Egremont Zoning

Egremont has something called a zoning bylaw, but it isn't really.  It's what lawyers call a land use bylaw, because it doesn't create any zones, but rather just says what you can and can't do with land in Egremont.

Several years ago, the planning board proposed a rewrite of the bylaw that was rejected by the voters at a town meeting because it made too many changes, including some controversial ones that didn't go over well.  That proposed revision didn't even try to create zones.

Now the planning board is proposing major changes in the bylaw that will create zones and make other changes.  There's a public hearing on it scheduled for December 9.

New Marlborough very recently went through the same process.  That process culminated last week in the voters soundly rejecting it - by an overwhelming margin -  apparently for two primary reasons:  it made too many changes for townspeople to accept; and it wasn't adequately "sold" to the townspeople through the meetings, publicity and hand holding that are critically necessary for this type of action.

The Egremont planning board has a long history of proposing changes that fall flat with the townspeople. The planning board too often has come across as an imperious, "we know best" group that is viewed by townspeople as trying to inveigle them into creating more power in the planning board under the guise of protecting something.  In my opinion, that reputation is deserved. 

Perhaps that has changed.  And perhaps the planning board will learn from the New Marlborough experience.  The planning board needs to really reach out to townspeople - all of them - to discover what they think and to make changes to their proposal reflecting what they learn, even if that means dropping it completely or making changes that the individual members of the planning board don't agree with.  Holding a few public hearings isn't enough.  The people whose voices need to be heard include the ones who don't come to public hearings.

Town government has become increasingly cloistered in recent years.  The town hall denizens too often listen to themselves and their friends and make little or no effort to reach out to the citizenry.  Let's hope that doesn't happen for the zoning bylaw proposal.