SUMMER RESIDENTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Chatham, Massachusetts
Minutes of Meeting of August 3, 2007
Present: Alix Driscoll, Don Edge, Jill Macdonald, William McGagh, Hugh Moulton, Nell Pinckert, Roy Sheldon, Peter Tarrant, and Arnold Trebach. (A full house of current members).
Also present: The Honorable Douglas Bohman
Chair Don Edge started the meeting at 9:00 AM.
1. The committee approved the minutes of the non-meeting of July 20.
2. Some housekeeping matters were attended to, including a list of members’ home towns and Chatham locations and a Summer Town Meeting program. Three new members will be sworn in by the Board of Selectmen on August 7th, in time for the new members to join the Committee for the Town Meeting. They are Bob Champlin, Kay Flynn, and Dean Hamilton.
Don led a preliminary discussion of the ideal number of members for this committee. The numbers discussed were 11 and 15.
Don mentioned that this will be last summer that Alix will serve on the committee. The group expressed its regrets and offered the hope that she would consider returning at some time in the future.
3. Len Sussman, Chair, Planning Board, and Kevin McDonald, Director of Community Development, made a detailed presentation on the major subject of this meeting: the zoning bylaw rewrite, describing, the current status, accomplishments, problems, and plans. They distributed pertinent handouts, and both took questions from each member of the committee and from the audience. Among the matters discussed:
A. Those directly involved in this rewriting process have not found much helpful guidance from outside consultants, at least no so far.
B. They are looking mainly at Section 5, non-conforming uses and structures. A typical issue is the balance between individual preferences and community goals.
C. Chatham is a town with a rich history. It laid down streets guided by no plan but created a wonderful place that we all would like to preserve. Now it is guided by a set of post-World War II regulations. On these grounds alone, the potential for conflict is obvious.
D. Providing for affordable and workforce housing have become major concerns of those involved in the zoning law rewrite.
E. Current plans are moving in the direction of setting up more concrete guidelines on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. Several members of the committee pointed out that this seems a retrograde step since the original approach toward the rewrite was for more understandable broad guidelines.
4. Under the rubric of new business, Jill observed that it would seem wise to hold off any comment by the committee on the developing wastewater plan and timetable until the town presented a more concrete statement of the plan. It should be available soon. General agreement was expressed with this approach.
5. Bill brought up the issue of providing telephone facilities via the internet so that members could participate in meetings when they were not physically present. There was mixed support for the idea, and it will be discussed and voted on at the next meeting.
6.The Summer Residents Town Meeting will be held on this coming Tuesday, August 7, at 7 PM in the Chatham High School Auditorium, which allegedly will be air conditioned. Men will wear blazers and polo shirts. It was observed that no sartorial directions were issued to the women. It was agreed that members will show up by approximately 6:30 to help set up facilities and assist Nell with refreshments. Presenters will practice with power point. It was also agreed that members will sit in the front row, except those whose duties require them to be elsewhere. Roy and Peter will distribute programs, handle microphones during audience Q&A, and collect the suggestion forms that Peter will provide.
The meeting adjourned at 10:50.
Respectfully submitted,
Arnold Trebach
Recording Secretary
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