Williamstown Moves to Replace Sign Commission
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday took a step toward replacing the town's moribund Sign Commission.
For a couple of years, officials have been sending out a call for volunteers to serve on the body, which has, "authority for control of all signs," under Chapter 53 of the town's code.
As of the start of Monday's meeting, just one active member of the commission was serving the town and the Sign Commission was unable to conduct business.
The three members of the Select Board at Monday's meeting remedied that by voting to appoint the Zoning Board of Appeals to act as the town's Sign Commission — similar to how the Select Board itself occasionally sits as the town's road commission or alcohol licensing authority.
At the same time, the board voted to appoint the one remaining Sign Commission member, Anne Singleton, as an alternate to the ZBA so she can stay involved with the process.
Zoning Board Chair Keith Davis told the Select Board that he was comfortable with what is seen as a short-term solution.
"This is an interim step to keep stuff moving," Town Manager Robert Menicocci told the Select Board. "We've got [sign] applications before us that we'd like to get approved.
"What we'd like to do [long term] is internalize that into more of a process that would run through Community Development. And, as we work on that, the workaround solution that was created was to appoint the ZBA as the Sign Commission so the members of the ZBA can function in that while we write our administrative policies."
Singleton, Lindsay Neathawk and Andrew Hoar, a former ZBA chair, are working with Community Development Director Andrew Groff on a proposal for a revamped sign bylaw to bring to the Select Board and, ultimately, town meeting that would update the bylaw and create a process for approval by Town Hall staff instead of an appointed commission of volunteers.
"Our sign bylaw is outdated with recent Supreme Court decisions and has to be revised," Davis pointed out from the floor of Monday's meeting.
Davis also on Monday was before the Select Board along with Laura Gura, a colleague on the board of Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, to obtain the board's signoff on two documents that will allow the Affordable Housing Trust to convey a Summer Street parcel to the non-profit.
"The first is the [affordable housing] restriction," Gura told the board. "That's a document that says once Habitat takes ownership of the property, Habitat will grant a permanent restriction to the town on the property related to affordability of the homes to be built there. It says that Habitat is required to build these four homes as mentioned and the homes will be sold to households making no more than 80 percent AMI, or the area median income.
"It also says that when Habitat goes to convey those homes to the eventual homeowner, that deed from Habitat to the homeowner needs to be accompanied by an Affordable Deed Rider, which is the second of these two documents."
The deed rider will ensure that subsequent sales of the four homes in what NBHFH is calling the Meadowlands Subdivision will continue to be made to income-qualified buyers.
"It tells the future homeowner ... you are purchasing this property for something less than fair market, and, with that comes some restrictions on the property," Gura said. "It has to be used as a primary residence. And there are restrictions around subsequent conveyance of the property and the price at which it can be conveyed or sold."
The documents before the Select Board on Monday were written by town counsel and tweaked by Northern Berkshire Habitat and the Affordable Housing Trust in consultation with town counsel over the last few months. They are similar to a restriction and deed rider on the building lots that the trustees conveyed to the non-profit at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Avenue for the construction of two single-family homes there.
"[The deed rider] contains the concept of a monitoring agent," Gura explained "And both the town and Habitat are listed as co-monitoring agents. Although there's also a provision for assignment of that responsibility.
"The monitoring agent has certain rights and responsibilities under the document, including the right to repurchase at the time the homeowner wants to resell, the requirement to set the so-called maximum sales price the homeowner can sell for. And to assist in marketing for a new purchaser."
Davis told the Select Board that while the affordability restriction on the lot specifies that the homes will be sold to owners making up to 80 percent of the area median income as determined by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity is aiming for sales to residents making 30 to 60 percent of those median values.
Once the deed is transferred for the Summer Street lot, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity plans to start marketing the first of the four houses. Davis Monday said that he hopes to be able to break ground in the fall and get the home closed before the snow flies so work can continue over the winter of 2025-26. The volunteer organization hopes to complete one house per year for four years.
Construction on a road off Summer Street to the four building lots will begin next month, and Davis said NBHFH hopes to bring the question of accepting the road as a public way to town meeting as soon as it is completed, presumably in time for May's annual town meeting.
In other business on Monday, Menicocci told the board that the town is making progress on two recreation-related projects.
The signage laying out the rules for off-leash dog usage in the Spruces Park is being printed, and the town is hoping to erect a kiosk where that signage will be displayed "within the next month."
"At that point, we'll begin our information campaign about its openness, the rules and the outreach around how the Spruces may be being used and shifting that to the designated area," Menicocci said.
• Meanwhile, last weekend, the town poured concrete for the installation of a fitness pad near the skate park on Stetson Road. Menicocci said once the concrete cures, the town will schedule an installer to put in the exercise stations, which he hopes to see in place "mid- to late-summer."
• The town also is working through the pre-application process for state grants to address some of the community's needs around playgrounds, including in the vicinity of the skate park and fitness pad, Menicocci said. Town hall also is looking at getting plans to rehabilitate the tennis court and add pickleball courts at the northern portion of Linear Park.
• Select Board member Matthew Neely at the end of the meeting asked his colleagues to consider setting a special meeting to release about $7,000 of town funds to support the July 4 fireworks display at Taconic Golf Club.
Neely said the pyrotechnic display costs $17,750, and private fund-raising has yielded "just shy of $11,000" as of Monday's meeting. The Select Board in the past discussed allocating taxpayer money for the holiday display but is yet to take a formal vote to release the funds.
Since the company selling the fireworks for the display wants the money in advance, Neely was asking for a special meeting in time to hold that vote and get the funds to the vendor.
As of late Thursday, no special meeting was posted on the town's website.
Tags: signage,
