Op-ed: It’s time to move Chester’s revised zoning bylaws forward
The Chester Telegraph | Dec 24, 2024 | Comments 3
By Tim Roper
During the Sept. 18 and Oct. 16 public hearing to adopt proposed changes to the zoning bylaws, the Select Board heard objections from a few households regarding implementing a maximum density development model for the rural zoning districts.
Following lengthy discussions, on Nov. 6 the board ultimately directed the Planning Commission to revise the bylaws to revert to the existing 3- and 5-acre minimum lot sizes there and bring the rest of the proposed changes back for approval as written. This point is made clear within the approved minutes from that meeting:
“Lee (Gustafson, select board vice chair) said it sounded like they had given the Planning Commission what they were looking for to make the next revision. Hugh (Quinn, planning commission chair) summarized he was hearing the consensus direction from the Select Board was not to pursue density-based zoning and revert to 5-acre zoning in the green and 3-acre zoning in the yellow and change the name for the green zone to something they all agreed on and leave the rest of the proposed changes. The members agreed with Hugh’s summation and said they appreciated all their work.”
During the next public hearing, conducted on Dec. 18, members of two households voiced objections to the building setbacks in the proposed bylaws.
Apparently some Select Board members misremembered what they’d agreed to at the November hearing and either sided with the two households’ objections over these relatively minor details or were undecided as to how to vote between moving the revised bylaws forward or rejecting them yet again.
While it’s never easy to tell members of the public that their preferences regarding a particular issue are outweighed by other factors, it is the role of community leaders to make those hard choices.
The Chester Planning Commission worked on the bylaw revisions for many months, as directed by the Select Board and with the support and guidance of experts in the field of municipal planning.
The Planning Commission held many public meetings and conducted multiple public hearings, all designed to elicit and incorporate the public’s feedback to their proposed bylaw revisions. To further delay adoption of this work is an affront to each of those who participated in that process and is a disservice to our town.
I hope our Select Board can come together and move to adopt the revised rural zoning bylaws on Jan. 2 and allow our Planning Commission to move on to begin work on issues impacting the quality of life of Chester’s residents and the sustained success of our business community.
Tim Roper is a current member of the Chester Select Board and a former member of the Chester Planning Commission.
Filed Under: Commentary • Op-ed
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I couldn’t agree more. I thought we were actually moving in the right direction when the Village Green regs were adopted. I foolishly assumed that the Selectboard would support the remaining positive work of the Planning Board to bring our by-laws into this century, preserve natural blocks of forestry, and make our codes consistent with the historical development patterns that already existed here in Chester pre-zoning. Instead, after a few naysayers organized to kill it, there appears to be a lack of spine among the Selectboard members. We are now looking at being stuck with the existing New Jersey-style, High-End Suburban development patterns that we currently have codified into law. The Planning Board knows what its doing, and should be supported.
Mr. Roper is spot on. It is indeed the role of elected officials to make hard choices that informed by due diligence, and are in the overall best interest of the community. I hope that the Select Board will adopt the revised rural zoning bylaws and continue to work to ensure a sustainable future for Chester.
Thank you Tim! Sky scrapers get built in the world in the time it takes us to do small zoning changes in a place where nothing ever happens! It’s nice to live in a place where we give residents a voice and they should be heard but when plans change from my experience it’s not based on the best thing for everyone it’s more like a sibling crying until they get their way. Personally I’m not sure what matters what upsets me is the time we put in, the money spent on consults, the meetings with community members, charts graphs etc. then having all that changed because of a few people whining. All this stirs up my childhood trauma! Lol You get adventurous on vacation with your boring small town midwestern family and decide to try Thai food and your sister screams and cries she wants a hamburger! The next thing we are all having hamburgers!