SHELBURNE — In an annual town meeting that went to about 11:45 p.m., voters approved all budget requests and OK’d a taxation incremental financing (TIF) agreement negotiated between the Selectboard and William Green, the owner of Bill Green Custom Woodworking, now located in Greenfield.
Green, a Buckland resident, wants to build a new woodworking shop and studio on Route 112, across the road from Ashfield Stone. According to Selectboard member Andrew Baker, Green has proposed building a Shelburne-based shop that will let him increase production and the number of employees from the current nine to 12. Baker said Green would be investing between $700,000 to $1 million for the new facility and that the 10-year TIF agreement would give Green an 80 percent abatement for the first five years, then cut back to 50 percent abatement in the sixth year, 40 percent in the seventh year, and so on, increasing the tax by 10 percent each year, until Green is paying the full tax rate in the 11th year.
The Finance Committee said the Selectboard should have brought this to the Finance Committee for study and a recommendation, since the agreement is “more generous” than what the town has done in the past. Voters, however, approved the measure.
In other business, the town’s old “cluster housing” permit option has been replaced by a new “Open Space Development” plan that provides for more open space preservation in exchange for permission to build more houses closer together on development land.
Under the old cluster housing rules, a tract of 20 acres or more could be divided into smaller building lots if at least 25 percent of the land was set aside for conservation-restricted open space. The new option can be used for a subdivision of at least six acres, but it calls for at least 50 percent of the developable land to be placed under conservation restrictions as open space. The developer would get “bonus dwelling unit incentives” for Open Space Development initiatives for land preservation, for building senior housing or dwellings that can be counted toward the town’s subsidized housing inventory.
The Selectboard passed over two measures designed to address the town’s position concerning the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, which was suspended after the town meeting warrant was posted; but voters unanimously supported two bylaws designed to protect town infrastructure, should a large industrial-scale project like the pipeline resurface.
The town now has a unanimously approved Local Road Preservation Bylaw, to be managed by the Selectboard, that requires high-impact traffic over local roads, such as for pipeline construction, to get a $500 “High Impact Use Permit” from the board. The permit holds the company generating the traffic to be accountable for road damage.
Also unanimously approved was a “Siting Large-Scale Industrial and Commercial Facilities Bylaw,” to protect the town and residents from impact by large-scale projects, including gas pipelines, by setting standards for noise, earth removal, and other construction disturbances.
Selectboard members said they felt both bylaws are relevant “regardless of the pipeline,” and should be in place in the event that the pipeline proposal is resurrected.
The pipeline-related articles that were passed over included: spending $15,000 for technical or legal fees related to intervention; and a request for town meeting to direct the selectboard on whether the town should oppose, support or be neutral toward the pipeline construction.
Shelburne approved all three of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District regional agreement changes, including an amendment to allow Rowe to rejoin the district.
Despite recommendations from the Selectboard and Finance Committee to vote down the $2.15 million Mohawk assessment — and a delay in voting until School Superintendent Michael Buoniconti could be present, after attending Colrain’s annual town meeting — voters approved the Mohawk money by a vote of 49 to 29.
Other approved financial requests included:
$35,000 for the Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund, to meet future town obligations for health insurance and other retiree benefits.
$52,000 to buy a new combination dump/sander body for the Highway Department, with $42,000 of it to come from “free cash” revenues.
$7,000 from “free cash” to purchase a new electronic voting machine.
$26,858 to fund the Mohawk district’s capital budget.
$50,000 from the Stabilization Account to be used for ongoing renovations at Pratt Memorial Library.
$6,000 to be set aside for the town’s 250th celebration in 2018.