Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 8/29/2023
BELCHERTOWN — Town Planner Doug Albertson met with the Select Board at its Aug. 21 meeting to discuss updates and the future of the town’s master plan.
According to Albertson, in 2000 the Belchertown community came together to assess where the town was, decide where it should go, and determine how to get there.
That resulted in the 2002 Belchertown Community Plan.
That plan was then revised in 2009.
“The 2002 plan was a project that took several years, many meetings, multiple public vision sessions, hired consultants, and a lot of money. It was worth it,” Albertson added.
The 2009 community plan has a list of priorities that have not been looked at or updated in 18 years which is something Albertson wants to change.
Select Board member Peg Louraine said, “This list had been compiled 15 years ago and has not been updated recently. We need to look at that. We all need to have a better understanding of what this means starting with us reviewing the master plan.
“We can go through and check a few of these off in terms of how we did with our priorities in 2009,” Albertson added.
Massachusetts General Law Chapter 41 Section 81D outlines the required contents of a master plan.
There are nine elements to address in this law which were addressed in the 2002 plan.
The 2009 edition of the Community Plan revised those nine elements and added an agriculture element to cement the importance of the economic component of the town’s economy and character.
This next revision project began in 2020 with the development of a full economic development master plan, which the planning board adopted as the new economic development element of the Community Plan in May 2021.
That was followed with three new elements, an age- and dementia-friendly element done according to AARP standards, a climate resilience and sustainability element done according to the commonwealth’s 12 sustainability principles, and a revised housing element that incorporates the state-certified housing production plan.
Albertson said, “There is a working group that meets four times a year to help make the town more accessible for people who people who continue to age. The Planning Board also adopted climate and sustainability element into the community plan as well anticipating that these are things that we have to pay more attention to, climate change and changing fuel sources and various societal needs.”
So far, this revision has cost the town essentially nothing as they have taken advantage of grants for doing the sections one or two at a time.
Albertson said, “The approach we are taking now is do it one at a time depending on grants. So far, we updated two sections and added two more for free basically.”
Along with those additions, the economic development, housing, and open space and recreation elements were also revised.
The Planning Board also hosted the PVPC on Aug. 22 to see a presentation on the final housing master plan for Planning Board adoption.
“We all hear about the affordability problem. Housing is really expensive all over. One of the things we want to do is address that but its not just an affordable housing plan, its an overall housing plan. What kind of housing do we see the need for, do we need different styles, different densities, where do we want housing,” Albertson added.
Select Board member Jen Turner thinks that the master plan is something that should be looked at annually.
She said, “I requested that we talk about the master plan because when I learned about the master plan, I realized we had a responsibility to be looking at it and reviewing it on an annual basis. In my opinion we need to take the time to look at the components of the plan.”
The Select Board members said they would like to meet with the Planning Board, along with Albertson and Town Administrator Steve Williams to go over the plan and create new priorities.
Select Board member Ron Aponte said, “I think a good game plan is for all of us to review it, see if we can have a board discussion at a later date and ultimately use that as a jumping off point to collaborate with the Planning Board and town administrator and move forward.”
The plan can be viewed at belchertown.org/planning under the community plan section.