Selectmen & Planning Board collide. . . again

Commentary by Frank Schroth

For the third time in two months, the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board have scheduled their meetings for the same night. Tonight the meetings start at the same time. Both will be taking up issues of significant and longstanding importance to the town, but there is no easy way for any resident to  become informed on the deliberations that take place or comment at Citizen Speak.

Issues that will be taken up and on which there might be progress include:

The Selectmen will be discussing the formation of the committee to identify candidates for Town Administrator. They will also be discussing the Hendries building . . . again. There has been a collapse and the Building Inspector and Fire Chief have stated that the building needs to come down. The developer has agreed but is saying that the town needs to attend to the portion of the building it is responsible for. How the town might fund this is an open question. Local residents have characterized the building as an eyesore and safety concern for years.

The Planning Board will also be discussing the Hendries building and possibly voting on a bonus for the Hendries property. All designs to date have been predicated on being awarded a bonus. However, the bonus was to be awarded if the developer preserved a natural feature or supplied something in kind and provided public amenities. As of their last meeting, members of the board, especially Ms. Innes, were clear that they did not believe those criteria had yet been met. Both the developer and the public have been pressing the board for action.

Media outlets (MyTownMatters, Milton Times, the Ledger, etc.) are not staffed to be in both places at once. DVRs are an option but not optimal. MATV cannot broadcast both sessions live. The ability of the community to stay informed is handicapped by this schedule, and we urge elected officials to do a better job coordinating meetings going forward so the voters they serve can stay abreast of what their representatives decide and how they decide it.

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