The Kingston Police Department introduced its newest four-legged member and honored several officers and civilians for their heroic actions during the August 26 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Officer Brian Hurley presented Mabel, a 5-month-old yellow Labrador who recently completed comfort dog training through Professional Canine Services in Middleborough. The puppy, born on April Fool’s Day, comes from Pacheco Kennels in Raynham and is related to comfort dogs serving in neighboring communities.
“She is a full yellow lab. Both of her mother and father were yellow labs, Aries and Apollo,” Hurley said. “She’s actually sisters with Pembroke’s comfort dog, Sasha. One of Plymouth’s comfort dogs and as well as Plympton’s comfort dog, Aggie.”
Mabel accompanies Hurley at all times, both at home and on patrol. The department encourages community members to request the comfort dog for events and welcomes residents to interact with Mabel when they encounter the pair around town.
“If you have any events that you think that you may need a comfort dog for it, please feel free to request,” Hurley said. “And if you see me driving around, then feel free to say hello. And you can take pictures with the dog, pet the dog. She loves people and she’s been doing really well.”
As a NASRO-certified officer with the National Association of School Resource Officers, Hurley serves as backup to the district’s school resource officers, allowing him flexibility to visit any school when requested or during routine patrol stops.
Chief Brian Holmes presented multiple Police Commendation Awards recognizing exceptional service during two separate emergency incidents.
On July 30, Officer Potrykus, Lieutenant Skowyra, Dispatcher Odell, and Officer Hurley received recognition for their actions during a high-speed pursuit involving stolen property. The incident began when a resident reported someone attempting to steal a jet ski and trailer from their yard.
“Officer Potrykus observed a truck with the lights off that he turned around and followed the vehicle. A pursuit ensued, which went all the way down Route 3 into the rotary, and then it continued down Route 25, and it ended up terminating in New Bedford,” Chief Holmes said.
The pursuit resulted in one suspect’s apprehension, though a piece of debris from the fleeing vehicle struck the police cruiser’s windshield during the chase.
“Your actions reflect great credit upon yourself, the department, and maintain the highest traditions of law enforcement,” Holmes read from the commendation. “Congratulations on a job well done.”
The department also recognized two civilians for their life-saving actions during a water rescue on July 21. Harbormaster Tom Taylor and Assistant Harbormaster Glen Cavicchi received commendations for rescuing a distressed kayaker in the Jones River, though neither was available to attend the meeting.
The incident occurred when a kayaker became tangled in fishing line and overturned near Jones River Drive. Resident Tom Conner assisted the person in the water until the harbormaster’s boat arrived on scene.
“Mr. Conner was able to reach the person and help him stay afloat above the water until the rescue arrived on scene,” the Chief explained. “Your actions reflect great credit upon yourself, the department to maintain the high traditions of the law enforcement, and quite possibly save a life that day.”
Holmes also presented the department’s new mission statement and core values, developed through input from all department members. The mission statement emphasizes the department’s commitment to integrity, professionalism, service, and community partnership.
“The Kingston Police Department, guided by integrity, professionalism, service, and a deep commitment to the community, partners with the public to serve, support, and protect all inhabitants of the town of Kingston,” the mission statement reads.
The department’s four core values include integrity, defined as being “open and transparent in all things that we do”; community, recognizing that “we are the public and we cannot do this job without you”; professionalism, acknowledging that “policing is a profession” requiring education and training; and service, emphasizing their role as “law enforcement officers, dispatchers, administrators, leaders, and public servants.”
The board also accepted a donation from Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, including a life pack 1008ED, wall mounting case, and two NALOX boxes containing Narcan. These items will be provided to the recreation department.
In other business, the board began preparations for hiring a new Town Administrator following Keith Hickey’s upcoming departure. The board approved a position statement and job description for the role, with an annual salary of $180,000 plus or minus depending on qualifications.
The board established a screening committee consisting of two selectmen, the Police Chief, Fire Chief, and HR Manager to review applications. Chairman Eric Crone and board member Donald Alcombright will represent the selectmen on the committee.
The Town Administrator position requires a bachelor’s degree with a master’s preferred, along with experience in municipal government, financial management, and personnel administration. The ideal candidate should demonstrate strong leadership qualities and knowledge of municipal law.

The Plympton Zoning Board held another public hearing on August 27 for the proposed Ricketts Pond Estates 60-unit, 40B development. Suzanne Jafferian, ZBA Chairman, opened the hearing along with her ZBA members, Ethan Stiles, David Alberti, Alan Wheelock, and missing was Lukasz Kowalski. Jafferian welcomed everyone and then turned the proceedings over to Stiles who introduced peer-reviewing principal engineer from JDE Civil, Inc., Gregory Driscoll. Stiles stated that Driscoll had submitted a nine-page review and report about the applicants’ Peter Opachinski of SLT Constructions, storm water management report. Stiles suggested that Driscoll present his remarks to the board, but Opachinski interjected and suggested their civil engineer, Erik Schoumaker, of McKenzie Engineering Group, Inc., be allowed to present the plans for the storm water management design prior to Driscoll’s remarks. Stiles agrees that this was reasonable and the floor was set for Schoumaker to begin his civil site plans presentation.
