After initial attempts to alter short-term rental bylaws, the Planning Board has decided to pause its progress until all the positions on the board can be filled.
“We decided that the town is not best served by having only three people draft a bylaw to go to Town Meeting,” Planning Board member Andrea Donlon explained.
The Planning Board currently has four positions filled. However, Michael Hoberman, the board’s co-chair, has officially recused himself from the process citing a conflict of interest with short-term rentals. This leaves only three people who are able to work on the bylaw changes.
The town stopped having all five seats filled in February 2022, when Brian Rose resigned without a new person coming forward to fill the position. The board has continued to serve without being fully filled, holding meetings regarding special permit applications and the Vertex Towers cell tower public hearing.
“Since we had an intense couple of years with housing bylaws and the cell tower hearing, some of the board feels like they do not have the emotional energy to take on extra responsibility with small numbers,” Donlon continued.
She said the board hopes to bring bylaw changes to Annual Town Meeting that will pass, and having as much input as possible helps make that a reality. The board may start working on changing other bylaws that do not have a conflict of interest with a member.
The last bylaw changes came in the summer of 2021 when the town voted to alter its housing bylaws. During the revision process that year, board members made a list of other bylaw projects they’d like to work on. Donlon said they will look back on that list to reconsider new projects.
The Planning Board had originally planned on changing the short-term rental bylaws as a result of feedback that arose from making housing bylaw changes to allow accessory dwelling units.
“There is a feeling and data that there are more and more short-term rentals,” Donlon explained. “We wanted to address short-term rentals to preserve the amount of housing we have in town.”
The draft the board came up with, which is available on the town website, encourages owner-occupied short-term rentals, with hopes of addressing these concerns.
The Planning Board posted on the town website that it is looking for another member, but is still short one member and one alternate. Any Buckland resident can join the Planning Board by speaking with Town Administrator Heather Butler, who can be reached at Town Hall at 413-625-6330, ext. 5 or twnadmin@town.buckland.ma.us.
“Hopefully someone who doesn’t operate short-term rentals will want to join,” Donlon said.
Bella Levavi can be reached at blevavi@recorder.com or
413-930-4579.