BERNARDSTON — Community members will contribute to the Bernardston Master Plan this Tuesday at the “Bernardston’s Future” meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bernardston Elementary School.
Attendees will prioritize a list of 18 recommendations toward the goal of creating a vibrant and historic village center, fostering sustainable economic development and preserving the rural character of Bernardston — the three goals that Bernardston residents identified in community meetings, interviews and surveys. This list of 18 recommendations is narrowed from the 25-page list in the “Bernardston Master Plan” document.
“We want people to go through the democratic process in deciding what’s important to the town,” said John Lepore, chairman of the Bernardston Master Plan Implementation Committee. “It’s not just for the committee to decide. Community input is really important in looking at these goals.”
Residents who do not attend Tuesday’s meeting will still be able to submit their priorities among the 18 recommendations by downloading the list from townofbernardston.org and submitting their views by April 30.
After the Master Plan Implementation Committee has collected the community’s feedback, committee members will present the results to Bernardston’s Selectboard. These community priorities will serve as guidelines as town officials begin implementation of the master plan over the next five years.
Of the 18 recommendations, nine would be affected by the water table in the village center. Ongoing flooding problems in Bernardston have made town officials hesitant to commit to future development plans.
According to the Master Plan document, “The relationship between groundwater elevation, localized flooding, river and wetland hydrology and the performance of wastewater treatment systems needs to be better understood in Center Village before further planning for development in this area can be pursued.”
Septic system failures in village center have led some town officials to suspect that Bernardston’s water table may be affecting septic systems, but the data to make a confident determination is not available yet. To that end, the meeting will feature a video on the complex hydrology of the area so that community members can be properly informed before they make any decisions on whether the town should pursue scientific studies on the issue.
“They may decide not to undergo a hydrology study, that it’s not that important to them,” Lepore said. “Or they may feel powerless and that there’s nothing they can do. We don’t know yet.”
Contact Max Marcus at 413-772-0261, ext. 261, or at mmarcus@recorder.com.