SHELBURNE — Voters can expect a packed 43-item agenda at Tuesday’s annual meeting. Among issues up for a vote are proposed zoning changes plus funding for new vehicles and upcoming renovations.
The operating fiscal 2020 budget is $4.3 million, up roughly $100,000 or 2.4 percent from the current year. Nearly half of the town’s budget, $2.3 million, will go to Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
Other items up for a vote include:
— To spend $50,000 to renovate Memorial Hall as the first of three installments the hall association plans to request over the next three years. The entire renovation is expected to cost roughly $600,000, with the association intending to fund the remaining amount with grants and fundraising, according to Board Vice President Richard Warner. The building was last updated roughly 25 years ago to make it accessible and in compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
— To permit Shelburne to enter into a 10-year contract with a recycling vendor selected by state Department of Environmental Protection.
— To purchase two new Highway Department vehicles: $170,000 for a frontend loader and $165,000 for a backhoe.
— To transfer $35,000 into an account to replace town-owned vehicles.
— To transfer $42,500 into an account to replace Highway Department equipment in subsequent years.
— To buy a new police interceptor cruiser for $43,000.
— To pay an initial installment of $49,963 for the town’s new police station at 623 Mohawk Trail, which is currently under construction.
— The transfer $15,000 to the Senior Center for its planned new facility.
— To spend $80,000 on a solar array for the Highway Garage.
— To spend $42,597 to fund design and construction costs for a fiber optic network catering to unserved parts of Shelburne.
— To spend $125,000 on operation and maintenance for the Shelburne Falls Wastewater Treatment Facility.
— To permit the town to impose a 3 percent excise tax on retail sales of marijuana or marijuana products.
— To impose a 6 percent local excise tax on short-term lodging.
— To permit the Selectboard to enter a 30-year lease with a 20-year renewal provision with the Arms Library Association for the Pratt Memorial Library Building, so that the organization can apply for historic tax credits.
— To support a state bill to create a commission concerning the Mass. seal and motto.
A notable issue on this year’s agenda concerns zoning, with nine changes up for a vote Tuesday. Proposed by the Planning Board, changes seek to relax regulations and increase access to affordable housing. According to Chair John Wheeler, changes aim to “make some of the bylaws less restrictive to some property owners,” and in turn encourage young people to move to town, combating a rapidly aging population. The number of residents aged 65 and older is projected to rise to 39 percent in 2030 —nearly double what it was in 2010, according to the Planning Board.
Nine proposed zoning changes are on the town warrant. Among them is an item to add an “affordable housing incentive” section to the town’s zoning bylaws. This new section would: reduce the required minimum lot area to 5,000 square feet to build one home or a family house if all are affordable; permit developments within new or non-historic structures to include eight units if a minimum of 25 percent of the units in the development are affordable; and permit zero-lot line developments if they meet certain requirements and are affordable.
The remaining eight proposed zoning changes are:
— To permit residents to build common driveways if they receive permission from the necessary town officials and boards.
— To clarify the definition of the terms street, minor street and frontage.
— To add a new bylaw that would relax restrictions on flag lots (properties with driveways leading to back lots), allowing these properties to be “scattered” in the town.
— To create an exception to dimensional requirements for lot setbacks and to revise non-conforming uses, structures and lots.
— To divide the residential district in two. As proposed, one section (VR-1) would sit between Route 2 and the river and the other to the east of Route 2.
— If the previous item is approved and the residential district is separated into two sections, this proposal would reduce the required lot size in section VR-1 from 20,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet. Currently, 73 percent of VR-1 lots do not conform to size requirements and have secured a special exception to exist.
— To require greenhouses of a certain size secure a special permit. The code was updated at last year’s Annual Town Meeting to permit greenhouses by right.
— To require developers seeking a special exception adhere to the historic character of the neighborhood and the “orientation, scale, massing and setback pattern of surrounding homes.”
Shelburne’s annual meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall. View the warrant and budget here: https://www.townofshelburne.com/d/1143/Annual-Town-Meeting.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.