Wareham catch-up: building-department complaints, an Onset eminent-domain session and an 18-article Town Meeting

Residents, a Middleborough builder and a state representative brought complaints about the town’s building office to the board in August. Four weeks later the agenda listed a closed-door session on taking 182 Onset Avenue, and the warrant signed that night has no article to buy it.

WAREHAM — Six people stood before the Wareham Select Board on Aug. 18 to describe trouble with the town’s Building & Inspectional Services Department, from a shed permit to building permits left open. A seventh speaker, State Rep. John Gaskey, told the board he was there for constituents who had brought him the same concerns. One of the six was a builder from Middleborough.

The newest business came four weeks later. The board’s Sept. 15 agenda listed an executive session “to consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property (eminent domain)” for 182 Onset Avenue, the Onset waterfront address of the Onset Beach Patio & Grille. That same night the board signed the Fall Town Meeting warrant, and none of its 18 articles would buy or take the property.

This recap covers the board’s last three meetings with posted minutes, Aug. 4, Aug. 18 and Sept. 1, plus the Sept. 15 agenda and the warrant. Minutes of the Sept. 15 meeting have not been posted to the town’s Agenda Center, so this story does not report what the board said or decided in that executive session.

The building department

The Aug. 18 minutes record the complaints one line at a time. Joe Crepeau of Falmouth spoke about his issues with the building inspector over his project at 35 Depot Street. William Bachant of Middleborough, speaking as a builder, described problems with the department. Lauren Mahoney of Wareham spoke about building a shed. Ayres Souza of Baypoint Drive raised his own issues, and Lucille Dodson of Fearing Street and Nancy Roy of Crest Drive both spoke about open building permits.

Gaskey, listed in the minutes as “State Representative and resident of Carver,” spoke about state housing-reform legislation and, in the minutes’ words, “to give voice in support of constituents who have reached out to him for assistance” about the department.

One resident spoke in the inspector’s defense. Alan Slavin of Wareham said he had a report covering the 35 Depot Street project and that anyone can get a time- and date-stamped report on a town project from the Town Clerk’s office. He said he wanted to correct “misinformation” about the Inspectional Services staff and the chain of command, and he noted that the building inspector reports to the town administrator, not the Select Board.

The minutes summarize each speaker in a sentence or two and do not detail the specific permits or disputes. The complaints came during resident comments, the part of the agenda set aside for public comment, and the minutes record no board discussion or action on them. Town Administrator Derek Sullivan and Town Counsel Richard Bowen were excused that night; Assistant Town Administrator Dorene Allen-England attended.

The meeting echoed into Sept. 1. Sandra Slavin of Wareham asked whether the board would keep letting non-residents speak, “as three were allowed at last meeting,” according to the Sept. 1 minutes. Crepeau of Falmouth, Bachant of Middleborough and Gaskey of Carver are the three non-residents in the Aug. 18 minutes. She also objected to Chair Sarah Corbitt allowing “an incumbent running for reelection in today’s primary” to speak about his platform at the prior meeting. The minutes do not name him. Gaskey, who was on the Sept. 1 Republican primary ballot, was the only elected official recorded speaking on Aug. 18. The Aug. 18 minutes describe his remarks as covering state housing legislation and constituents’ concerns about the department, and they make no mention of his campaign. The Sept. 1 minutes record no response from the board.

Onset: 182 Onset Avenue

The Sept. 15 agenda gives one line to the executive session: Chapter 30A, Section 21(a)(6) of the Open Meeting Law, “to consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property (eminent domain) if the Chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body,” followed by the address.

Town records tie the address to the Onset Beach Patio & Grille. The board’s March 18, 2025 agenda listed Main Street Deli LLC, d/b/a Onset Beach Patio & Grille, at 182 Onset Avenue, with manager Frank Evangelista, for renewal of a seasonal wine-and-malt license and a seasonal common victualler license. A commercial listing on the Demakis real estate site offers the property for sale at $2,495,000 or for lease at $12,000 a month. It describes a 1,584-square-foot building from 1999 on 0.11 acres, with seating for 110, an outdoor deck and a public pier tie-up.

Neither the agenda nor any posted town document says why the board is weighing eminent domain, what it would use the parcel for, or what it might pay. The warrant the board signed the same night carries no article to acquire it. The Sept. 15 minutes will show whether the chair made the declaration the law requires before entering executive session, and whether the board took any vote.

Onset came up at nearly every meeting. Susan Noonan complained on Aug. 4 about overgrown plantings in Bayview Park and a bandshell that was still closed, and on Aug. 18 she noted that no fireworks are planned for Onset Village’s 150th anniversary in 2027. Neil Sullivan repeated complaints about overgrowth on the Onset Bluffs on Aug. 4. On Sept. 1, Sandra Slavin spoke about the managed clearing of invasive plants and dead trees on the bluffs and a February Conservation Commission approval for a project on West Boulevard. The same night, Clerk Judith Whiteside announced that Wareham CORE is bringing free outdoor movie nights back to the Lillian Gregerman Bandshell with a Community Events Committee grant.

The Fall Town Meeting

The board set the calendar on Aug. 4, when Whiteside read the process for calling a town meeting into the record. The warrant opened Sept. 3, articles were due by noon Sept. 14, and the board closed it at its Sept. 15 meeting. The signed warrant is dated “this 15th day of September, 2026.” Town Meeting convenes Monday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium, 7 Viking Drive.

