Town of Otis
Planning Board Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2018
Town Hall Inspectors’ Office
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm in the Otis Town Hall Inspectors’ Room. The meeting is recorded and a quorum is present. Michael Ernst asked Rona Knight to chair the meeting in his absence.
Present: Jim Kauffman, Rona Knight, Jen Daily, Hal Kobrin, Terry Cook, Mike Parsons
Form A ANR for Map 9 Lot 11: Mike Parsons of Kelly, Granger, and Parsons Associates was here to represent a lot split for Kenneth Bartow and Donna Seymour at 1514 Monterey Road. Everything was in compliance with the Zoning bylaws so Hal moved to accept, Rona seconded, and it was unanimously passed. The mylar and copies were signed and payment was received.
Form A ANR for Map 15 Lot 130: Mike Parsons of Kelly, Granger, and Parsons Associates was here to represent a lot split for Wendy Strickland along Route 8 in order to sell the lot that’s split out to her neighbors, St. Louis and Brightman. The lot split met all zoning bylaw requirements so Jim moved to accept, Terry seconded and it passed unanimously. The mylar and copies were signed and payment was received.
Other:
Declaring Moratoriums: Rona began by stating the town cannot declare a moratorium for recreational marijuana because it will not be written and completed by December of 2018, which is the deadline declared by the MA Attorney General’s office. Since we currently do not have any recreational marijuana applications in process, we can make changes to our zoning ordinances. By law, the town would need a majority vote to ban any cannabis production and a two-thirds vote to ban all marijuana establishments and these votes would have to be held at a town meeting. Or we could establish an overlay district for light industry. Rona also noted that there are currently problems occurring in Franklin, MA with odors coming from a recreational marijuana manufacturing facility, so we need to keep in mind what the town needs to do in these situations as well. Hal asked that everyone begin looking at surrounding town bylaws and begin modeling a bylaw for Otis for recreational marijuana so it can be discussed at the November and December meetings. Lisa will furnish bylaws from Becket, Sandisfield, Stockbridge, Lenox, and a model bylaw from BRPC to all members.
September Informational Meeting: Hal had concerns with the meeting itself. First, Planning was not the committee or board who was investigating the reuse of buildings in town and we should not have been expected to hold this meeting. Second, no one had discussed there would be any restrictions to the topic at hand and he wasn’t expecting them. Hal also feels the public was shut down when we started talking about the costs. Funding sources should have also been discussed. Jen agreed it may not have been presented well but we did get substance from the meeting.
Complete Streets: Hal again mentioned we are missing out on a lot of grant opportunities by not being part of Complete Streets and we should relook at this. Rona agreed but said we should take it into consideration after we’ve completed the recreational marijuana bylaw and discussed future building use.
Approval of Minutes: The September 17, 2018 Planning Board meeting minutes were approved as written. Jen made the motion to accept and Jim seconded with Rona abstaining because she was not present at September’s meeting.
Rona moved the meeting be adjourned, Jen seconded, and the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:14 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa D’Orazio
Planning Board Clerk
Town of Otis
List of Documents
- A copy of the Form A ANR for Ken Bartow and Donna Seymour and the map will be filed with these meeting minutes.
- A copy of the Form A ANR for Wendy Strickland will be filed with these meeting minutes.