HATFIELD — Decisions on enlarging the Select Board or maintaining its current size, and zoning changes to better control housing subdivisions and provide opportunities for people to age in place, will be made at Tuesday’s annual Town Meeting.
A 33-article warrant, which will include budgets for the town and schools, comes before voters beginning at 7 p.m. at the Smith Academy gymnasium.
The budgets were still being finalized by the Select Board and Finance Committee at an “emergency meeting” Thursday night and final figures were not immediately available.
With a vote by Town Meeting last year to study the three-member Select Board, the Town Government Committee is returning with a report that outlines the benefits a larger board would have in doing subcommittee work, and which would come with minimal additional costs.
Committee Chairman E. Lary Grossman said he believes the board expansion could be done by a simple vote, similar to what Hadley did in October 2000 at a special Town Meeting.
“It tends to be very positive. Hadley’s experience has been very positive with this,” Grossman said.
But the town’s legal counsel has indicated that a vote may be more complicated, because the Legislature may need to approve the change. And there are concerns from others that the costs would be more significant, with Select Board Chairman Edmund Jaworski noting that new staff might be needed at Town Hall.
Two of the four zoning articles could bring significant changes, said Planning Board Chairman Robert Wagner.
One is to revise the Open Space Development bylaw, which has been on the books since 2002, but has been used only once by a developer.
Wagner said all subdivisions with three or more homes, except those receiving waivers from planners, would have to abide by the bylaw, which is defined as “a residential development in which residences are clustered together, adjacent to permanently preserved open space.”
The revised bylaw would require that half of a parcel be set aside for open space, and would serve to reduce sprawl and protect farmland, but a developer could build the same number of homes on the property.
Wagner said the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission offered input to help Hatfield take advantage of best practices. This includes offering incentives to developers in which more land protection can yield additional homes, and protecting historic structures. Offering low- and moderate-income homes would also give developers more dwellings.
Another proposed bylaw would allow, for the first time, accessory apartments. The town’s housing production plan suggests these “in-law” apartments, situated within owner-occupied homes, be no more than 900 square feet or the size of the existing home, whichever is smaller. These apartments could be used by people as they age and want to downsize while remaining in their homes, or as a source of rental income.
The remaining two bylaw changes include making amendments to the Floodplain Overlay District bylaw, which will get it in conformity with state law, and accepting a state law that allows expedited permitting for a West Street site. This pre-approved parcel for expedited permitting was already approved by the town as a way to promote commercial and industrial development.
Two articles will use $90,000 in Community Preservation Act money.
The first seeks $60,000 that would go toward creating a public pavilion at Smith Academy Park, which is estimated to cost $96,438. The CPA money would be supplemented with a grant the Open Space Committee is seeking from the state’s Division of Conservation Services.
Another $30,000 from CPA would go toward preserving and rehabilitating the roadway and pathways in the historic Main Street Cemetery on Billings Way.
Other articles include authorizing the Select Board to enter into a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement with Solect Energy Development LLC related to a solar-electric generating facility on town-owned property at 34 School St.; authorizing the Select Board to enter into a 10-year contract beginning July 1, 2020, for recycling processing services for the town; and adopting a state law allowing the formation of a Commission on Disability.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