The warrant has 18 articles. The ones with the most at stake:

The rest of the warrant covers routine transfers (Articles 2 through 6, including $105,635 from harbor permit receipts to the harbormaster’s maintenance account), committee reports, a rewrite of the Community Events Committee bylaw, and two dog bylaws: one keeps dogs off public beaches and marshes except service animals, and one adds a $10 late fee for licenses after April 1 and a $50 fine for licenses not renewed by May 1. The warrant gives the school’s address as 7 Viking Drive on its cover and 7 Viking Avenue in the call to meeting; Viking Drive is the address on the board’s schedule.

The money

On Aug. 18 the board approved the FY27 first-half curbside commitment of $1,411,182.50, as submitted by the Director of Municipal Maintenance, and a $425.84 abatement on FY27 curbside billing. On Sept. 1, Sullivan thanked U.S. Rep. William Keating for securing about $1 million for Phase 2 of the town’s sewer infrastructure repairs. The Sept. 15 agenda listed two gifts from the Friends of the Wareham Council on Aging: $3,000 to pay for the council’s luncheon, and two $100 Aldi gift cards for kitchen supplies, with purchases and receipts to be tracked by the council’s director and submitted to the town accountant.

“Select Board Fees” has been on the calendar for a month. The Aug. 18 minutes say the fees “will be addressed during the September 1, 2026 Select Board meeting.” The Sept. 1 minutes list Town Business as “None,” and the item returned on the Sept. 15 agenda for “discussion and possible vote.” No posted document says which fees are under review or by how much.

The rest of the agenda, and where each case left off

Lunar Kitchen. On Aug. 4 the board voted 5-0 to transfer an all-alcohol restaurant license from Ying Dynasty LLC to Lunar Kitchen LLC at 265 Marion Road, with Christy Wu as manager, and granted a common victualler license. The restaurant seats 41. Whiteside urged the applicants to check with Inspectional Services so nothing held up the licenses.

7-Eleven, East Wareham. The board voted 5-0 on Aug. 4 to transfer the all-alcohol package-store license at 3 Barker Road from Rego & Sons, Inc. to Aarvi Food, Inc., with Amit Patel as manager. Whiteside mentioned a possible change-of-use certificate.

Lazy Lobster 5 Miler. The board approved a special event permit and a one-day wine-and-malt license for the Sept. 12 race and festival at 760 Main Street, 5-0. Select Board member Joseph Still and Whiteside said the beer garden sat too close to the road; the license vote notes the permit would reflect a new location.

Other licenses. Fresh Monkee, 3037 Cranberry Highway, got a new common victualler license Aug. 4. On Aug. 18, 239 Onset Avenue changed its name from The Deli at Onset Bay to Simply Smith’s Restaurant. On Sept. 1, 28 Auto Clinic (EY Auto Center, Inc., owner Eliot Youssef) got a Class 2 used-car license at 2888 Cranberry Highway, limited to four vehicles, a clean lot, no junk cars visible from the road and vehicles kept safe and operational. JoJo’s Bakery, 3147 Cranberry Highway, got a common victualler license the same night. All passed 5-0.

Little Harbor golf committee. Before four appointments on Aug. 4, Whiteside read into the record that the Little Harbor Golf Course Advisory Committee met five times in 2024 and posted three sets of minutes, met six times in 2025 with one meeting cancelled and posted one set, and has not met in 2026. She then abstained as James Giberti was reappointed and George Barrett, James Munise and Connor Alden were appointed, each 4-0-1. On Sept. 1 she voted with the majority to add Walter Paster, 5-0.

Other appointments. William Scott Parr joined the Conservation Commission as a full member through June 30, 2029, on a 5-0 vote Sept. 1. The Sept. 15 agenda listed Jennifer Pina’s reappointment to the Wareham Cultural Council through June 30, 2029. Whiteside noted on Aug. 18 that the Board of Registrars has a vacancy for its Democratic registrar.

Recognitions. On Aug. 4 the board gave a certificate of appreciation to the Wareham Area Committee for the Homeless / Turning Point, at 777 Main Street, whose Holiday Magic program served 220 families and 317 children, and heard about Cemify, a municipal maintenance project that maps the town’s cemeteries so families can find graves. On Sept. 1 it proclaimed September as Suicide Prevention Month and marked Patriot Day on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Whiteside said the Veterans Council will hang banners on Main Street for the four Wareham men killed in Vietnam. Residents also invited the board to the Sept. 19 unveiling of a Muster Field plaque for the 250th, and reported 650 crocheted poppies headed to Wareham, England, for Remembrance Day.

The board itself

All five members, Corbitt, Whiteside, Still, Jared Chadwick and Marcus Gomes, attended all three meetings; Still joined Sept. 1 remotely at 7:05 p.m. Sullivan joined Aug. 4 and Sept. 1 remotely. On Sept. 1 he thanked Allen-England for serving as acting town administrator on top of her human-resources duties while he was on vacation, and he welcomed Sherri Torres as the town’s new benefits coordinator.

The Aug. 4 minutes still carry an error after two approval votes. Item 6a is headed as the reappointment of Indiana Troupe to the Community Events Committee, but the motion under it is for James Giberti and the golf committee, and it records Whiteside as abstaining next to a tally of “5-0-0 (unanimous).” On Aug. 18, Corbitt asked to correct the tally on item 6b; the minutes then note that 6b “was correct” and no correction was needed. The board re-approved the Aug. 4 minutes 5-0 on Sept. 1. As posted, the record does not show the motion or vote on Troupe’s reappointment. The same minutes also record a motion to approve the minutes of “June 14” under an item for July 14.

Barrella serves on the Middleborough Finance Committee and the Town Manager Search Committee. Neither body has a role in the Wareham matters in this story. State Rep. John Gaskey has appeared twice on The G.O.A.T. Podcast.