WESTHAMPTON — Residents will vote at the annual town election Saturday on whether to fund an engineering design for a new public safety complex and on the future of the town’s marijuana establishment laws.
Polls are open at Town Hall from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 1.
Of the 14 town races on the ballot, two are contested: a three-year seat on the Planning Board and a three-year term as a library trustee. There are two ballot questions, one relating to marijuana bylaws and another for a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override for the engineering design.
The tax override would pay for a $236,000 bond for engineering designs, bidding documents, hiring a project manager, and all related legal services for the construction of a new public safety complex at 48 Stage Road.
The 71-year-old fire and police station has exceeded its life expectancy, town officials have said.
A feasibility study completed in January 2018 by Caolo and Bieniek Associates outlined several issues with the station, including a lack of a shower facility for cleaning and decontaminating firefighters’ gear and noncompliance with Massachusetts Handicap Accessibility or Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.
“If voted down, we will have to spend thousands on a building that won’t be functional to meet the needs of fire and police,” Select Board chairman Philip Dowling said Thursday. “It would be a waste of money and will cost more going forward and we have to do it.”
The feasibility study presented two options to the town: a $4.4 million plan to demolish the existing building and build a new complex in its place, or a $5.7 million plan to repair and bring the current building up to code.
A Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override failed at a special town election in October 2018 to fund a $4.4 million complex, but Dowling said this time the $236,000 bond funding would go toward the engineering design and bidding documents for the project.
If the debt exclusion is approved Saturday, the exact price for a new public safety complex would be determined in January, Dowling said. Town officials would then ask residents to vote for funding actual construction in a town meeting followed by another election.
Dowling said town officials have scaled down the estimated cost of the new safety complex to $3.9 million after the town’s Highway Department offered to voluntarily work on excavation and the building’s septic systems.
The override sought in Saturday’s voting would affect the tax rate in fiscal year 2021, Dowling said, while debts for a Highway Department dump truck and renovations to Hampshire Regional High School would be paid off in fiscal year 2020.
This year’s capital expense payments will be around $310,000 to $320,000, according to Dowling, and if the override passes on Saturday, they would remain about the same in fiscal 2021.
Dowling said he could not estimate how much Saturday’s override would impact the tax rate for Westhampton residents.
At the annual Town Meeting on May 12, more than a two-thirds majority of residents voted in favor of adopting several amendments to the town’s zoning and general bylaws that would prohibit recreational marijuana establishments in Westhampton. For the bylaws to be officially adopted, residents will need to approve them by a majority Saturday.
A “yes” vote on Question 1 of the ballot “would be in favor of adopting a Zoning Bylaw and General Bylaw prohibiting all types of adult use marijuana establishment.”
All types of nonmedical use of marijuana establishments, such as cultivators, independent testing facilities, product manufacturers, and retailers would be prohibited from operating in Westhampton.
At this year’s town meeting, Steve Gagne, a member of the town’s Zoning Bylaw Review Committee, said the board recommended a “cautious approach” to setting up bylaws for marijuana businesses.
Gage said a subcommittee would be formed to “work specifically on what types of establishments and bylaws this town may be open to in the coming months or years.”
In the contested races, L. Saxon Elliott and Timothy Stokes are vying for a seat on the Planning Board; while Brian Mulvehill, Michele Nevins and Angela Cocchini-Griefen are running for two library trustee positions.
Teri Anderson is running for a three-year term on the Select Board; Richard Tracy is running for re-election as town moderator for a year; Thomas Jenkins is running for re-election as tree warden; Leroy Douchkoff is running for constable; and Philip Dowling is running for a three-year term as Hampshire councilor.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com.