May 27th 2009
7 p.m.
Smart Growth Committee Meeting
In attendance: Mark Amado
Rebecca Borders
Larry Gould
Terry Gould
Howard Levin
Eve Kummell
We began with a discussion of historical information. Eve will go to the assessor (Lee) to find out how to determine the locations of the oldest buildings in town to determine if there could be a possible Historic District.
(noted that the historical committee has mentioned this subject at all boards meetings)
Planning Board meeting is June 10th and they are planning to discuss Wind Power. References were made to the greenberkshires.org petition to preserve local control over industrial turbines. There is a bill in the state that looks to be giving control to the state.
Smart Growth will request to be on the agenda to ask Planning to release the funds set aside to hire Ed Partyka as a special employee to assist in the clean-up of glitches in the by-laws from the most recent revision.
Discussion began about the need for a technical review committee. It would consist of 1-2 members of any board or committee involved in discussions regarding development.
Example: Property owner looking for variances or special permits would need to apply to a number of boards, (conservation, ZBA, planning, highway, board of health) to get to the end result of a permit. A technical review group could help to streamline the process as possible difficulties could be worked out before the application process begins. This could eliminate multiple applications and repeat visits to boards.
It was also noted that the All Boards meeting is the 4th Wednesday of every month. Members are encouraged to attend.
We moved on to discussion of the Master Plan:
Howard had a lot of information from the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission meeting from the week before which dealt with development of Master Plans.
The Pittsfield Master Plan Committee members spoke at the meeting and stressed the importance of major town participation in the development of the plan.
It gave them Diverse input into the development.
Diverse input
Focus Groups and Public sessions held in mornings, afternoons and evenings to get the broadest spectrum of input.
They began in 1993 with a Community Vision Workshop and laid tout an 18th month schedule that, in reality, took 3 years to complete.
Their Major Points:
Land use and development
Housing Quality
Education and Cultural Roles
Code Enforcement
Open Space
There were many strong opinions and much evident self-interest in the beginning of the process. However, it developed into more balanced ideas over time.
They hired a consultant.
Did a community survey, which led to the focus groups etc.
Their biggest piece of advice: “Get your ACTION plan into your MASTER Plan.
A plan is no good without a way to implement it.
Grant resources for starting the process include:
Berkshire Bank
State and Federal
Individuals
And after all of these….foundations
Possible websites include: foundationcenter.org
Guidestar.org
Berkshiretaconicfoundation.org
So…what do we want to accomplish in our Master Plan?
Open Space?
Districts?
Make up – cultural/educational/recreational
Second home
What would we like to attract to our town?
How do we do that and still maintain the existing character?
Next meeting: we should discuss a possible town-wide survey.
Adjourned: 8:30
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