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Nearly 800 voters packed into the Mount Greylock High gym.
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Moderator Mark Gold reminds voters not to applaud after comments.
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A motion to vote by secret ballot was defeated and a voice vote was not clear, so yellow cards were put into service.
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The vote was overwhelming in both cases to not take action on the articles.

Democracy Inaction: Williamstown Tables Land Articles

By Stephen DravisWilliamstown Correspondent
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The Board of Selectmen was unanimous in voting to table the land articles at Wednesday's special town meeting. Left, voters line up to speak their piece.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Wednesday's special town meetings decided by large majorities to take a "timeout" before deciding measures that would affect the future of town-owned land being considered for developing affordable housing.

Following the advice of three town boards the Selectmen, the Conservation Commission and the Affordable Housing Trust a majority of 776 voters in the Mount Greylock Regional High School gymnasium decided to consider Articles 2 and 3 of the 7:30 special town meeting (meeting 2) in one motion and take no action on either one.


Related:
Williamstown Con Comm, Selectmen Mull Tabling Land Issues

Con Comm: Take No Action on Land Articles


The vote to table the two contested articles passed by a margin of 555-172. A second vote to table the lone article on the warrant of the 7:25 special town meeting (recessed to take action on the 7:30 meeting) passed 463-38.

About 17 percent of the town's 4,600 registered voters attended the meetings high by town meeting standards but not near the record of more than 1,000 who attended a meeting about a decade ago to consider changes to the town's water line, Town Clerk Mary Courtney Kennedy said.

Wednesday's conflicting articles one to take one-third of the 30-acre Lowry property out of conservation to develop subsidized housing and one to seek conservation restrictions for all of Lowry and the 139-acre Burbank property are still alive. And chairmen of the three panels recommending the "timeout" said each article will be put to the town after various committees have performed more study.

The organizer of a citizen's petition that drove Wednesday's special town meeting left the event frustrated by the process and the fact she was not able to present the results of a study already conducted by she and fellow opponents of developing Lowry.

"I think it was a very unfair meeting," Sarah Thurston said. "I was called personally by the town moderator and told that we would have 10 minutes before any of the articles were discussed to present opening statements, and we never had that opportunity.

"We have been working tirelessly on plans, numbers ... and we were planning on presenting all of those things tonight in our opening statement, which we never had a chance to read."

Thurston represents the Stratton Hills Condominium Association an abutter to the Lowry property. She also is joined by a coalition of residents from all over town eager to see Lowry protected as open space and agricultural land.

On Wednesday, her group distributed handouts depicting development options for other town-owned sites as well as a cost analysis that concludes developing Lowry would cost at least 31 percent more per unit than developing either the old town garage site (59 Water St.) or the former PhoTech Mill on Cole Avenue.

The chairman of the Affordable Housing Trust, who is on record saying brownfield developments would be an inappropriate alternative to offer former residents of the Spruces Mobile Home Park, said Wednesday that the trust would welcome a timeout to study all options.

"I think we'll have, in the coming weeks and months, an unprecedented number of joint meetings of committees," Stanley Parese told the special town meeting before it voted. "I can't stress enough the decisions ahead will not be easy, and that's because the problem we face is not easy."

Selectmen Chairman David Rempell agreed.

"We expect to have many community conversations so we all are as informed as possible, and hence can make the best decision for our community," Rempell said. "We knew it would take some time, but it was necessary to move forward in a rational manner.

"[Tabling the articles] will allow the town to do exactly this."

"Community conversations" may not be all that is needed.

The Affordable Housing Trust and Affordable Housing Committee the two lead town panels looking at the issue frequently have been criticized for not obtaining enough expert analysis of the Lowry property before suggesting it be used for housing.

Sarah Thurston was frustrated that her group was not allowed to make its case on protecting the Lowry property.

The housing panels also were criticized as recently as Tuesday night for spending $5,200 to have Guntlow & Associates do a very preliminary study of the site.

Parese said Wednesday he foresees that the trust and committee might spend more money in the months ahead to study a property it may never see removed from conservation.

"The answer is yes, but we'll be very, very thoughtful about how we spend that money," Parese said.

Longview Terrace resident Robert Scerbo, an ally of Thurston's, said after Wednesday's meeting that the town might be better served looking at the preliminary research his group has done before spending any time or money on a parcel (Lowry) that is not suited for affordable housing development.

"We've done for the past six months what we feel the Affordable Housing Committee and Affordable Housing Trust should have been doing communicating with the (funding) agencies," Scerbo said. "Had they had those conversations that we had with the agencies, they could have known coming out of the gate that to pursue a course that was the Lowry property was, no pun intended, a road to nowhere.

"Funding doesn't exist for the development they're proposing.

"I share that from my perspective of 35 years developing real estate and doing affordable housing site selection. There are very defined criteria that make your project come to the top and be noticed and attract the funding. Lowry just isn't one of those properties."

Scerbo said the town missed an opportunity Wednesday night to hear the research that he and his group have done and start a communitywide conversation about the potential use of town-owned land.

Thurston went a step further.

"I feel like this was another one of their tricks," she said. "It was another trick up their sleeve. And it's very unfortunate because the information is not getting out there."


Tags: conserved land,   special town meeting,   warrant article,   

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Williamstown Police Looking for Suspects After Cole Avenue Shooting

iBerkshires.com StaffUpdated 12:46PM
UPDATE: A notification from the town has indicated that the general public is not in danger.
 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- One person was shot with a firearm at 330 Cole Ave. on Sunday morning, triggering a lockdown of Williams College and a manhunt for an armed suspect.
 
A reverse 911 call from the town at 12:39 Sunday afternoon indicated that Williamstown Police and the Massachusetts State Police are investigating the incident.
 
"At this time, based on evidence seen, this appears to be a specific, targeted incident," the reverse 911 call indicated. "The general public not in danger at this time. This [call] is for public awareness only."
 
The robocall indicates that the shooting took place at 10:15 a.m.
 
Williams announced the lockdown at 11:52 a.m. in an email to the college community.
 
According to the email sent to the college community, police are investigating the incident and, "Suspects are large, armed and considered dangerous."
 
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