Letter: Williamstown Shouldn't Rush Zoning Changes

Letter to the Editor01:00PM / Wednesday, February 09, 2022Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

To Members of the Select Board and the Planning Board of Williamstown,

I have been a resident of Williamstown since 1971 and the owner of residential property in town. I am concerned about the process going through your committees to consider zoning changes in this town.

The process is rushing to put these changes in the next warrant articles, to be voted on in the next town meeting. This is unfair to town residents, who need more time to learn about and consider these proposed changes — few residents are even aware of their existence.

Most importantly, the town has hired a consultant for a new comprehensive plan for the town and Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is in the process of conducting a housing needs assessment for Berkshire County. Until these two reports have been completed, it makes no sense to ask us to vote on changes in zoning ordinances.

Thank you for your vigilance in ensuring that we voters get all the information and consultation we need to vote responsibly on proposed zoning changes in Williamstown.

Sincerely,

Tela Zasloff
Williamstown, Mass.

Tags: zoning,

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Williamstown Board Hears Concerns About 'Hometown Heroes' Banners

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:32AM / Wednesday, September 16, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Kurt Durocher told the Williamstown Select Board that he had received nothing but positive feedback from the North County communities where he proposed participation in the Hometown Heroes banner program.

Then Williamstown residents started to weigh in.

Durocher was before the board Monday evening to seek its blessing to put banners recognizing living and deceased military veterans on utility poles in Williamstown, an initiative that has been embraced in all but one of the other municipalities in the district where he serves as Veterans' Service Officer.

"The only negative I've had right now, and it's not really negative, [the Town of ] Florida doesn't want banners to go on Route 2, the Mohawk Trail, for safety reasons, understandably," Durocher said. "So we're trying to figure out an alternate way to make that work in Florida."

By and large, though, the reception to the program has been encouraging, Durocher said.

"I'll use Adams as an example," he said. "They've had a program for many, many years, but it's only for [military personnel] killed in action. Now that I've been allowed to take over that program … there's been a huge outpouring of support, because now we get living veterans on the poles as well.

"The only negative I've had is certain people want their banners in certain locations. So what we did in North Adams is we just did a random draw. I can't please everybody. I've got people who want a banner in a certain location, but three other people want that same location.It was a straight random draw for them."

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