The River Junction, the recently rebuilt tavern that sits at the site of the old Gilda’s at 27 Wareham Road (corner of Route 6 and River Road near the Wareham town line), got approval on a state-mandated correction to its alcohol license during a brief, public hearing held by the Marion Select Board on December 29 at the Town House.

            “This is an administrative action only and does not change the setup, layout or previous request,” explained Town Administrator Geoff Gorman to the board.

            The board approved an application for an Alteration of Premises to an existing, on premises license for the sale of all alcoholic beverages, per the request of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Commission (ABCC.) The information in the original application filed by the owners did not match the other information on the premises, so a public hearing was necessary to correct the documentation.

            No comment on the case was forthcoming from the board or the public during the public hearing.

            In other actions, the board voted to accept an anonymous, $150 donation to the Harbormaster Department.

            The board approved three Water/Sewer commitments: $1,322,932.31 (quarterly billing December 19, 2023), $155 (sewer-reconnection fee December 19, 2023) and $1,241.60 (final readings December 20, 2023.)

            Gorman publicly recognized retiring Finance Director Judy Mooney, whose final day on the job was on December 29, the day of the meeting. New Finance Director Heather O’Brien, whose finance background is in the business world, has spent the last few months working with Mooney to learn the ropes.

            The Select Board entered executive session under state law for Purpose 3 for strategy for negotiations with nonunion personnel (the town administrator) and/or to conduct collective-bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel and did not return to public session.

            The Marion Select Board scheduled its first regular meeting of the new year on Wednesday, January 3 and has also scheduled a special meeting for 12:00 pm on Thursday, January 4. With Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, the board has also set its second regular meeting of 2024 on a Wednesday: January 17 at 6:00 pm. Until further notice, the Select Board is meeting in the conference room at the Town House Annex Building (Main Street entry.)

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo

The Year 2023, as displayed this week with 49 of our 52 Wanderer covers, saw Mattapoisett residents and the town’s water-treatment plant survive an EF-1 tornado that left a spectacular damage path north of I-195.

            The short-lived twister uprooted many trees, taking toolsheds (and at least one generator) with them and blocking roads. A hot tub even flew over a shed and landed across the street multiple properties away from its home. One resident told The Wanderer that his cell phone received an emergency signal and in 30 seconds, the forest had landed in his front yard – sideways.

            Towns are still collecting from insurance companies on damage to public property.

            Speaking of the water-treatment plant, the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District Commission took significant steps toward the 2024-planned installation of a state-of-the-art filtration system in the plant that feeds five MRV member communities.

            Concerned about the potential loss of control of the water produced in its own lakes and ponds, officials in member town Rochester took issue with a deed restriction orchestrated by the Buzzards Bay Coalition that the latter says is meant solely to protect water supplies. Rochester water officials have long disagreed with the state’s redistribution of its water to the City of New Bedford, with no say in the matter nor compensation due Rochester.

            Meantime, Rochester has appointed committees to study feasibility and construction in hopes of making major upgrades to its Fire and Police stations affordable to the town’s taxpayers. Two steps taken that are meant to lower costs: Rochester became the first municipality in the state to opt out of the state’s Green Communities program and has also opted out of building according to the stretch code.

            Upon complaints, Rochester’s Plumb Library no longer hosts a Tri-Town Against Racism Little Free Library, but word on the street is a new location is being considered by the community-based group.

            In Marion, site preparation began for the construction of the new harbormaster’s headquarters, while design continues in preparation for a new DPW operations center at Benson Brook.

            Nitrogen, a threatening word in harbors, became a scary one for Tri-Town homeowners who have apparently, for the time being and because they reside on the mainland side of the Cape Cod Canal, been spared a mandatory upgrade to their home septic systems. Albin Johnson, a founding member of the Marion Board of Health, is pushing to get that town to rescind its bylaw requiring denitrification technology in any new construction.

            A second young sailor with local ties who crossed the Atlantic on a solo journey survived an attack of Orca whales in a follow-up sail that had just left Portugal for Greece. Locally, hundreds cheered as Arabella, a 38-foot wooden sailboat built in western Massachusetts, set sail out of Mattapoisett Harbor.

            Among many significant losses, the community will most remember WWII veteran and centurion Howard Tinkham, a cranberry grower whose donations of hundreds of acres of land have been key to the Tri-Towns’ water-conservation effort.

