Williamstown Board revises wetlands bylaw

[Valmore Cloutier]

Hi Members.

Did anyone see the North Adams Transcript February 7, 2007

On (Williamstown Board revises wetlands bylaw). It's coming to vote at may's 2007 meeting. My ? is should more towns do this this is our future down the stream's.

does anyone have any input to what they would like to see.



val cloutier ;D

[Joe Overlock]

Sounds good to me! Here's the article.

Williamstown board revises wetlands bylaw
By Bonnie Obremski, North Adams Transcript
Article Launched: 02/07/2007 11:49:00 AM EST


Wednesday, February 7
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Conservation Commission is polishing a revised draft of the town's wetlands protection bylaw that would double the size of the no-build buffer zone surrounding some streams.
The commission intends to discuss the amendments at its Thursday meeting at 7 p.m. at the town municipal building. Copies of the draft are available in the town clerk's office.

Commission Chairman Henry Art said Tuesday that the board had planned to put the draft on the annual town meeting agenda last year but withdrew it after realizing the bylaws needed to allow municipal workers maintenance access to drainage ditches.

Art said the restrictions will mostly protect terrain that is either too wet or mountainous to build on. Two Realtors said Tuesday, however, that they are concerned that increasing the amount of restricted land will increase building costs for some residents and developers.

"Every time you need to define a wetland area, you need to hire an expert to do it — it's expensive," Don Westall, of Alton and Westall Agency on Water Street, said.

Westall said he had not fully investigated the proposed bylaw changes, but understood that the draft proposed extending restrictions to new areas.

The bylaw increases the buffer zone around "intermittent streams" from 100 feet to 200 feet — the state-mandated buffer distance for perennial rivers. Intermittent streams are the headwaters of perennial streams that are not protected by the state Rivers Protection Act.

Other changes also further protect vernal pools and isolated vegetated wetlands.

Art said most of the intermittent streams flow higher than 1,400 feet above sea level and are therefore in a mountainous zone that cannot be developed.

"We have not calculated the exact area of additional protection, but it is not likely to be a very large percentage of the land area of the town," Art said.

He emphasized that building in buffer zones is possible in some cases.

"Within buffers, the Conservation Commission does not prohibit development, it just may condition the design, construction and operation phases of a project," he said.

Paul Harsch of Harsch Associates on Main Street said he had not thoroughly read the bylaw draft either, but plans to attend Thursday night's meeting and ask more questions about the ways the changes might affect residents.

"I do not have an opinion formed at all yet," he said. "I'm sure that the Conservation Commission has the best of intentions and wants to do this from an environmental point of view. I consider myself rather a conservation-minded person. Still, I shudder a little bit as a property owner at the thought of one more hurdle to jump if I ever want to develop."

Harsch said he wants to encourage all residents to become more informed about the proposed changes in preparation for the town meeting in May when the draft will be put to a vote.

"Everyone is going to be impacted," he said. "People know and accept that life is getting more complex and expensive, but they need to make a decision like this knowingly."

Art said the Conservation Commission began exploring wetlands bylaw changes two years ago. There are at least 180 towns and cities in the state that already have their own wetlands guidelines beyond what the state requires. Stockbridge, Richmond and Peru are among them.

"Being in a mountainous area, where many people's water supply draws from these streams, it's very important to maintain water quality," Art said. "And, anyway, wetlands are terrible places to build structures so by abiding by the law, developers are saving themselves considerable headaches."