Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/6/2022
WESTHAMPTON – Hoping to conclude a long revisioning process, the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee (ZBRC) met with residents on Nov. 30 to solicit comments for what committee members hope will resemble a final draft.
One revision to the zoning bylaws that John Shaw, chair of the ZBRC, considers a key change is the expanded role of the building inspector. The inspector will now perform triage, a first analysis of where an applicant should go and if there is a need for permitting. That should make it easier for residents to know where to turn for information and direction.
“Everything now will start with the building inspector,” Shaw said. “No other boards meet with people about anything to do with building, land use, zoning, until the building inspector has either given them a form or determined that they didn’t really need to be there.”
The form to be adopted by the town is generic, used in many other towns and municipalities, and secures the necessary information. Shaw described a hypothetical incident for the dozen or so people in attendance.
“Someone came in and said, I want to do A,” Shaw said. “They would pull that form out and say... because it’s really a small project you don’t need an engineering study, but you need to give me this information and this information…They make the determination of how to move on that.”
The new form-based system will eliminate the need to chase officials for signatures. It’s also more likely an applicant can get a quick answer from the building inspector about where to go next. That should make a track for permitting much easier to follow.
Ease of use for residents is an important reason for the current rewrite of the bylaws, at least as they apply to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. Administrative Assistant Douglas Finn commented that while the ZBRC has rewritten sections of the bylaws on cannabis outlets and large solar installations, the group has been hard at work on a holistic revision for a long time.
“These guys have been at it for six years,” Finn said. The group began work in Dec. 2016. “The underlying intention of the committee is to clean up or expedite the processes…(But) the committee’s stated intent has always been to make things easier and more clear for town residents.”
One change to the text of the zoning bylaws, Table 1, makes it much easier for residents to see what is allowed in a specific district. The table called Schedule of Use Regulation lists agricultural, residential and business uses on the left, with a column to the right detailing whether that use is allowed in a district. The table also shows whether a use is allowed with a special permit from the Planning Board, a special permit with a site approval, and a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals with a site plan approval.
“Table 1 is a main area,” said Shaw. “It describes everything that’s allowed (and) also tells you who’s responsible for it, the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals.”
Residents questioned certain changes to the bylaws, seeking clarity on small home businesses and how they would be permitted, as well as non-conforming accessory dwellings. Portable sawmills will be considered a home business if used less than 30 days a year, for example. Finn described a relative’s home beauty business, which won’t run into permitting issues until more than three hairdressers are employed. Those bylaws received an update, but are the same in their substantial points.
The latest version of the bylaws appear quite different, though most of the text will not change. Finn explained that while a great deal of the zoning bylaws in the newest draft appear in green, indicating changes, about 90 percent of the text will remain the same. The current bylaws can be downloaded from the town’s website, along with a version dated Nov. 22, 2022, which shows the latest changes in green.
“A wholesale replacement of the bylaw is only done for parliamentary convenience,” Finn said. “It’s far easier to take our whole bylaw, strike it out, and replace it with this new bylaw we’ve been talking about…it’s just easier from a parliamentary point of view to strike and replace.”
The ZBRC will continue to meet, instituting changes suggested by last week’s attendees. The Nov. 30 meeting was the last to involve the public. The bylaws will eventually get to Town Meeting, where residents can vote for or against their enactment into law.
“After this,” Shaw said, “the committee will continue to meet, but the next big public meeting will be the public hearing. That’s when we officially start moving this thing through the town to get it through Annual or Special Town Meeting.”