SHELBURNE — Revisions to zoning bylaws, a decision to join the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District and a pollinator sanctuary petition article are among items to be addressed at Annual Town Meeting on Saturday.
Taking place at the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School at 75 Mechanic St. (outside near the bandshell), the meeting will begin at 1 p.m. and will require non-vaccinated individuals to wear masks in compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 health safety guidelines. A specific tent and seating arrangement will allow for adequate social distancing.
Selectboard member Robert Manners said he expects certain articles to inspire more discussion than others.
“The Selectboard asked the Planning Board last year to hold off on a lot of major revisions within the bylaws,” he said, a result of some residents wanting to be engage in discussion about the changes, but experiencing technical difficulties accessing virtual meetings. The zoning bylaws, he explained, will be “pretty straightforward.”
One of these bylaws, presented in Article 26, is a telecommunications bylaw that would govern “small-cell installations.”
“The companies that are trying to provide wireless coverage for the hilltowns have to deal with — as the name indicates — hilly landscape, so normal cell towers don’t provide full coverage for the people living in little hollows and valleys where the waves don’t reach from the big towers,” explained Selectboard Chair Andrew Baker. “They’re now using these small-cell installations to sort of fill in the gaps, so we’re just updating our bylaws to make provisions for these new kinds of small wireless facilities.”
Article 28, the sole citizen’s petition on the warrant, is not as clear-cut as the proposed zoning bylaw revisions. The article proposes a Human and Pollinator Sanctuary Resolution — a vote as to whether Shelburne will declare itself a human and pollinator sanctuary and complete a risk and environmental assessment to determine and remove certain types of technology that produce radiation.
To this proposal, Manners said, “It generates more questions than answers. We’re not necessarily sure how it would be enforced, (or) if it’s binding,” though the Selectboard is hoping that whoever put forward the citizen’s petition will be able to explain it further during the meeting.
According to Baker, the author of the petition is not a Shelburne resident, so if that person wants to speak about the proposal, the Shelburne residents who signed the petition will have to go through the fairly common procedure of requesting that the moderator allow a non-resident to speak. If the author doesn’t show up, then those who signed the petition will have to answer questions about why it is present on the warrant. Both Baker and Manners noted that questions are present as to what Shelburne as a municipality can do regarding the microwave radiation and satellites referenced in the petition.
An article that is more widely understood, Article 23, requires a vote for Shelburne to become a member of the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District. In voting to join and putting $5,000 up for membership, Shelburne would have the ability to begin to identify the possible diseases being carried by mosquitoes in the area.
“What the district does (is) it goes out and does trapping and monitoring of mosquitoes so we know what population of mosquitoes inhabit Shelburne,” Manners explained. “In doing so, if we get a high concentration of the types of mosquitoes that are disease-bearing, then we can look at doing some larvicide and things of that nature to prevent public outbreak (of mosquito-borne diseases).”
Amongst other articles, 12 through 15 may garner some attention, town officials say. The Highway Department will request a roadside boom mower, a JCB backhoe, a ¾-ton pickup with plow and sander, and a new brush chipper. Additionally, the Police Department is requesting a new cruiser. Said cruiser will be a hybrid vehicle, according to Manners, and will involve a request of $51,000.
In addition, Town Clerk Joe Judd believes Articles 24 and 25, involving the Mohawk Trail Regional School District borrowing almost $1 million dollars for work at the high school and Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School, might also turn some heads.
Those school district-based capital projects are in good company, as the numerous Shelburne-based capital projects present in Article 11 propose funding necessities equating to over $200,000. These include a second-year payment toward Franklin County Technical School’s capital improvement projects; funding to replace or repair town-owned roofs and vehicles; and the second-floor Memorial Hall renovation.
The proposed fiscal year 2022 budget, which includes about $2.78 million for education, is about $4.85 million, compared to the current fiscal year’s $4.59 million. This represents a 5.7 percent increase.
To view the full Annual Town Meeting warrant and budget documents, visit bit.ly/2Sn4hmq.