action. The Collins Center report, he emphasized, is just an evaluation.

            McCullough shared that having a School Committee member on the Capital Planning Committee is helpful for both the town and the school, helping each to more clearly appreciate the fiscal challenges faced.

            One of the major tasks that lies ahead for the committee is gathering information on the amount of Town Meeting-approved expenditures that have yet to draw financing. McCullough said it is important to understand what’s holding up the spenddown, but he speculated that part of the problem comes from lingering supply-chain lags.

            On the Capital Planning schedule for FY25 are the following proposals: Water Department repair to the Bay Club tank at $500,000 by debt exclusion, Oakland Street water-line replacement at $510,000 by ARPA funds, new Water Department trucks at $35,000 from Enterprise Fund, Sewer Department Route 6 west sewer lines at $2,250,000 by bond, Sewer Department trucks at $35,000 from Enterprise Fund, Waterfront Enterprise Fund replacement of timber pilings at $45,000 and rebuilding of Long Wharf at $10,000,000 by debt exclusion, tennis-courts rehabilitation at $24,000 from tax levy, Police Department radio console from ARPA funds at $50,000, Police Department domain server from ARPA funds at $75,000, new ambulance Department UTV with stretcher at $50,000 from ambulance receipts, Fire Department helmet replacements from grant funding $9,000, Highway Department annual road improvements at $300,000 from free cash, Baptist Street reconstruction at $650,000 debt exclusion, culvert outfall study at $50,000, Highway Department building repairs at $1,500,000 from debt exclusion, Ford F250 truck at $75,000 from free cash, loader tires at $20,000 from free cash, Center School kitchen warmers at $13,500 from free cash, Old Hammondtown School flooring at $25,000 free cash, library carpet replacement at $45,000 from free cash and Mattapoisett Bike Path Phase 2A at $3,845,000 by grant funding.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Capital Planning Committee is scheduled for Monday, January 30, at 5:30 pm, location to be announced.

Mattapoisett Capital Planning Committee

By Marilou Newell

            The Marion Planning Board reviewed what Chairman Norm Hills described as “another batch of bylaw changes” when it met remotely via Zoom on Monday night.

            Board member Andrew Daniel anticipates problems enforcing Section 230-6.2 on Signs, which on election days would authorize town employees to remove political signs inside of the required 150-foot setback. He didn’t consider the regulation to be realistic.

            Most of the rest of the freshly changed bylaws, which have been corrected or updated for consistency by the Codification Committee (a subcommittee of the Planning Board), were met with brief discussions for clarity. Two new bylaws that were introduced on Monday night were requested by the town clerk.

            Hills instructed the Planning Board to decide on whether to wait or vote on bylaws that are finished. They opted to wait, see more of the bylaw updates and then hold a more substantial discussion.

            The completion, said Hills, is something the board could “maybe shoot for some time in March.” Board member Eileen Marum agreed.

            “The next meeting, we have to meet in person.” said Daniel.

            Hills helped the Board of Health craft a letter that will go out to the state Department of Environmental Protection in response to the contentious Title 5 septic regulations currently open to public comment.

            “This has generated a lot of consternation to say the least, and a lot of towns are responding to this. … The cape is up in arms, I’m sure,” said Hills, noting that municipalities on the other side of the bridges will be first in line for enforcement of a requirement to upgrade private septic systems to include denitrification technology.

            Last year, the Marion Board of Health introduced a new bylaw requiring such an upgrade in the case of any new septic installation.

            Marum noted that UMass Dartmouth held a public hearing on the issue Tuesday night and will hold another hearing on January 30 that she plans to attend.

            Daniel publicly thanked Hills for writing the letter and sending it. “The state has lost its mind, to be honest with you,” he said, adding recommendation that Hills write the state a letter about the new energy code that he says kicked in on January 1.

            Hills credited the Board of Health for writing the letter, only noting that, “The last sentence is mine.”

            The final paragraph of the letter reads: “Forcing homeowners to spend tens of thousands of dollars on nitrogen-reducing septic systems would be inappropriate if the largest source of nitrogen is from storm water run-off, lawns, golf courses and not Title V septic systems. Unfunded mandates have to stop.”

            In other business, the board also reviewed its 2022 Annual Report, which was swiftly met with approval across the board. “I thought it was well done,” said Marum, and members Daniel and Alanna Nelson quickly agreed. The board voted to approve and submit the report.

            The board’s FY24 Budget of $82,670 includes $78,520 in full-time wages. The rest is filed under various expenses.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board was not scheduled upon adjournment.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo