Letter: Cannabis Cultivation in Williamstown

To the Editor:

Williamstown voters will soon be making decisions about cannabis cultivation. After a year of consultation, public forum, debate, site visits and research the Planning Board is proposing changes to the current bylaws that would restrict where and how cannabis can be grown.

The proposed bylaw:

- increases the setback from property lines to 150 ft; today it is 25 ft.
- stipulates a minimum setback from a neighboring residence of 500 ft; today there is none.
- requires fencing to be screened with vegetation or hidden behind topography; today no screening is required.
- requires that all activity (such as tool sheds and storage barns) associated with growing cannabis be inside the fence, and the fence be at least 150 ft from the property line; today no requirement exists.
- disallows large indoor warehouse facilities to be constructed in rural Williamstown; today they could be built.
- requires 25 percent on-site renewable energy and a waste management plan for resource intensive indoor facilities; today no such requirements exist.

The proposal does not change the size of the allowable canopy for a licensee (2.3 acres), but it does add a restriction that a landowner can’t exceed that maximum by leasing to multiple licensees on a single property.
In short, the proposed bylaw doesn’t lessen current restrictions. It increases protections to residences yet provides sufficient economic opportunity for farmers. It's a balanced approach.
If you would like to support farmers and protect farmland, but you want to minimize the potential impacts of cannabis cultivation, vote yes.

For more information, visit the Town of Williamstown website or contact the Planning Board at planningboard@williamstownma.gov.

Stephanie Boyd
Boyd is chair of the Williamstown Planning Board.

BHS' New North County Urgent Care Center Opens Tuesday

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:44PM / Monday, December 15, 2025

There is a waiting area and reception desk to the right of the Williamstown Medical entrance. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Staff and contractors were completing the final touches on Monday to prepare for the opening of Berkshire Health System's new urgent care center. 

 

Robert Shearer, administrative director of urgent care, said the work would be done in time for Berkshire Health Urgent Care North to open Tuesday at 11 a.m. in a wing of Williamstown Medical on Adams Road.  

 

The urgent care center will occupy a suite of rooms off the right side of the entry, with two treatment rooms, offices, amenities, and X-ray room. 

 

"This is a test of the need in the community, the want in the community, to see just how much we need," said Shearer. "One thing that I think Berkshire Health Systems has always been really good at is kind of gauging the need and growing based on what the community tells us. 

 

"And so if we on day one and two and three, find that we're filling this up and maybe exceeding the capacity of the two exam rooms and one provider, then we look to expand it."

 

Hours will be weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 8 to noon, but the expectation is that the center will "expand those hours pretty quick."

 

BHS has two urgent care centers in Lenox and in Pittsfield. The health system had tried a walk-in center at Williamstown nearly a decade ago but shuttered over low volume of patients.