ATHOL – A Special Town Meeting has been scheduled for November, where zoning issues will be discussed and a look taken at recent budget issues.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18, the Selectboard scheduled the STM for 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, in Memorial Hall in Town Hall.
The warrant for the meeting opened on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and will remain open until 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24. The Selectboard will vote on the warrant at its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Postcards to households with registered voters will arrive no later than Oct. 26, the same day on which the warrant will be posted.
Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said that several issues warrant holding this meeting.
“Given the FY27 budget that was approved in June and the reductions in staff – eight and a half staff positions lost – we moved some funds around in trying to balance that budget,” he said. “So, this gives us an opportunity to look at the first quarter of the fiscal year to see where departments stand in their budget with the tightened fiscal constraints and make any minor adjustments that are needed. I don’t see any crises, but there probably will be some movement of funds just to make sure we have the funds in the right places.”
Suhoski added the town is close to reaching an agreement with the union representing employees of the Public Works Department. The contract, he said, “Remains open, but we believe we have a tentative agreement. Because that was not approved by the union and the Selectboard prior to the Annual Town Meeting, that will need to be addressed at the fall meeting.”
He added that members of the union recently voted to change representation from the Government Employees Union/International Union of Public Employees to the Service Employees International Union.
A couple of proposed zoning issues are also likely to appear on the warrant, according to Suhoski. The Board of Planning and Community Development is proposing a temporary moratorium on the establishment of data centers. According to a draft of the bylaw provided by Director of Planning and Development Eric Smith, the moratorium is designed to give the town “time to study, analyze, and develop appropriate zoning regulations for data centers.”
If adopted at the November town meeting, the moratorium would remain in effect until “December 31, 2027, or…the date on which town meeting adopts zoning regulations governing data centers.”
“That’s a nationwide issue that has cropped up, certainly in central Mass,” said Suhoski. “If you look at the town of Oakham, the city of Westfield is grappling with it, the city of Leominster is, and there are other towns as well. There’s concern about the centers’ use of water resources, environmental impacts, noise, impacts on neighborhoods. I think a moratorium would buy us time to come up with proper zoning controls for that.”
The board is also considering changes to the bylaw governing first floor commercial space in the downtown zoning district.
Planning Board David Small said that the original bylaw didn’t allow residential on the first floor of a building in the commercial district in Athol, but this was changed to allow apartments on the first floor, but not in the front of the building.
“The question came up, if the building owner only has 100 square feet in the front, is that really a viable commercial space? It might fit the zoning, but that wasn’t the intent,” Small said. “The intent was to have viable office or retail space off of the street. There was a developer who wanted to do 100 square feet in the front, which is not very big; that’s not viable retail space. It’s still in discussion.”
Small said the board is looking at a requirement for at least 800 square “as a potential minimum, but we’re still in discussion.”
A special committee formed to develop a general bylaw detailing the town’s responsibilities relative to the maintenance of private roads hopes to have wording of the bylaw ready for consideration on Nov. 9.
The committee held its first meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and its next meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Room 21 at Town Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Any Athol resident wishing to place an article on the STM warrant must submit a petition with the names of 100 registered voters by Thursday, Sept. 24.