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Planning board told state decommissioned well prompts proposed change to Aquifer Protection Overlay; council refers chicken and RV zoning to board
Summary
City staff explained that a decommissioned well embedded in an aquifer means the Aquifer Protection Overlay District map and restrictions will be revised; the city council also referred proposed zoning changes on keeping chickens and RV use to the planning board for review.
City staff told the Rochester Planning Board on March 17 that the proposed update to the Aquifer Protection Overlay District will remove a middle aquifer that is no longer a permitted water source after the city decommissioned a well there.
Planning Department staff said the city currently recognizes three aquifers under the overlay district. One of those, located in the center of the mapped area near Elmo Lane and parts of Chestnut Hill Road, previously had a permitted well. In 2018 the state raised concerns about contaminants around that aquifer and the city chose to decommission the well. In exchange, staff said, the state granted additional pumping rights to the Route 11 well. Because the decommissioned well can no longer legally produce drinking water, staff told the board the zoning map and ordinance still identify it as an aquifer but that status is inconsistent with the water licensing reality.
“...the zoning ordinance still says there's three wells and aquifers that we need to protect. But in reality, it's not legal to pump water out of that middle well,” Planning Department staff said, explaining the rationale for the proposed removal of that middle aquifer from the overlay.
The proposed change would reduce the Aquifer Protection Overlay District accordingly and allow additional uses in the area formerly constrained by aquifer protections, staff said. The planning board will see the formal proposal when it is prepared for review; staff said the change was triggered by the licensing and operational status of the well and that the map change was not carried out when the well was decommissioned.
In related zoning news, Planning Department staff told the board the City Council has referred two proposed zoning amendments to the planning board for review: one on allowing the keeping of chickens in residential districts and a separate proposal on RV use within the city. Staff said both items will come before the planning board for its thoughts and recommendations.
Staff also said work continues on updating the planning board bylaws; a draft will be brought to the board for review.
