Voters to consider over $1.5 million in spending, zoning changes at Town Meeting
Event Date
Voters at Town Meeting will consider allocating nearly $1.3 million in community preservation projects and consider a number of amendments designed to make housing development in Wareham easier.
Town Meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium, 7 Viking Drive.
Multi-family housing waivers. Wareham has been found to not be in compliance with the MBTA Communities Act and to make the town compliant, Director of Planning and Community Development Josh Faherty is proposing to amend the “commercial general district” by allowing multi-family housing units to be built in the district with a number of waivers.
Faherty said that Wareham is “almost there” in terms of being compliant because the commercial general district already permits “mixed unit development,” or residences on the second floor of a building with commercial stores on the first floor.
“We already allowed this type of density for housing before the MBTA even came out with their law,” he said.
The MBTA Communities act requires towns with or near a commuter rail stop to adhere to several zoning guidelines that promote development of multi-family housing.
The “commercial general district” is a 306.5 acre area that stretches from Interstate 195, up Charge Pond Road to Interstate 495 with two-thirds of the land available for development. It has the potential for 3,606 multi-family housing units and would also meet the MBTA communities population density requirement of 15 units per acre with a possible 16.6 units per acre.
Faherty added there is urgency to become MBTA compliant because the state can withhold money if the town does not meet the requirements by June 2026.
Fearing Tavern Restoration. The Fearing Tavern at 11 Elm Street is an aging building with portions of it dating back to the 1600s. The Wareham Historical Society purchased the building — what used to be the Fearing family’s house in the 1950s — and is asking for $640,000 to restore much of the building’s exterior and get a historic preservation restriction placed on the building.
“We’re trying to stabilize the exterior of the building,” said Community Preservation Committee treasurer Sandy Slavin.
Slavin explained the scope of the work would include restoring as much of the building’s exterior as $640,000 would allow.
The building is owned and maintained by the Wareham Historical Society and according to society Director Angela Dunham, the work would be to replace "architectural components that have long surpassed their lifespan.”
Such components include replacing and restoring the windows, doors, cedar shingles and filling in what used to be skylights in the roof.
Slavin added that if work is not done to restore the building, losing it is a possibility.
Groezinger Hall Restoration. Located at 1 Gibbs Avenue, Groezinger Hall is a part of the First Congregational Church and hosts many community events. The church is seeking $19,000 to restore a portion of the building’s exterior and put a historic preservation restriction on it.
Groezinger Hall was originally built in the early 1800s. The $19,000 would be used to hire a contractor to restore the exterior of the building using materials from the time it was built. Restoration would include new paint to the exterior and replacing deteriorating parts of the building.
Slavin said the church is also putting up their own money to help pay for the renovations.
Light Replacement at Spillane Field. The school district is seeking $620,000 to replace the current lights at Clem Spillane Field where many of the high school’s teams play including football, soccer and baseball as well as the Wareham Gatemen in the summer.
The lights need replacing as many of the wooden poles that hold the lights up have exceeded their life expectancy, Slavin said. She added that the lights themselves need to be replaced with more modern LEDs for more effective and cost-efficient lighting.
“If you go there at night you can see that the lights are not very good,” Slavin said. “Anybody who uses that field for any type of sports should have some decent lighting.”
Town Meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium, 7 Viking Drive.
Purchasing the Rochester Transfer Station. Voters will consider allocating $750,000 to purchase the Rochester Transfer Station.
Wareham has been using the transfer station since 1973 as a member of the Carver Wareham Regional Refuse District which used to include Marion, Carver and Wareham. The district allowed the three towns to dispose of trash at the transfer station in exchange for Rochester disposing of ash in Carver’s landfill.
Today, Marion no longer utilizes the transfer station, 300 Carver residents use it and 3,000 Wareham residents use it.
Town Administrator Derek Sullivan said Wareham Municipal Maintenance has done all the upkeep and maintenance of the station. Purchasing it would be important to allow the town to continue to run its current trash programs.
Sewer 'air' pump stations. The Sewer Commissioners are asking voters to consider allocating $300,000 to upgrade five air pump stations.
A pump station assists sewage to the sewage plant. According to Sewer Commission Chair Jim Giberti, the current pump stations have not shown any major issues yet, but are from the 70s and would be difficult and expensive to fix if they break.
"We keep repairing where we can. We know that we're not able to get additional parts and without those the stations will die," Giberti said. "We can't just take the chance of those going out."
Giberti said the upgrade would help the commission get ahead of the curve and avoid future disasters.
View the full Town Meeting agenda here.