WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday agreed to have the town manager put together a working group to sort out and clarify the town's bylaws on dog leashing.

 

Robert Menicocci came to the board seeking clarifications of "ambiguities" in town code that came up after last spring's town meeting debate on a proposal to require dogs to be leashed when off their owner's property in the general residence zone.

 

Specifically, there is a bylaw — which the May 2023 town meeting article sought to amend — that requires dogs to be on leash or under "voice control" in the district. There also is a regulation created by the Select Board in its capacity as the town's parks commission that requires dogs to be leashed in town parks, several of which exist in GR.

 

"I think the confusion is legitimate," Andrew Hogeland said. "It came about because people were aware of the bylaw but not the [park] regulations, which was true for us until the day after town meeting.

 

"The Spruces is a park under the Park Commission's control, and the regulation applies. It's time for us to decide what the rule should be and lock it into either a regulation we pass or an updated bylaw, which town meeting approves."

 

Menicocci noted that a further bit of ambiguity lies in determining what parks are covered by the Select Board's regulations. For example, Margaret Lindley Park, home to the town's public swimming beach in the summer, is under the care and control of the Conservation Commission, as is the smaller Bloedel Park at the historic Five Corners intersection.

 

A couple of the Select Board members indicated that any solution or clarification of the leashing in parks issue should include a solution both for residents who want to allow their dogs to run off leash and those who want to enjoy town parks without fear of being approached by strange dogs.

 

"Why can't we do this? Why can't we work to develop a spot where dogs can run around and be free?" Jeffrey Johnson asked. "I think that's the answer. I see other towns where you do ‘this' here and ‘that' over there. Our town is big enough that our citizens deserve both."

 

It was noted — not for the first time — that creating a dog run at the Spruces Park is problematic because of restrictions on the land placed by FEMA as part of the grant that allowed the town to acquire the former mobile home park property. Hogeland, who served on a working group that looked at reuses for the property, noted that efforts to put a soccer field in the park stalled over FEMA's objection to the use of goal posts and netting on the land, which is part of flood plain.

 

"We've got to find some place [for a dog park] that will be more successful in terms of the permitting," Hogeland said.

 

Johnson suggested that the board allow Menicocci to put together a working group to look at the issue, an idea that drew assent from the other four board members.

 

Recreation issues made two appearances on the agenda. Board members, in particular Jane Patton, long have expressed frustration that the town does not have enough public amenities for outdoor activities ranging from soccer to basketball to pickle ball.

 

On Monday, the panel talked about how to address that issue, including a preliminary discussion of what land the town could acquire to create such facilities.

 

Johnson said the first step is creating a list of parks under the board's jurisdiction, and he noted that some of those parks "need a major face-lift."

 

"I would love to see a basketball court down by the skate park," Johnson said. "It pains me, when you look at other towns in Berkshire County, what our town doesn't have. I want us to do better and do more."

 

Menicocci said the town plans to address the parks issue as part of the work of implementing the comprehensive plan being finalized by the Planning Board.

 

"You have our commitment that we will be working on that as part of identifying those pieces of [the comprehensive plan], identifying the Safe Streets and how it ties into the recreational path, things like that and coming up with an action plan for that," he said.

 

Menicocci cautioned against prematurely discussing specific parcels where a park could be developed.

 

"One thing we have to be mindful of is that we don't tip our hand," he said. "If we have interest, we don't get people excited, and then the price goes up. We want to be careful about that. But there are a variety of different things that we are looking at in the sense of thinking about the feasibility.

 

"Sometimes there is property that's a little landlocked and maybe is lower valued, and what could we be doing to unlock that somehow. … That sort of thing where we could acquire a piece of property that wouldn't break the bank and do what you're suggesting."

 

Hogeland said discussions around the issue in recent years have lost momentum because there has not been a point person who made it their focus and could drive the conversation. He said that could be someone in Town Hall, a member of an existing board or an untapped volunteer.

 

"It needs someone who is willing to say, 'This is my mission for the next 12 months,' " Hogeland said.

 

In the next few months, Menicocci and Town Hall staff will be putting together the fiscal year 2025 budget. On Monday, he talked about the constraints on town spending that he will be facing and raised the potential to need cuts in the town budget if the board wants to pursue new initiatives.

 

"Just to remind folks, our [revenue] growth in general in the upcoming year will be pretty limited," he said. "We had pretty much a windfall in this current year's budget due to Cable Mills. We won't see that this year. And even next year, in doing our very preliminary look around at what's in the pipeline for projects, there's a very small handful of new construction, which is where the growth in our [tax] base comes from — a large piece of it anyway.

 

"So part of the conversation has to be around, 'Is everything we're doing the right thing?' Because they only way we're really going to re-examine ourselves and think about how we can potentially fund new things is to potentially not do some of what we're doing currently."

 

In other business on Monday, the Select Board:

 

• Transferred the alcohol license for the Waubeeka Golf Links from Waubeeka Golf Links LLC to Waubeeka Golf Operating Co. LLC and approved a couple of one-day licenses to serve at events at Williams College.

 

• Approved an initial town policy on social equity in awarding host community agreements to potential cannabis businesses. Although the town currently has no limit on its number of HCAs, the social equity policy is required by the state's Cannabis Control Commission, which is itself still developing guidelines for what those municipal policies should include, Menicocci said.

 

• Received an update from Menicocci on the town's American Rescue Plan Act allocations, including an award to the Mount Greylock Regional School District to replace the playground infrastructure at Williamstown Elementary School. That district is in the process of getting quotes on new playground equipment, he said.

 

• Learned from Menicocci that the town has submitted applications for Green Communities Grants totalling nearly $300,000, including $136,000 for improvements to the Milne Public Library. Menicocci said the town expects to hear back on the grant applications in January. He thanked volunteers Wendy Penner and Nancy Nylen of the town's Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL) Committee for their help in preparing the applications.

 

• Was informed that Williams College has committed to direct its employees to not use the municipal lot at the bottom of Spring Street while the demolition of Town Field House takes dozens of staff parking spaces offline later this month. Menicocci said despite comments by a college official to the Conservation Commission in October, it was never the college's intent to include the Spring Street lot in its plan for parking alternatives.