Williamstown Selectmen Clarify Language on Lowry, Burbank
 Selectmen Thomas Sheldon and Ronald Turbin and Chairwoman Jane Allen consider whether to modify the language of the board's request on releasing town-owned land from conservation. |
Updated on July 23, 2013, with more discussion from the board on the Lowry & Burbank properties and quotes from the Affordable Housing Committee.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Selectmen on Monday night decided to rephrase and resubmit its request that the Conservation Commission consider the status of the Lowry and Burbank properties.
Acting on the advice of Con Comm Chairman Philip McKnight, the board voted 2-1 to redraft its request in language that matches the language recommended by town counsel for for a potential "surplus vote" by the town.
And unlike the the request the Selectmen made at its July 8 meeting, this time around it made separate requests for Lowry and Burbank and only asked the Con Comm to consider releasing from its "care, custody and control" a portion of each town-owned property.
Specifically, the board asked the commission to consider releasing about 10 acres from the 30-acre Lowry property. The 10 acres in question is land that was identified in a conceptual study conducted last year on behalf of the town's Affordable Housing Committee.
And the board asked the Con Comm to look at releasing "between 10 and 30 acres" of the 130-acre Burbank property with the exact acreage and location to be determined within 45 days by yet another study to be ordered by the Affordable Housing Committee, which asked the Selectmen to petition the Con Comm.
Selectman Ronald Turbin, who voted against the request at the July 8 meeting, again voted against submitting the question. Selectmen David Rempell, who is an abutter to an abutter of one of the properties, once again recused himself from the discussion. Selectwoman Jane Patton, who voted to make the request on July 8, was absent from Monday's meeting. That left Chairwoman Jane Allen and Selectman Thomas Sheldon voting in favor of the request.
Sheldon crafted the original July 8 motion in response to the AHC's request, and on Monday he admitted that the phrasing was "inartful." He gladly modified it to meet McKnight's request, although Sheldon also pushed that only a portion of each property be requested in Monday's vote.
It was a move reminiscent of the spring, when Sheldon was the one who suggested modifying the Selectmen-drafted "Lowry article" on the special town meeting ballot to limit potential development to about a third of the property.
"I personally have no desire to request 130 acres of Burbank," Sheldon said.
For the second straight meeting, Allen voted to honor the AHC's request after expressing misgivings about that request. On Monday, she said she thought the question was being "pushed on" the Selectmen and that she wished more work had been done at the committee level.
That comment drew emotional responses from two members of the Affordable Housing Committee in attendance.
"Back in November, the Affordable Housing Committee put forth a question to the Conservation Committee about laying out that vision for what is the procedure for looking at Lowry and Burbank," AHC member Bilal Ansari said. "We were ignored. They refused to have that conversation in November 2012.
"Now, we're asking the same question we asked back in November. All we're asking to do is look at it. Can the professionals get in there and look at [the land]?"
The housing committee has said it cannot put any of Lowry or Burbank into a request for proposals from developers while the land is in the care of the Con Comm.
 Affordable Housing Committee Chairwoman Catherine Yamamoto called on the Selectmen to provide leadership in the land use debate. |
AHC Chairwoman Catherine Yamamoto once again explained that her committee felt the request to the Con Comm should come from the Selectmen, which put the land in the Con Comm's control in 1987 at the direction of town meeting.
"What we are looking for and what we feel town meeting was looking for is leadership from the Board of Selectmen and any other elected and appointed bodies on this issue," Yamamoto said. "We're just looking for leadership that will start the process so a determination can be made by the Con Comm."
Yamamoto several times called upon the board for "leadership" and later returned to a familiar theme: the idea that the town needs to look at all potential development sites to meet an affordable housing need that was great before Tropical Storm Irene and greater after the storm devastated the Spruces Mobile Home Park.
"If the Board of Selectmen support the findings of the (2002) Master Plan, and if the Board of Selectmen believe that ... some accommodation is required for the people who lost their homes in the Spruces ... I don't understand what the hesitation is here," she said. "Where are we going to put homes for all these people?
"If it isn't Lowry and Burbank, where is it going to be?"
McKnight told Allen in an email earlier this month that the Con Comm would take up the issue of releasing Lowry and/or Burbank for potential development at its Thursday, July 25, meeting.
For the Selectmen on Monday, Lowry was just part of a crowded agenda that included topics ranging from the Sign Commission to the town's cable television contract to the Olympic Games.
Town Manager Peter Fohlin reviewed a potential timeline for execution of the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant, including the town's potential acquisition and closure of the Spruces Mobile Home Park. Fohlin said the town is still pressing park owner Morgan Management for final approval of the mechanism for that transfer.
Once the Rochester, N.Y.,-based firm approves the language in the agreement, it will send a notice to park residents of its intention to transfer the park for the purpose of its closure. Once that letter is delivered to residents, they would have 45 days to exercise their right of first refusal to buy the park or transfer that right to a third party that would intend to keep the park open.
If that right of first refusal is exercised, the town's $6.1 million FEMA grant would disappear. If not, the land acquisition would need to be approved by a special town meeting, perhaps as early as September. If the town votes not to accept ownership of the park, the FEMA money, again, would be off the table.
If the town does accept ownership of the park, Williamstown (as the new owner) would be required to notify residents of its intent to close the park and give them 24 months to vacate under the state's manufactured housing law.
The board also:
- Approved unanimously an application for an alcohol license by the Ece Group, which plans to open Pera Bistro at 60 Spring St. Owner Fahri Karakaya, who also operates Mediterra on Main Street in North Adams, appeared before the board, which also serves as the town's alcoholic beverage commission.
- Accepted the resignation of Gregory Hitchcock from the Sign Commission and appointed Lindsay Neathawk to serve the balance of his term.
- OK'd requests from the Williamstown Community Chest to hold its sixth annual Fun Run and One Mile Walk on Sept. 14 and from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to hold its annual Bike and Hike the Berkshires event, which runs through the town on Sept. 21.
- Issued a proclamation recognizing Aug. 7 as Olympic Day in the town.
- Honored a request from the recently created Long-term Coordinating Committee to change that body's name to the Spruces Roof Group.
Tags: affordable housing, conservation commission, FEMA, lowry property, Selectmen, Spruces,
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