Great Barrington — On Monday, April 10, the Selectboard finalized the articles for this year’s annual town meeting. According to documents reviewed at the Selectboard meeting, there will be 42 articles for residents to vote on. The number of articles may be the most for an annual town meeting in quite some time; last year there were 33 articles on the town meeting warrant, in 2021 there were 26 articles, in 2020 there were 30 articles.
The annual town meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 1 at 6 p.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School. A second night for the annual town meeting, if needed, has been scheduled for Thursday, May 4 at 6 p.m.
Back at the April 10 Selectboard meeting, the board removed one article that would have, if approved, authorized $150,000 in town funding for relief for Housatonic Water Works customers. At the meeting, Town Manager Mark Pruhenski asked the board to remove the article because he said that the town has been able to secure $250,000 in relief funding from the state.
Town budget-related articles
The first articles on the town meeting warrant relate to the town’s budget for Fiscal 2023-2024. Article three on the warrant asks residents to approve the proposed Fiscal 2023-2024 operating budget of $14,577,919. The proposed budget is a $683,862, or 4.9 percent, increase from this year’s fiscal budget. If approved, the tax rate will go up to $14.68 per $1,000 of assessed value (see more information about the proposed budget here).
Article nine asks residents to fund the Fiscal 2023-2024 Berkshire Hills Regional School District assessment of $20,333,733. The total number includes $19,889,874 for the operating assessment and $443,859 for the capital assessment. The proposed assessment is up by $1,387,100 from last year’s budget of $18,946,633.
Article 10 asks residents to fund students out of district vocational tuition and transportation for $140,000, which is down from last year’s approved request of $250,000.
Funding requests that remain the same from last year are revolving fund limit requests for certain departments and Selectboard salaries. For the Building Department’s plumbing inspections, the spending limit is proposed at $20,000, while the department’s wiring inspections are proposed for $60,000, and gas inspections are proposed at $15,000. The Public Works Department’s cemetery fund is proposed for $5,000, while the transportation fund for the Council on Aging is proposed for $40,000. The Selectboard members’ salaries are proposed for a total of $24,500, which is $4,900 per Selectboard member. Back in 2021, the Selectboard salaries were $23,500, or $4,700 per Selectboard member.
This year’s capital spending authorization, Article four on the warrant, is proposed for a total of $8,159,100, which is a $3,359,072 increase from last year’s approved capital spending of $4,800,028.
The proposed capital items package includes $5,235,700 in street and bridge improvements, $1,325,000 in buildings and grounds improvements, $370,000 in parks improvements, $350,000 for a technology broadband project, along with equipment purchases for the Police and Fire Departments and the Department of Public Works (more information is available here).
Article six, the town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant budget, is proposed for $2,824,711, an increase of $166,219 from last year’s approved budget of $2,658,492.
Article 18 asks residents to approve a $151,294 funding request from the town’s Free Cash budget line item to support the operations of the Southern Berkshire Ambulance Service (see more information here).
Other funding requests on the annual town meeting warrant include: $175,000 from the Free Cash budget line item for the town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, $20,000 from Free Cash to the Unemployment Trust Fund, and $30,600 from Free Cash for upgrades to the town’s website.
Proposed funding for community preservation projects
One of the articles on the warrants asks residents to approve the expenditure of $920,000 from the town’s Community Preservation Fund for multiple projects relating to affordable housing, historic resources, open space, and recreation projects. The proposed affordable housing expenditures, totaling $415,000, include $265,000 for the town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $150,000 for a housing feasibility study by Construct, Inc.
Proposed historic resources expenditures totaling $445,000 include $20,000 for Brown mausoleum preservation, $225,000 to the First Congregational Church for the restoration of the manse exterior of the church, $150,000 to the Alander Group for the historic preservation of 322 Main Street, and $50,000 to BAB Capital 77 LLC for the preservation of The Cove phase one.
A total of $60,000 is proposed for open space and recreation projects, including $40,000 for the Berkshire Natural Resources Council for improvements to the Three Mile Hill Trail and $20,000 to the Conservation Commission for the McAllister Wildlife Refuge preservation project.
Proposed zoning changes
In this year’s annual town meeting warrant, there are several articles relating to proposed zoning changes.
An article asks residents to approve an amendment in town bylaws that would permit three driveways on a property “if it will result in a clear benefit to the town.”
Another article proposes several amendments to zoning definitions, including the elimination of the term “family” as it is used in the town’s zoning bylaws. The annual town meeting warrant lists the purpose of the amendments:
“[T]he term ‘family’ means a group of related people, the term can exclude the wide variety of household living arrangements that exist among people not related by blood, marriage, or adoption. These proposed amendments substitute the word ‘unit’ in place of the term ‘family’ in zoning definitions such as ‘dwelling’ and ‘single-family.’ Using the term ‘unit’ instead of ‘family’ will ensure our zoning does not exclude non-nuclear families, unmarried couples, group homes, and people who choose to live together in group housekeeping arrangements.”
Another article asks residents to approve the additions to the zoning bylaws performance standards section. The proposed additions include sections on site design and lighting standards for projects (full details here).
Citizen’s petitions
There are five citizen’s petitions listed on this year’s annual town meeting warrant.
The first citizen’s petition asks the town to add to its zoning regulations, under Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District in its section regarding approval criteria for projects, a “Wireless Telecommunications Faculties application requirement for completeness.” The citizen’s petition relates to zoning bylaws relating to cell phone tower projects in town. The full details of this citizen’s petition are listed here.
The second citizen’s petition, if approved, would amend the town’s short-term rental bylaw that was adopted at last year’s town meeting.
At last year’s town meeting, residents adopted a bylaw that read: “An owner shall not register or offer a rental unit subject to a long-term lease as a Short-Term Rental, nor shall a tenant offer his/her/their rental unit as a short-term rental.” If the article is passed by residents, it would take out the part of the line that reads “nor shall a tenant offer his/her/their rental unit as a Short term Rental” from the bylaw.
The next citizen’s petition would add a section to the short-term rental bylaw regarding inspections. If approved by residents, it would add the following to the bylaw:
“The Town of Great Barrington may not hire, contract with, or otherwise engage the services of a private company, firm, individual or other entity to monitor the use of homes/dwellings that may be being used as short-term rentals in order to ascertain compliance with the short-term rental bylaw; this includes, but is not limited to, entities that provide a system that encourages and directs neighbors to report on each other regarding the use of their homes/dwellings, and that gathers data on the use of homes/dwellings to provide to the Town of Great Barrington.”
The next citizen’s petition, if approved by residents, would take out portions of regulations of the short-term rental bylaw. If approved, it would remove the following portions of the bylaw:
“An Owner may register to operate only one dwelling unit as a Short Term Rental. If a person owns two properties or owns one and is listed as a manager or agent for a second that is owned by an LLC, for example, that person must choose one or the other to be registered as a Short term Rental. No person shall have more than one legal or equitable title or beneficial interest in any dwelling unit used for a Short Term Rental except as provided for above. An Owner may hire a property management company to list and manage Short Term Rentals, but the registration must be in the Owner’s name. Up to Two bedrooms in a dwelling unit or an entire secondary unit on the same parcel may be registered and rented as a Short Term Rental by right. The registered Short Term Rental may be rented for an unlimited number of days per year, provided that the Owner is residing in one of the dwelling units on premises at the time of the rental. In cases where the Owner is not residing on premises at the time of the rental, no unit or portion thereof may be rented more than 150 days per year.”
The final citizen’s petition on the annual town meeting warrant asks the town to “purchase, own, and operate the Housatonic Water company.” The citizen’s petition is the latest in the series of actions against the troubled company (for more articles about HWW, click here).
