ROCKPORT — Dozens of residents attending a Planning Board meeting last week called for changes to town bylaws that would create both a demolition delay mechanism and protect scenic views.
The issues will not come before the town until fall Town Meeting at the earliest, said Planning Board chairman Barbara Sparks on Monday.
"This is going to require a lot of study," she said.
Selectmen are set to close the spring Town Meeting warrant tonight, which is a main reason why the issues will not progress as quickly as supporters would hope.
"Having started so late, they are going to be hard-pressed to get it ready for spring Town Meeting," said resident and activist Toby Arsenian, who has advocated for bylaw changes.
In order to have an issue debated at Town Meeting, there are workshops and public hearings that need to be conducted to work out the wording of any warrant article. Those workshops and hearings will take place, she said Monday, but it will likely take a few months.
"I appealed to them to let the Planning Board do our work," said Sparks, who several times said how glad she was that so many people took an interest in the issues.
"We've looked at this before, but it's never made it to Town Meeting," Sparks said.
According to Sparks, 45 people signed in at the meeting and the crowd looked to include more than 50 in the Town Hall Annex, the former Granite Savings Bank building.
"Usually, at a Planning Board meeting, unless you have business in front of them, there isn't much of an audience," said Arsenian. When asked why he thought this meeting deviated from the norm, Arsenian said, "I suspect people came because the zoning code is inadequate to protect the public interest."
Though Arsenian said he supports both initiatives, he said he thought the focus on the two large changes would prevent action on what he considers to be smaller, more manageable problems.
"There are numbers of things that are much smaller that are wrong with the bylaws," said Arsenian, noting that fence height restrictions, for example, are only in effect for construction that faces the water and that parking lots are largely unregulated.
"We could plug all of those at fall Town Meeting," said Arsenian.
As far as the two proposals brought up at the Planning Board meeting, Rockport would not be the first Massachusetts town to enact similar restrictions. Jane O'Maley Beauvais, a Rockport resident, has looked into similar laws in other municipalities and offered her research to Sparks.
"They came to the right place to discuss this," said Sparks, speaking about the demolition delay and scenic view proposals. "But the right place to go over all of these great suggestions is in a workshop."
Sparks said no date had been set for a workshop on the issues, but said she hopes to hold one in May.
Stephanie Bergman can contacted at 978-283-7000 x3451 or sbergman@gloucestertimes.com
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