            Finally, The Wanderer wishes happy 2024 to all retirees from public service in the Tri-Towns, including former Mattapoisett Schools Principal Rose Bowman, Marion Finance Director Judy Mooney and longtime Rochester Select Board member Woody Hartley.

By Mick Colageo

            Rochester’s Select Board on Tuesday night approved a Special Town Meeting warrant with a wider variety of articles than most annual town meetings have.

            The first of the 10 articles on the January 22 warrant (7:00 pm at Rochester Memorial School, 16 Pine Street) will accept a law that mandates the town boost the pay of any town employee who is away serving in the military “to receive pay without loss of ordinary remuneration as a public employee” during this service.

            Police Chief Robert Small said he has one employee now serving in the National Guard at the United States’ southern border. Accepting this provision will allow him to pay that town employee to make up for what money he is losing as a military employee. Finance Committee Chairman Kris Stoltenberg said his board is also recommending this article.

            Article Two will seek to amend the town’s senior tax work-off program by increasing the amount of tax liability that may be abated through a work-off to $1,500. The previous limit was a $750 abatement.

            Article Three would transfer $400,000 from the town’s Stabilization Fund to “improve various roadways in town.” Stoltenberg said the Finance Committee favors the move but would like to know about what the Highway Department will spend the funds on.

            Article Four would transfer $54,380 from Public Safety Facility Feasibility Study funds, as this part of the planning process has been completed, to Public Safety Facility design funding.

            Article Five would transfer $30,000 from free cash for the cost to hire a temporary employee or a consultant to fill unexpectedly sudden vacant positions. Town Administrator Glenn Cannon explained people have been hired in this fashion to cover vacancies in the treasurer’s and town clerk’s office through other town funds. The purpose needs its own funding source.

            Article Six would transfer $21,270 from Capital Improvement Funds for a variety of town expenditures, including $7,000 for Counsel on Aging walkway repairs, $5,000 for a Council on Aging walk-in cooler and roof and $3500 to hire a consultant to review and revise Planning Board rules and regulations.

            Article Seven will authorize the Select Board to file a Home Rule Petition to allow Fire Chief Scott Weigel to remain in the position past his mandatory retirement age. Weigel turns age 65 in April. Cannon said the chief wishes to stay on to see the completion of the Public Safety Facility project.

            Article Eight will change a town bylaw so that the Select Board has greater control over Council on Aging hiring decisions. The bylaw currently reads the COA shall appoint its employees. The change will allow the COA to follow the same hiring procedures and policies as other bylaw employees. Cannon explained that police patrolmen, librarians and the COA workers are the town’s only non-bylaw employees.

            Article Nine would add one parcel to the town’s Smart Growth Overlay Distinct, which covers the Routes 58 and 28 end of town and must be altered because the owner of a liquor store there wishes to move his establishment to land that the overlay district does not yet encompass.

            Article Ten would authorize the town to seek legislative approval to grant a liquor store license for that new Smart Growth Overlay Distinct property. Cannon explained the town was granted one more liquor license than the town was allowed for the district. Now that license must be deemed allowable on the additional parcel.

            In other action, the board voted not to exercise its right to purchase land being taken out of 61A agricultural land protection at 0 Bishop Road. The property is being planned for a two-lot subdivision.

            Cannon announced a Tri-Town Selectmen’s meeting will be held at the Mattapoisett Fire Station next Tuesday at 5:30 pm and will begin with a tour of the station.

            The next regular meeting of the Rochester Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16, at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Select Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

            Rochester is updating its plans on two fronts and wants the public’s input.

            Right now, a survey on the town website is seeking input on its Hazard Mitigation Plan, which, as Town Planner Nancy Durfee describes in a press release, “enables municipalities to identify risks and vulnerabilities associated with natural disasters and develop long-term strategies for protecting people and property from future hazard events.”

            The Town of Rochester and the Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District (SRPEDD) are also inviting public feedback via its second community workshop on updating the town’s circa 2009 Master Plan on Thursday, January 25, 2024. from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Council on Aging, 67 Dexter Lane.

            Durfee explained that both the Master and the Hazard Mitigation plans should interconnect and blend together, “so there are no conflicting actions … a cohesive plan,” she said.

            She answers the question of why public feedback is so important to both these plans without hesitation. “The Master Plan is only as good as the input that’s provided,” she said, identifying community response as the most important component of a Master Plan because the plan affects every aspect of their lives. “It’s important for people to be engaged in this process. … Their input will help guide our decisions.”

