To the Editor:
The Planning Board apologizes to the Rockport residents for the confusion with the presentation of the various art
icles at the Rockport Fall Town Meeting.
The Gloucester Times Editor is correct in his comments (Editorial, the Times, Thursday, Sept. 13).
Our timelines for public hearings and then completion of the various warrant articles should have been completed by mid-July, not mid-August. Then, when the warrant articles were posted in August, they would have been complete. The result would have been that the same changes that appeared as Planning Board amendments this year would already have been included in the warrant.
This timing put the selectmen in the position of not being able to take a position until after the final Planning Board meeting on Sept. 6. The Open Meeting Law then prevented them from meeting on the articles until the day of Town Meeting.
It is unfortunate that the resultant perception was one of scrambling with late changes, when much work had been done receiving input, providing information to the public, working with the leaders of the citizens’ three articles over a six month period, and formulating our positions.
We can certainly do better.
HANK BETTS
Rockport,Chairman, Rockport Planning Board
