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Date: 12/19/2022
BELCHERTOWN – Alex Maxwell from the engineering firm Fuss and O’Neill met with the Planning and Select Board at their Dec. 13 joint meeting to present a climate resilience and sustainability growth plan.
Belchertown was awarded a grant by the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to develop the plan which will serve as a component of the town’s phased update to its Master Plan according to Maxwell.
Maxwell added, “The engineers, scientists and planners bring experience delivering integrated services across our multiple disciplines, which provide a level of insight and best practices that adds to the overall quality of the project.”
The presentation showed that the goals of the plan are to assess climate-related hazards and vulnerability, examine existing plans, policies and bylaws/regulations and develop specific and actionable planning recommendations aimed at making the community more resilient to climate change and prepared for future growth.
The plan focuses on resilience and sustainability issues that were identified as being of particular importance to members of the Belchertown community.
They included, working and natural land, housing, transportation, food security, renewable energy, land conservation, equity and environmental justice.
The presentation went over each on how to help the community. Each slide included the goal, how it is related to the Massachusetts Sustainability Principles and a list of recommendations.
For example, the goal for the working and natural lands is to support and maintain the aesthetic, function, protection and sustainable growth of working and natural lands.
Some recommendations included using zoning as a tool to protect agriculture, forestry and cultural resources or control invasive species and protect wildlife.
Maxwell has added that they have hosted multiple community engagement events and distributed fliers to residents to get everyone familiar with the plan.
Fuss and O’Neill will host two more engagement events in December before they finalize the plan.
Planning Board Chair James Natle said once the plan is finalized, it must be approved by the town and board at a public hearing and then introduced as a community plan.
Anyone who is interested in seeing the whole plan can visit tinyurl.com/5hczyb69 and email amaxwell@fando.com for thoughts and feedback.