Schoumaker reiterated that they did, indeed, receive Driscoll’s comments and review letter dated August 20 and that they were going to review said comments and hoped to submit a revision of their site plans incorporating Driscoll’s feedback. The Ricketts Pond storm water management plans were presented to the board and the attending public on large posters set on an easel as well as on a projector screen on the wall. Schoumaker began walking the board through the site plans -starting with a depiction of the site’s current day condition. Schoumaker stated that the entire lot is 24.4 acres and over a million square feet and that the Carver-Plympton town line runs across the southern portion of the property. The frontage road and access to the subdivision would be from Carver but all of the structures to be built would be located on the Plympton side of the town line.
Schoumaker then explained that the composition of the site consists mainly of stockpiles of sand and gravel and access paths that run through the area. He went on to state that the topography of the land consists of undeveloped woodlands and pockets of vegetative wetlands. Schoumaker verified that the land is located in a FEMA Zone x -meaning the site is determined to be outside a 500‐year flood threat and protected by levee from a 100-year flood -thus being an area of minimal flooding hazard. The presented poster map showed that the stormwater runoff flows to a low point, which in this case is a pocket of wetlands that eventually drains into Ricketts Pond. Schoumaker then indicated the marked soil testing holes on the map and reported that they dug in excess of 10 feet down and found nothing much aside from sand and no groundwater. He claims this made their storm water management design much easier.
The next poster showed the current layout with the cul-de-sac road and Ricketts Pond Drive, where an industrial park is located and where a few of the lots were under construction and still needed permitting. Five poster sheets in showed the lotting plan with 25 proposed single-family units, a 40 foot right-of-way and a road that has yet to be named. Schoumaker said that the lots range in size from 15,000 square feet to 50,350 square feet -the largest lot, 17, abutting wetlands. He then showed that Road A will connect with Ricketts Pond Drive and provide a 140 diameter. He assured the board that this was plenty of room for delivery trucks and emergency vehicles to turn around in.
The comprehensive layout plan for the number of duplex units developed was presented next. SLT Construction is proposing 30 duplexes which would be 60 residential units from that type of housing. Each unit would be 1,860 square feet with 24 ft wide driveways and single car garages but with ample room for two cars. The 1,536 ft subdivision roadway would be composed of bituminous concrete for durability and weather resistance and lined with a foot wide Cape Cod Berm -a barrier commonly used in coastal areas to protect from storm surges and flooding. Schoumaker then reiterated that they tried to design structures and roadways far away enough to not disturb the wetlands scattered throughout the area. “One of the decks is 50 feet away from the IVW (isolated vegetative wetlands) and this is our closest disturbed area with that portion of the building,” Schoumaker explained.
The next presented chart showed SLT’s grading and drainage plan for the development. “Our goal was to design a drainage system that complied with the 2, 10, 25, and 100 year storm events,” stated Schoumaker, “We want to attenuate those storms and we want to comply with all the local and state storm water management regulations. So that was our goal for design.” In addition, in pre and post development, a watershed of 23 ½ acres was analyzed to design the storm system in such a way as to use the wetlands as design points to reduce peak rates and volumes directed at those areas in the event of heavy flooding or drainage. This would be done by using a closed drainage system in the street that consists of a series of catch basins and drain manholes to funnel the storm water into said basins and then funnel the water into an infiltration basin. The infiltration basin provides the total suspended solids removal and is intended to rather treat the storm water before it gets infiltrated into the native soil. Schoumaker stated that this was all in compliance with the local storm water management regulations that accomplished the intended water recharge and TSS removal.
The next presented aspect of the development concerned the utility plan for the wells and septic systems for the Ricketts Pond development. Underground electricity for each lot would be sized based on each individual septic system and kept within the legally required buffer zone between wells and septic systems. “We will obviously work in conjunction with Plympton Board of Health as we get further along in development to finalize these designs, but we wanted to make sure everything fit,” Schoumaker explained. The plans showed that each two-family unit will have its own septic and well.
Stiles interjected with a question asking if the leaching field was per well or per lot and asked how that would work. Schoumaker stated that it would drain into a shared septic tank and then into the leaching fields which were calculated depending on the number of bedrooms on the lot -with one leaching field per duplex. Wheelock raised a question asking for clarification on whether the larger lots, particularly the 15,000 square foot lot, would have one septic and two wells or one septic and one well. Schoumaker answered that there would only be one septic and one well for said lot, but that could be subject to change as these plans were all preliminary in nature. Jafferian then asked for clarification about the number of required septic tanks and their sized being based off of the number of bedrooms in any given unit. Schoumaker replied that it is based off of Title 5 regulations, which measure by factoring 110 gallons of waste water per day per bedroom.
