WESTHAMPTON — Residents voted to fund the creation of a new public safety complex and adopt bylaws prohibiting recreational marijuana establishments in town at Saturday’s annual election.
Funding for the public safety complex passed by 227 votes to 216, with one blank.
With the vote, the town will bond $236,000 for expenses related to engineering designs, bidding documents, hiring a project manager, and related legal services for the construction of a new public safety complex at 48 Stage Road.
A January 2018 feasibility study outlined a number of issues with the current building, including accessibility for the handicapped and the absence of a shower facility to clean and decontaminate firefighters’ gear.
According to the study, it will cost $4.4 million to demolish the current facility and build a new one. Alternatively, repairing the current facility would cost $5.7 million.
The price of the facility will be determined in January, Select Board Chairman Philip Dowling said Thursday. Residents will then need to vote on whether to fund the complex’s construction at a future Town Meeting and town election.
The zoning and general bylaws prohibiting marijuana establishments were passed by 260-174, with 10 blanks.
The ballot question asked if residents “would be in favor of adopting a Zoning Bylaw and General Bylaw prohibiting all types of adult use marijuana establishment.”
At the May 11 Town Meeting, Zoning Bylaw Review Committee member Steve Gagne advocated for the bylaws, adding that his group would form a subcommittee to “work specifically on what types of establishments and bylaws this town may be open to in the coming months or years.”
The town already had a moratorium on marijuana establishments, which expires at the end of June.
The public safety facility bonding and marijuana bylaws were both passed at a May 11 Town Meeting, but needed approval at the town election to be officially adopted.
The election also saw L. Saxon Elliott defeat Timothy Stokes for a three-year seat on the Planning Board, with Saxon Elliott receiving 202 votes to Stokes’ 124 votes. The Planning Board race also saw one write-in entry and 117 blanks.
In the only other contested race, incumbents Brian Mulvehill and Michele Nevins retained their library trustee positions in a contested race for three seats, receiving 279 and 284 votes, respectively, while Angela Cocchini-Griefen came in third with 128 votes.
The town extended voting hours this year, said Town Clerk Susan Bronstein, opening the polls from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. instead of their usual 8 a.m. to noon hours. Turnout was 444 voters out of the town’s approximately 1225 registered voters, according to Bronstein, or around 36 percent. Last year saw 392 voters participating in the Town Election.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.