Stockbridge voters reject two articles at town meeting

STOCKBRIDGE – Enough voters showed up for the special town meeting and then they made their voices heard.

A quorum of 50 voters was necessary for the meeting to be viable, and some in town government had expressed concern over whether enough residents would come forward. That was no issue at all, as a large crowd filled the auditorium.

Once the over 100 voters assembled, the town meeting, mainly to discuss zoning bylaw changes, began with several heated discussions.

The majority of the articles, eight, passed, but two articles failed to get the required votes.

The most contentious item was Article 5, a zoning revision, which would have opened more options to rehabilitate and develop new uses for properties marked as Cottage Estates.

Cottage Estates would be defined as properties with 80 contiguous acres including a principal structure used in the past as a single-family residence. Large scale properties like Chesterwood, Naumkeag and the currently for sale DeSisto School would have been considered Cottage Estates under the law.

The article needed a two-thirds vote to be approved, and while it got a majority, it failed 61-55.

Several other zoning laws, mainly to make Stockbridge conform better with state law had passed before Articles 4 and 5.

Articles 7, 8, 9 and 10 all passed with little to no discussion. They regulated driveway length, fence and wall height and personal wireless service facilities.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on February 28, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry