With all the talk of red states and blue states and regional politics, we live in a time where we often view anything not connected to us as “other.” But, oddly, at least in the Eastern United States, we have been connected across the 40th parallel by a single mountain range—the Appalachians—that has served for eons as a path not just for the hikers we see along Route 7 in the Berkshires, but by the flora and fauna that have travelled this same pathway.
A high mail-in response will show the state Legislature (and the rest of the country) that mail-in voting can increase voter turnout. Your vote is important.
When it was suggested that the Planning Board should advise the Select Board, the Assistant Town Manager was adamant that doing so would be a violation of the law.
In a letter Craig Okerstrom-Lang writes: "Our town has not contributed a dime nor offered to contribute to the maintenance of these parking lots (snow plowing, sweeping, striping, repairs)."
Other board members said it was clear to them after that first public hearing that the Foster's lot would be closed to the public if the company was denied the right to build the new lot for its tenants.
If you're a restaurant owner who wants to stay open in the midst of a public health crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, you essentially have one choice: trying to eke out a living by offering take-out, and perhaps delivery.
Selectman Ed Abrahams added that he is concerned that the same thing that happened at the gated parking lot at the end of Railroad Street will happen to the proposed gated parcel at the School Street property.
The proposal, first made public in September, has alarmed residents of the neighborhood, whose concerns range from noise and odors to the effect of the Fulcrum project on property values and the aforementioned impact on the water supply.
It was standing-room only as dozens of angry residents of the Housatonic section of Great Barrington, including a former selectman, vented their feelings about the committee's consideration of funding a proposal from the town affordable housing trust to acquire land for housing.
Proposals for how to use the cannabis revenue windfall will be discussed by the selectboard and the finance committee in the upcoming deliberations for next year's budget, with voters having the final say on how to spend free cash at the annual town meeting in May.
In Berkshire County, roughly 10 percent of residents are food insecure, which means they do not have reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
New zoning bylaws would prevent some cannabis retailers from opening merely by restricting the number of available locations. On the other hand, a policy from the selectboard placing a numerical limit would clearly prevent more retailers from opening.
After the planning board crafted a set of zoning regulations to deal with pot earlier this year, the selectboard reviewed them and most thought the regulations were a bit too lax since they would allow cultivation by-right in too many zones.
The battle royale involved the planning and select boards. For weeks, the two panels had been at odds over which should be the special-permit-granting authority in regards to the marijuana production and sales facilities, and whether most, if not all, of the facilities should require a special permit.
