BERNARDSTON — Bylaw revisions proposing temporarily prohibiting recreational marijuana facilities and regulating wireless telecommunication facilities will be the topic of a Planning Board public hearing Thursday.
According to Planning Board Chairwoman Christina Wysk, the hearing, set for Town Hall at 7 p.m., will be a chance for residents to share their thoughts about whether they want to allow recreational marijuana establishments — such as cultivation or testing facilities, product manufacturers or retailers — in town. However, adopting a moratorium will give the town time to explore its options.
“This moratorium will allow us to formulate what the town wants to do and it gives us a timeline,” Wysk said.
The moratorium would be in effect through Dec. 31, 2018 or until bylaw amendments regulating recreational marijuana facilities are adopted, whichever comes first. It would temporarily prohibit such facilities, allowing Bernardston “sufficient time to engage in a planning process to address the effects of such structures (and) to adopt provisions of the zoning bylaw in a manner consistent with sound land use planning goals and objectives,” the draft bylaw amendment reads.
The amendment explains the Cannabis Control Commission must issue regulations regarding licensing of commercial marijuana facilities on or before March 15, 2018. Once that happens, Wysk said, the Planning Board will have more concrete information to consider when drafting bylaw amendments regulating recreational marijuana facilities.
Because Bernardston’s current bylaw doesn’t regulate wireless telecommunication facilities, Wysk said the Planning Board also intends to add an amendment allowing them in all zones with a special permit. Such facilities would include towers, antennas and accessory structures that are used to provide cellular telephone service, personal communications services, paging services, radio and television broadcast services, or similar broadcast services, the amendment reads.
The amendment would require companies to minimize adverse visual effects through careful design, siting and vegetative screening, using materials and colors that are compatible with the surrounding environment. Advertising or signs on towers would be prohibited, and fencing would need to be as unobtrusive as possible.
Before any new tower is approved, the amendment reads, the applicant would need to prove it’s not feasible to locate their equipment on an existing tower or building. Before a new tower is proposed in a residential district, the applicant would need to prove it’s not feasible to put this equipment in another district or on municipal facilities.
http://townofbernardston.org/images/planning/Draft-Recreational-Marijuana-Moratorium.pdf
Should a tower be put in a residential district, it would need to be set back from all property lines at least twice the distance equal to its height, the amendment continues. In other districts, the distance would need to be at least equal to the tower’s height, excepting cases where the board deems it safe to have a shorter setback.
The amendment also outlines towers designed for one provider wouldn’t be taller that 130 feet, and those designed for multiple providers would be allowed an additional 20 feet for each additional provider, up to a maximum of 220 feet. However, the limits wouldn’t apply to government and emergency telecommunication towers.
As a safeguard, applicants would have to provide a form of surety to cover removal costs should the town need to remove an abandoned structure, the amendment reads. Applicants would be expected to maintain their structure, provide an inspection schedule and report inspections to the Planning Board.
Reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
413-772-0261 ext. 257