Lanesborough Planners Bring STR, ADU, Signage Bylaws for Town Vote
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Planning Board held a public hearing on the much anticipated bylaws for short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units, and signage to be presented at the annual town meeting.
For the past few months, planners have diligently been working on wordage of the new bylaws after Second Drop Farm's short-term rental was given a cease and desist because the building inspector said town bylaws don't support them.
The draft bylaw can be found on the website.
The board voted on each of the four articles and heard public comment before moving to entertain any amendments brought forward.
A lot of discussion in the STR section was around parking. Currently the drafted bylaw for parking states short-term rentals require two parking spaces, and with three or more bedrooms, require three spaces but never more than five.
There were questions about the reasons for limiting parking and how they will regulate parking renters choose to park on the lawn or the street. Planners said it is not their call, that is up to the property owner and if it is a public street that would be up to the authorities.
Some attendees called for tighter regulation to make sure neighborhoods are protected from overflow.
Lynn Terry said she lives next to one of the rented houses on Narragansett Avenue and does not feel safe with all of the cars that are parked there. She said there can be up to 10 at a time on the narrow road, and that some people have asked to use her driveway to park. She thinks limiting to five cars based on the house, is very important.
The wordage was amended to say a parking space for each bedroom of the house.
Rich Cohen brought up how his own STR at the Old Stone School helps bring in money and helps to preserve the historic landmark. He told the board he liked what they did and wants to see it pass at town meeting, knowing it might be revised later on.
He said the bylaws now should not be a "one size fits all" but may need to be adjusted to help protect neighborhoods and also preserve places like his.
After asking the audience of fewer than 20 people, the board decided to amend the amount of time an short-term rental can be reserved to 180 days total a year in a residential zone, and 365 days a year in every other zone. This was in the hopes the bylaw will be passed and help to deter companies from buying up properties to run STRs as well as protecting the neighborhood character and stability.
They also capped the stay limit of a guest to 31 days.
Cohen also asked them to add "if applicable" to the Certificate of Inspection rule as the state's rules might change and it can help stop confusion if they have incorrect requirement that the state doesn't need.
The ADU portion did not have much public comment but there were some minor amendments because of notes from KP Law, the town counsel.
These new specifications include added language of one parking space for a detached ADU unless it is within half a mile of an active BRTA bus route, in which case no space is required.
Some things to note in the bylaws are that a detached dwelling unit must not be larger than 1,200 square feet of gross floor area, or half the size of the principal dwelling, whichever is smaller.
Lastly the board voted on Articles C and D, which were about signage.
Signs require a permit from the building inspector, with a plan and description submitted by the property owner. In residential and residential A zones, signs pertaining to use of lot or building can be not more than two with a total area of 2 square feet in the R district and 20 square feet in RA district.
Business and industrial zones are one freestanding sign per lot, plus building-attached signs with total area limits per business. Mixed commercial districts allow signage by special permit from the Planning Board, based on a signage plan consistent with the area's character.
Temporary signs must not obstruct traffic or internal circulation.
Not counted toward permanent sign square footage is up to two banner signs, not including feather flags, are allowed total area not to exceed 25 percent of the street-facing façade, attached to the building. One sandwich board sign per business not to exceed 36 inches in high and 12 square feet, plus typical open/closed/menu signs. One feather-flag type sign per business 12 foot by 3 foot max, explicitly not including inflatable movables.
Resident Ronald Tinkham spoke about how these rules did not apply to the recent tensions around The Country Stores truck sign, which is currently in a lawsuit against the town.
The board said that is not a part of these bylaws and is in another section of the bylaws that addresses vehicle signage and that these bylaws are currently only focusing on temporary signage. And it is currently up to the courts to decide if the building inspector and the Zoning Board was correct in saying it violated the town's bylaws.
Many commended the board for taking their time on the bylaws and listening to the public.
Chair Courtney Dondi said she is worried the bylaws won't pass and that they will have spent a lot of time for nothing because not many people have come to have a say on how these are written.
"We've had a handful of people come to these meetings as we've been working on these bylaws. Nobody has come that has disagreed with what we've come up with. I wish that way more people came, because otherwise I feel like we've wasted our time if it doesn't pass. And unfortunately, we can't control who comes," she said.
Member Tara Mullett agreed and added people have been rude but have not come to help.
"I agree with Courtney. I'm afraid this isn't going to pass because people don't come to meetings, they don't understand what we're talking about, they're not having discussions like this, so they can better understand," she said. "Actually, I'm surprised there's this many people here, and it actually made me feel good that people actually came to that, because we've been asking people to come since we started this six months ago, and we've only had, like Courtney said, a handful of people ...
"It is frustrating because people get mad at us and say, 'You guys are doing things wrong, you guys are doing things wrong,' and pointing fingers at us, but they won't come and say that to my face, so I can explain it, and so it is pretty frustrating for us. But we did, somebody did tell us to our face, and they were not very nice, and I don't appreciate that either. I volunteer because I care about this town, and it's inappropriate when people are rude."
Correction: the final quote was misattributed and has been corrected. iBerkshires regrets the error.
Tags: bylaws, Planning Board, signage,