The final point of Schoumaker’s presentation was concerning the roadway profile and the drainage structures in the roadway of the Ricketts Pond development. The plans show no conflicting utilities and roadway grades of 1.1%-1.7% with a high point at the Carver town line to divide up storm water drainage. This ensures that the runoff from Carver stays in Carver and the runoff from Plympton stays in Plympton. Stiles again wanted to clarify that the applicant’s plans were designed as one well and one septic per lot no matter the amount of buildings on the lot, to which Schoumaker verified this was correct, but restated that they would be working with the Plympton Board of Health to make changes as needed after soil testing was done on each lot and submitted for review. He also stated that the septic sizes would vary depending on if the lot is servicing single vs duplex housing units.
Alberti then addressed a question about the wells indicated on the plans where, in one area, a single well is shown to service two duplexes -meaning a single well is supposed to service four families. Schoumaker responded, “Depending on well testing, if it’s possible, we would like to do that as shown in the plan. If we have to change up the design because utility plan is preliminary in nature, we’ll deal with that if we have to.”
Stiles followed up with an inquiry on the provided storm water management areas and questioned if they are located in the wetlands or adjacent to the wetlands. Schoumaker concluded that they are located adjacent to the wetlands. “It is an infiltration basin, so it’s really a depression in the ground. We take a portion of the cul-de-sac, we capture the runoff, and we send it to that basin. Luckily here we have sand so we can infiltrate all of the runoff going there. And then we include a small emergency overflow and just direct that at the wetland. But you can see the 100 year storm label on the plan never even makes it up to that emergency overflow. So it’s next to the wetland but I believe we’re about, we’re over 50 ft away with that one.”
Continuing on the storm water management plans, Shoumaker explained that a pre development watershed study was done to determine the flow patterns of the current lot and then determine how much runoff is going to each property line and how much is going into the wetlands. He pointed out that several strategically placed infiltration basins were needed instead of one drainage point to ensure there was no overflowing and to comply with state and local regulations.
Jafferian then asked about previous experiences developing wetland areas. “So, you’ve done plans like this before -for multiple units and this is common for you. Have you seen projects like this so close to wetlands developed successfully?” To which Shoumaker replied that he had and under much less favorable soil conditions. He also relayed that this site was one of the easier to manage and design around due to it being mostly sand.
A question was posed about the development residents all being under an HOA. Brad McKenzie, from McKenzie Engineering responded. “Each lot will be its own condo association. And overarching all of that would be a Homeowners Association because it’s really no different than a single-family subdivision… So again, each lot, whether it be one or two duplexes, would be its own condo association. As the plans are further developed into final construction plans. the legal documents are prepared there will be exclusive use areas, common areas designated on plans to be recorded at the registry of deeds along with unit deed plans and master deed plans.”
Concluding the presentation by Shoumaker, Driscoll was asked if he wanted to respond to anything. He concluded that his responses were very technical in nature and that he did not have questions that were not already included in the review letter that was submitted to the board and the applicant. After deliberation about the appropriate timeline for proposed reviews and responses from the peer review engineer and the applicants engineer for further components of the project, including the traffic study, the next hearing was set to take place on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m.
Following the hearing date, the board allowed questions to be asked by the town attendees. Several local residents in attendance raised questions and concerns about the well and septic systems as well as roadway access and design. Debbie from Forest Street asked for a breakdown of the number of bedrooms per unit and also the septic capability requirements set forth by the Title 5 regulations. The plans previously presented in the hearing were reiterated. Wheelock then mentioned a statement in a previous hearing from Paul Cusson of Delphic Associates, LLC. where the units were predicted to average about 2 ½ residents per unit, meaning the Ricketts Pond project would result in an increase of 150-200 new residents in Plympton. Stiles then pointed out that this increase in population and the demand it would place on local municipal resources like the fire department, school, and police department could not be considered because of the applicant applying under a 40B.
Next, Town Council, Carolyn Murray, asked for clarification about the size and capacity of the roadway and referred to the language in the presentation that it “should be sufficient” for passage and turn-around of emergency vehicles but and asked if a swept path analysis had been done. Shoumaker replied that the measurements were taken out of the regulations for Plympton and that there was also software that could mimic the exact turn radius of a fire truck and that could be calculated and shown on the plans.
After these comments, John Traynor asked about the water supply available beyond what was available on the tanker in the event of an emergency. He asked if there had been discussions with the fire department to perhaps build something underground for water storage that could be used by the fire department, to which McKenzie replied that there had not been any discussions about this but they were certainly open to discussions concerning this matter with the fire department.
Tina Davies then asked how many of the town bylaws were not applicable to the Ricketts Pond Development. Stiles replied that it was due to the project being filed under the 40B law and therefore the applicant is able to bypass many local laws. Lastly, Mary McGrath and Arthur Bloomquist raised concerns about the parking spaces and design of the road to handle traffic flow and emergency vehicles. McKenzie replied that the designs were preliminary and adjustments could be made later on to better accommodate multiple cars for gatherings or emergency and delivery vehicles. The hearing was then adjourned until Oct. 8.
To follow along on this project, please visit the town website for all available public transcripts, maps, presented material, statements, and forthcoming hearings and news.
https://www.town.plympton.ma.us/home/pages/ricketts-pond-estates-proposed-40b