Housing Panel Talks Role in Williamstown Land Discussion
 Van Ellet, left, and Chairwoman Catherine Yamamoto discuss the minutes of the Affordable Housing Committee's May 7 meeting. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Affordable Housing Committee on Tuesday grappled with the question of how it can operate in a climate in which more and more of the town is discussing an issue that is the panel's sole focus.
The only outcome of April's special town meeting on land use and affordable housing is that the voters want more discussion and clearer direction from Williamstown's elected and appointed boards.
And the Selectmen on Monday took a step in that direction by forming a Long-term Coordinating Committee to facillitate communication among the various boards that will have a say in whether and how the town uses town-owned property to develop subsidized housing.
Twenty-four hours later, the members of the Affordable Housing Committee were wondering how the nascent joint committee would affect it's function going forward.
"It might, as a starting place, being important to clarify for ourselves the purpose of this coordinating committee and how what they do is going to influence our agenda and how much of our agenda we're going to bring to them," said committee member Van Ellett, who said he watched Monday's Selectmen's meeting on the town's community access television station, WilliNet.
"Until there's some real clarity in terms of the charge of that committee and an acceptance of the process by which it intends to operate, I find it difficult to determine what it is we're doing and how we're going to be doing it."
Chairwoman Catherine Yamamoto was appointed to the Long-term Coordinating Committee along with several other town committee heads and Selectwoman Jane Allen. She noted that the joint committee's first meeting is Monday, and the group likely will discuss how it wants to proceed. Yamamoto also said that Allen, the LTCC's architect, is on record saying the new group would not usurp the responsibilities of any existing town board.
"We are the only committee given money to find land," member and former Chairman Charles Bonenti said. "How does this play out against this oversight committee and all these other committees? ... Do we have to submit what we want to do to be reviewed?"
"I'm sure that will be discussed," Yamamoto answered.
Bonenti pointed out that the Affordable Housing Committee is making progress on developing the former town garage site, 59 Water St., and he expressed concerned that another layer of bureaucracy could slow the committee's momentum.
"We have a process that Mass Housing gave us when we first started doing this," Bonenti said. "I think that is what we should be doing. We should be seeing what sites are emerging as priority ones, and then we should make recommendations or assertions and let other boards react to them.
"I'm wary of everyone getting together and communicating, and we go around and around and around. Everyone in Williamstown likes to talk and talk and talk and focus on process."
"And we have," Yamamoto replied with a smile.
But Yamamoto also said the LTCC has a role to play.
"By the votes at town neeting ... I get the message that town residents want the town boards and the town itself to come to a consensus about what we're doing and work in a deliberative way, which we've been doing," she said. "Consensus is important.
"If we, as a committee, decided to ask that an RFP (request for proposals) went out for 59 Water St., for example, we would ask that of (Town Manager) Peter Fohlin, and he doesn't do that without informing the Selectmen, and a selectman is chairing the (coordinating) committee."
Interest in affordable housing extends beyond the committees represented on Allen's new LTCC.
The issue came to the fore last year when the town proposed developing Lowry, one of several town-owned parcels long under discussion by the AHC. The property of Stratton Road is currently under the control of the town's Conservation Commission and is farmed by a local farmer under an agreement with that board.
Advocates of open space and some abutters to the 30-acre Lowry property have mounted an organized and vocal opposition to that plan — precipitating last month's special town meeting that ended in a "timeout."
Bonenti and fellow board member Cheryl Shanks each suggested Tuesday that the Affordable Housing Committee reach out to residents who feel their concerns have not been heard during the last six months.
Shanks pitched the idea of listening sessions providing an open mic and allowing residents more time to speak than is allotted in venues like town meeting. Bonenti went a step further, proposing that the committee enlist a citizens advisory group to discuss the issues and make recommendations.
Yamamoto said residents are always welcome at AHC meetings and frequently comment to the panel, and WilliNet's recent community conversation in advance of the special town meeting served the purpose Shanks and Bonenti were addressing.
But Yamamoto said the LTCC could add to the discussion by sponsoring hearings that would allow residents to address several committees simultaneously (through their chairmen). And she said it might be beneficial to move such hearings out of Town Hall and into the community.
In other business on Tuesday, Yamamoto agreed to continue chairing the committee for another year, and the panel appointed Bonenti as its vice chairman.
Tags: affordable housing, conserved land, lowry property,
