The first selectboard meeting following the election took place on Tuesday. It was very civil, there was no name calling, and it was blissfully short. All good signs.
The pending state legislation on wind power siting came up again. (See my various postings on this subject in the past.) The board voted (Bruce Turner abstaining) to confirm its past position on the legislation and to convey that confirmation to our local representatives. So Egremont continues to take the "Kennedy-like" position, namely that wind power is great but not in my town. The board justifies its position by saying "we favor wind power, but our planning board should have a say in where it goes." Can you imagine our planning board ever approving a wind turbine in Egremont? Hypocrisy reigns again.
Speaking of which, the planning board withdrew its ill-advised proposal to take away its own discretion to waive provisions of the cell tower bylaw when it became obvious that townspeople were overwhelmingly opposed to that proposal. So the way is now reasonably clear for Mariner Tower to formally apply for a special permit to construct a tower on the Kelly property. We'll see if that application is made. Cell towers need to go up when the telecom companies indicate a need, and the "window of opportunity" is often short. Because of all the foot dragging, the opportunity may have gone away. If we are ever going to get cell phone service in town, the planning board has to become much more proactive, or we need to take the permitting power away from the planning board and put it in the selectboard where it belongs.
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2 comments:
Richard
I posted this on my own blog, http://eyeonegremont.blogspot.com/
I'm not competing with you, I simply wanted to have the ability to post rather than simply comment. I love your editorials and will still be commenting on your blog, but I have my own issues with the small group of reactionaries. I look forward to bantering back and forth with you. The following is a copy of my first post. I think you'll like it;
WELFARE WATER FOR EGREMONT
It has come to my attention that all of the people who are connected to the town of Egremont water supply are in dire need of public assistance.
According to the town’s board of select, the water commissioner and the finance committee, the people who are receiving water from the town water supply are impoverished to such a degree that they cannot afford to pay their water bill.
Therefore, we as a community, must come together and meet the needs of the underprivileged. Water is a basic necessity of life. We cannot have our fellow townspeople dying in the streets for lack of such a basic bodily requirement.
As a community we must pool our resources and help those in need. I know everyone in the town feels the same way. We are a community that comes together for the general welfare of the whole. Our attitude reflects the caring nurturing spirit of an old New England town.
That being said, we must still be accountable. In order to make sure that our welfare dollars are being spent properly. We must set up a system to regulate where the money goes and keep an account of the recipients of these public funds.
I ask the selectmen to hold a special election to elect an Egremont water welfare committee. The chair of the committee would delegate its members to create an application form for applicants to fill out and a means test to set guidelines for those who apply for the welfare water.
Like any welfare system we must set up guards against fraud. For even in a community minded town such as ours, there may be wolves amongst the sheep. I would wholeheartedly support this measure and hope that all of the townspeople will get behind this for the good of the community. After all are we not our brothers keeper?
KevinZurrin
Richard
I don't know if you were at the out of towners meeting that was held. I was there from begining to end. There was a point that a member of the planing board stood up to explain why she thought it was a bad idea to give the planing board so much power. She sai that in the future som baaaaad people might take over the board and misuse the power. She was sure the present board would use it wisely, code words meaning this board will never allow a tower anywhere in the town. I would make a bet that as long as this board sits we will never see a tower. Mariner tower will get slapped down by the planing board again and Egremont will be blackballed by every tower company in the area.
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