            Durfee said the four topics on the January 25 Master Plan workshop’s agenda will be Land Use, Housing, Economic Development, and Transportation. The presentation will be followed by an “open house” style workshop. SRPEDD representatives will be on hand to assist with gathering input on each topic.

            Rochester’s first Master Plan workshop, held on October 3, was well attended, she Durfee, and it proved to be a good opportunity to get the community’s point of view on what needs to be addressed. She said the town learned the public’s concerns about the town’s water resources and open space. Municipal officials learned, for example, that residents want better access to the town’s open spaces, for walking trails and other passive recreation, such as at Haskell Swamp.

            Under Massachusetts law, a recognized Master Plan will include nine essential components: goals and policies; land use; housing; economic development; natural and cultural resources; open space and recreation; public services and facilities; circulation and transportation; and implementation. The next workshop after January 25, 2024, likely will be held in February 2024.

            Durfee explained that all the input that the workshops collect will provide the town the guidance for the action plans in the new Master Plan.

            “In the end, the community will have to adopt the Master Plan and the activities being put forth in it,” she said. “The 2009 Master Plan is out of date. Life has changed. Back then, the town was struggling with management of subdivisions. Now it’s solar-farm development. The (Master) plan needs to change to remain viable. These workshops are an opportunity to educate people on topics of their concern, with a better understanding of those concerns. And we will learn, too, when we hear their feedback.”

            She said preregistration is not required to attend the January 25, 2024, workshop, but for more information visit townofrochestermass.com/planning-board or srpedd.org/comprehensive-planning/community-master-plans/rochester-master-plan.

Rochester Master Plan

By Michael J. DeCicco

            Dr. Allan Pineda’s filing for a Special Permit for property owned at 33 Church Street, across the street from his residence at 15 North Street, was finally heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals on December 21.

            There had been a slight delay since the application was received due to processes that dealt with whether or not the Conservation Commission needed to rule on the proposed construction project first. With that point resolved and the project as specified conditioned by the commission, it was the ZBA’s turn.

            Representing Pineda was Andrew Stackpole of Field Engineering. Also present was the architect, Stephen Kelleher.

            Plans include a new, single-family residence with a front porch and rear deck. Stackpole said that final lot coverage would be 29% with the westerly setback at 12 feet and the rear at 30. He pointed out that the setback for the existing, non-conforming, former office building was only on one side. He also pointed out that undersized lots are rather the norm in the village, a point challenged by Attorney Daniel Perry representing abutters on the westerly corner.

            Resident Pat Donoghue questioned how small village lots could support redevelopment and expressed concern that allowing lots heretofore non-conforming could be seen as viable building lots. “I’m concerned with overcrowding in the village,” she stated.

            Building Inspector David Riquinha explained that new lots were required to meet the current zoning setbacks and other requirements but that lots with structures did not have to meet newer zoning rules because, “…at the time it was constructed it was accepted.”

            The structure in question at 33 Church Street is the town’s former Water Department office. Perry said it didn’t meet the definition of a residence, was in fact a business and therefore didn’t enjoy exception from current rules.

            Perry said the application was not a Special Permit but a Variance. He quoted case law from other jurisdictions that agreed, since the structure was a business, it couldn’t be treated as a residence now (“… only existing homes are protected.”). He said the ZBA, “has no legal authority to grant a Special Permit.”

            Riquinha read from bylaws that disagreed with Perry’s interpretation. He returned several times to the point that the bylaws allow such a filing. He said it wasn’t necessary to go outside the bylaw to resolve the matter, arguing that case law wasn’t necessary. Riquinha said, “… any alterations only need a Special Permit, it doesn’t matter that it is an office building.” He said it was a matter of right.

            Pineda rose to speak. He explained that his extended family has grown, making overnight visiting under one roof impossible in his North Street home. “I think this is a positive for the town,” he said.

            The public hearing was closed when further input from the public ended. Chairman Susan Akin thought the project fit into the neighborhood. Member Colby Rotler noted that the Master Plan spoke to the issue of the town needing more housing.

            Member Tony Transflaglia stated, “I was a hard no,” but after hearing arguments believed the project was not detrimental to the neighborhood.

            The Special Permit was unanimously approved. The public has 20 days to appeal the decision.

            In other business, a Variance was granted to Dennis Mahoney for property located at 20 County Road for the construction of a small addition for dry storage associated with a restaurant under construction now.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals will be posted if hearings are set.

Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals

By Marilou Newell