Planners Ann McCallum and Chris Winters listen to a presentation at last week's Planning Board meeting.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board is investigating whether and how the town's rules on subdivisions and multifamily dwellings should be amended.

 

At its meeting last week, the board discussed the long-range project it wants to tackle leading to next spring's annual town meeting.

 

Board members present appeared to be in agreement that it may be time for the town to consider allowing smaller building lots, townhouses and the like.

 

Carol Stein-Payne made a point that linked the potential zoning change to the economic development efforts that have been a point of emphasis for the Board of Selectmen.

 

"'Small a' affordable housing would encourage younger families to move to the area," Stein-Payne said, distinguishing between modestly priced market-rate housing and the subsidized affordable housing that has dominated much of the town's effort the last few years.

 

Ann McCallum pointed to a few potential markets for either small lots or multi-family developments.

 

She reiterated her oft-cited assertion that Williams College alumni or parents of current students want access to a pied-a-terre in the college town. She also said there is a population of current residents who would like to downsize.

 

"Another group of people I've found is older, long-term Williamstown people who are 'tired of those landscape bills,'" McCallum said. "All of these people want small, easy to maintain units of some sort."

 

"Yet our zoning encourages 5-acre lots in South Williamstown," noted Chis Winters.

 

To see if those laws ought to change, the Planning Board decided to seek input from outside interests ranging from the Chamber of Commerce, local real estate agents, the Council on Aging and large institutions ranging from Berkshire Medical Center to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts.

 

They also plan to keep an eye on the demand for the luxury apartments being developed at the Cable Mills complex on Water Street.

 

Chairwoman Elizabeth McGowan told the group that member Amy Jeschawitz, who missed the May 27 meeting, reported from a meeting with the Cable Mills developers that they had 450 names on a list looking for one of the apartments, and a third of the prospective buyers were looking for a second home.

 

"That's better market research than anything we've talked about," Winters said.

 

In other business, McCallum updated the board on the status of Williams College's plan for a replacement to the Williams Inn.

 

As a member of the college's design team for the project, McCallum, an architect, did not participate in the board's discussions earlier this year when the college asked for an expansion of the Village Business District to allow a hotel at the bottom of Spring Street.

 

Williams eventually withdrew that request and is rethinking the project. McCallum told the board that a recent meeting of that design team was considering placing the new inn closer to Spring Street itself, rather than set back from the road as previously discussed.

 

"There are a lot of people who thought it would be nice to have it on the street," McCallum said, pointing to Stockbridge's Red Lion Inn as a prototype. "People love to sit on the porch and people watch."

 

The board also gave its blessing to the acquisition of 14.2 acres by the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation. The parcel is a gift from residents Phil and Susan Smith, and WRLF plans to use it to expand hiking opportunities, foundation director Leslie Reed-Evans said.