Wareham Insider

Town Meeting finishes business and hits road

Posted on May 5, 2008 by rrichards
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WAREHAM – The fourth night of town meeting saw a thinned out crowd at the Wareham High School Auditorium. With much of the controversy past, little was left save a number of planning and zoning by-laws rendered arcane when stripped of their context.

After having taking Article 25 – a measure to support the Cape Verdean Cultural Center project – out of order Town Meeting took up Article 24, which would limit ties into the town’s sewer system. There were marked concerns over the language of the proposed change to the by-law, including a seemingly narrow limitation of the kinds of developments that the by-law would apply to.

Selectman Chairman Brenda Eckstrom addressed the concern that the by-law would overrun the capacity of the treatment plant, saying that the engineers and planners that the town employed to examine the issue felt that there would be sufficient capacity. As far as legality, counsel stated that they had not substantively reviewed the by-law and that the Attorney General would determine whether or not it was in compliance with state law.

“We are just trying to hold what we were required to do by contract with the DEP,” Eckstrom said.

Opponents of the article moved for indefinite postponement for the article, which would hold the article for a period of at least two years. This would leave the town unable to tweak the by-law for that period. While the motion for indefinite postponement failed, it was immediately put up for further study which passed by a voice vote.

Article 26 brought back some painful memories of another eminent domain taking.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our concerns are very real. We just got done with an issue related to Swifts Beach where the concern was eminent domain,” Finance Committee Chairman Carl St. Pierre said.

The Finance Committee voted for further study on the issue, advocating that the town try to negotiate with the property owner to take the property and then take the section the town required rather than taking it piece by piece.

The text of the article was initially vague, referring to a portion of the property running along Onset Avenue. A more exact description of the parcel, some 1,500 square feet in front of the Oak Grove School that would give the site frontage onto the avenue.

“The land is absolutely useless to anyone, it’s like a sidewalk,” Finance Committee member Dominic Purcell said.

Currently the strip of land runs along the length of the road from near Stevie B’s toward the Mayflower Bank, and its presence leaves the houses along that side of the avenue without frontage on the road. The strip was the site of a former trolley line that serviced the village, but the line is long since defunct. Selectmen appealed to the Cape Verdean Cultural Center project as the impetus for the potential seizure of the land, stating that it was a measure to prevent any hindrances to the project if the property owner were to object to passing over the property. The article was committed to further study.

Article 27 would allow the building of medical related facilities in commercial general zoning. The change came as a result of a review of the zoning use tables, and there was no objection during hearings held on the matter. The article was passed.

Article 28 also seeks to clarify some of the general commercial language in the zoning by-law. There was some confusion about a change in the planning board’s vote on the article, but Planning Board Chairman George Barrett noted that the board had only changed its view on Article 29. The article was passed.

Article 29 would allow drive-in establishments within the general commercial district by special permit, rather than simply banning them outright. According to Selectman John Cronan the change would allow some use, but still allow the planning board and the public to have input as to what kinds of businesses would be allowed to operate in such a manner. After listening to public hearings, the Planning Board changed its vote of the article to further study.

The body voted for further study on the article, which leaves the zoning language denying drive-ins in general commercial in place.

Article 30 would change the setback requirements for cluster development to 20 feet for the front yard. Currently the minimum setback for front yards is listed at 100 feet. The motion was voted for further study.

Article 31 would place addition property under general commercial zoning along the section of Route 28 between Doty Street and Carver Road. Currently the section is zoned as commercial strip. According to Barrett the change is part of a process to remove strip commercial from West Wareham. The moderator conferred with the chairman of the planning board after some objections were raised by a resident, who noted that there seemed to be some inconsistencies and problems with changing the zoning including several houses that would become nonconforming uses based on the map provided.

Moderator John Donahue advised the body to ignore the map provided in Article 32 to prevent any confusion, because while they overlapped in many ways the former did not necessarily refer to the latter.

“The map in 32 is not the map on Article 31, we are simply going on the description,” Donahue said.

Article 31 was voted for further study.

Moderator John Donahue moved Article 32 out of order because of an inconsistency between the map presented with the article and the description.

Residents expressed desire that they’d like to see clearer maps to accompany zoning articles to give residents a better from of reference before voting.

Article 33 was voted for further study.

Article 34 would mirror changes made last year to the strip of Route 28 south of 195, which changed the zoning of that area from commercial strip to commercial general. Since the map was also in conflict with the description provided, the moderator ruled the article out of order.

Article 35 would clean up obsolete language from the Wareham Wetland Protective by-law created when the town passed a temporary moratorium on dock construction and renovation that expired November 1, 2007.

“This whole section is actually irrelevant at this point,” Conservation Agent Dave Pichette said.

Article 35 passed unanimously.

Article 36 no action

Article 37 was passed unanimously.

Article 38 was slightly modified from how it was printed in the warrant, further clarifying the section of road to be turned over by the town. The town vacated the road several years ago and would like to turn it over to John Cornish, who owns all the property abutting the section of the road in order to collect taxes on the property.

“This really is just a house keeping article,” Selectman Chairman Brenda Eckstrom said.

The article passed near unanimously.

Town Meeting briskly dissolved, having finished all business before it.

“I am pleased that we got through all of the business on the warrant,” Moderator John Donahue said. “That’s to the credit of the voters.”