Lanesborough OKs Open Space Plan, Short-Term Rental Forms
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday set fees for short-term rentals and adopted an Open Space and Recreation Plan.
Town Administrator Gina Dario discussed the draft for STR registration and certificate of inspection since the new bylaws were passed at the annual town meeting.
The draft shows the process to file for inspection through Permit Eyes, the town's online permitting system that includes the state building code and safety requirements. Dario said members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the building commissioner looked at other town models to come up with the best process for registration.
Inspections will be annually for non-owner occupied units and five years for owner-occupied. The inspection fee is a flat $50. The last suggestion discussed was the posting requirements for key information.
Dario said they looked at about four other communities on how they used non-sensitive information on owner contacts. Chair Deborah Maynard motioned to have the information posted both inside and out to help with law enforcement if needed.
"I'm going to make a motion that we put that relevant information not only on the inside of the short-term rental but on the outside, so if the police need to respond, ambulance needs to respond, fire especially needs to respond, all that information is there, nobody has to go searching for it," she said. "If push comes to shove, and it's a matter of minutes, that's going to make a big, a big difference in the outcome of the incident."
The board then heard a presentation from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's community planner Andrew McKeever and Open Space and Recreation Committee Vice Chair Mark Hawthorne.
McKeever said the open space plan developed establishes a vision for the future conservation of land and natural resources and sets the town up for applying for grants, such as the state's park program and the land acquisition program.
"It sets for actionable steps that community will undertake in the next 10 years to preserve, improve, and manage the valuable outdoor assets," he said. "Once you have one of these plans approved by the state, this enables the town to apply for several resources."
McKeever said the last OSRP the town had was back in 2006 and Lanesborough's Master Plan in 2024 highlighted a new OSRP as a priority. This plan was funded by a grant last year from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and BRPC was brought in to aid the eight-member committee created to oversee it's development.
McKeever said they did a lot of public outreach as a lot of the plan is driven by community input. They got 287 responses with 100 percent completion with around 40 percent of those being a two family household.
They also partnered with Williams College students in the environmental planning course and four upperclassmen were able to help identify environmental threats.
The students interviewed 21 property managers of the larger properties, such as farms and state lands, McKeever said, and talked them through environmental threats such as invasive species, water runoff, climate change, and habitat movement.
"They were able to provide us with an 84-page report of all their findings on that," he said.
Through all of the outreach, mapping, and feedback they were able to create an action plan.
"We took all the feedback from the community, from the surveys, from the Williams College report, and we put together an action plan of 65 individual actions for the town to pursue over the next decade," Hawthorne said.
The action plan was grouped into three overarching goals with the first being to create a municipal park system, the second to improve the positive impact of such spaces on businesses and on economy and the third focusing on maintaining scenic views and agricultural and environmental protections.
"Finding ways for the lake to improve recreational aspects while keeping the balance of being conservation-minded and with the environment, looking at improvements to existing parks, as well as looking at ways to help increase accessibility, so those that may need ADA compliant needs,
Hawthorne said some of those park improvements will be to increase accessibility and meet Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.
"The next goal is looking to kind of help improve the positive impact and recreational and outdoor spaces have on the economy of the town," he said. "So this is looking to collaborate with local farms, local businesses, and find ways that we can support their usage of their outdoor spaces to affect not only activities for our residents, but for residents of Berkshire County, and for tourism for the overall county."
The Select Board approved the draft.
In other business: Maynard was elected as chair for another term and Juli Baker as vice chair. This was the first meeting since two new members were added making it a five-member board.
The board also brought up some key points members would like to address for fiscal 2027. Jason Breault suggested looking into a full-time fire chief for better daytime coverage and help with inspections.
"I talked to Jeff, our current fire chief. He's done a great job with the department, but I think he's spoken about being very stretched in many directions, being stretched with home life, being stretched with his work," he said. "I think it would be a good idea to at least start considering talking about hiring a full-time fire chief, if the budget would allow."
Baker also brought up addressing the stalemate with the Berkshire Mall, which the other members agreed as they have been trying and will keep trying. She also brought up enhancing the ways the public gets information as she has heard the need for more frequent and in-depth updates.
In the audience, Barbara Hassan addressed the need for board and committees to update their minutes in a timely manner as many are incomplete, missing or late. She suggested it would also be convenient for newcomers on any board to have a lesson on running meetings to which member Michael Murphy agreed.
Murphy also brought up discussing the infrastructure of town buildings including Town Hall and the fire station. He hopes to keep talking about finding suitable buildings for the police and ambulance as well, whether that looks like a multipurpose facility.
Tags: open space, short-term rentals,
