Lanesborough Looks to the Future of Zoning Bylaws
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Planning Board is reviewing the town's zoning bylaws with an eye to amending zones to align with planning documents and projects.
Members started at last week's meeting to at priority zoning projects that align with the Open Space and Recreation Plan and the Master Plan that was adopted last year. Earlier in the meeting, the board accepted the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's draft of the OSRP, which the Select Board accepted late last month.
Town planner Andrew Groff informed the board of upcoming projects that will need to be looked at for zoning purposes to try and stay ahead of the bylaws that aligned in both the OSRP and Master Plan.
"Principally, would be going back and thinking about this idea of a mixed-use zoning district for the northern part of town that's responsive to the growth of outdoor recreation as it is really an industry. So you've got Shaker Ridge, you've got the folks at Donnybrook that proposes a glamping resort, Ramble Wild, and Brodie Mountain just over the town line in New Ashford with some new ownership and expanded interest in some development there, so that's one item that's called for in both."
Groff also explained they need to look into agriculture zones to help local farmers
"Seeing if we can't do something to better support our farms because we have a couple great little farm clusters in Lanesborough. You know, zoning for agriculture is pretty expansive in Massachusetts. The exemption for agriculture is pretty wise, but we want to take a closer look and talk to some of our farmers and figure out there's some tweaks we can do that would make their lives easier."
He also brought up how they can help fix the zoning bylaws around the lake that are nonconforming and want to look into grant funding to help.
"Work that's going to be done to further protect Pontoosuc Lake, and we have a lot in our master plan regarding the zoning issues on Pontoosuc from the issue that you had mentioned to me, bringing back the citizens who were concerned about building heights down there, but you know, more fundamentally identified in the master plan is the problems with how everything is basically nonconforming. The zoning doesn't conform to what the actual built environment is. That's something we probably want to look into talking with folks in the community planning office," he said.
Groff mentioned there is a ballot question that, if it passes, would mean changing zoning regarding public water and sewer, and affect properties near the lake.
"There is going to be on the ballot in November a question that will essentially require any community in Massachusetts that has built an environment that's on public water/sewer, you're going to have to reduce your lot sizes to 5,000 square feet. So I feel like if that passes, that has massive implications for that part of town. So, just another one to put out there, but maybe we want to wait to really tackle that with some grant funding once we know what the Legislature's done."
Chair Leanne Yinger said she lives in that area and it already seems very congested, meaning that the passage of the ballot question could have big implications.
She also mentioned another implication for the health of the lake she would like to see happen.
"I would like to see us ban pesticides and people treating their lawns," she said. "Part of the problem of the health of the lake is that when I say that out loud, and I'm saying it out loud to anybody who will listen to me, it is not a popular thing to say. But it is killing the lake."
Yinger said she would like to clarify who governs the sewer system around Pontoosuc Lake, noting the new owner of a friend's house needed to purchase access to the sewer from a private party. Groff said he couldn't remember if it is water district or town, but that there is something "funky" about the governance over there.
"I need to understand what that looks like, because the way it came down was interesting. The line comes in from Pittsfield, but there are people claiming that they have rights to it because they bought into it originally. I just want to understand what that's like and who's saying you're in charge with it, because it seems to me that that's a town-managed situation," Yinger said.
Lastly, Groff brought up the new regulations governing siting of solar and battery storage projects from the state Department of Energy Resources. State regulations are now in an opt-in period; if towns don't opt by Oct. 1, they’ll become mandatory.
"We really do have to go take a fresh look at our solar and battery regulations because," he said. "Because the jurisprudence landscape has changed dramatically. The courts have now taken a much more expansive view of the exemptions in the zoning statute for solar, and they've also now applied that to batteries, saying, look, you can't do one without the other ... You restrict the battery systems, you restrict solar access."
He added that courts have not been receptive to towns that have zone-wide bans on both uses and that he would be able to provide some data.
The board then revisited incomplete projects relating to outdoor recreation and lake zoning in the north end of town. Groff said the area is currently zoned Limited Business and that they should review the use table to see which uses are incompatible with the growing recreation and tourism uses. He recommended considering creating a new base district tailored to outdoor recreation and tourism, potentially by re-zoning the existing business strip along Brodie Mountain Road. This was what the board was discussing last fall before the it focused attention on short-term rentals and signage.
In other business, the board said those new bylaws approved by town meeting may need further clarification, including implementations, size and building codes.
This was Chair Courtney Dondi's last meeting on the board; Yinger was elected to replace her.
Tags: Planning Board, zoning,
