Halifax Advances MBTA Zoning Plan
Town receives preliminary state approval, plans fall special meeting
HALIFAX, MA - July 9 - The Halifax Board of Selectmen received positive news Monday night regarding the town's efforts to comply with new state zoning requirements related to MBTA communities.
Town Administrator Cody Haddad reported that state officials have given preliminary approval to Halifax's MBTA action plan after reviewing a draft submitted in March.
"We got some preliminary good news from the state," Haddad told the board. "The draft bylaw that the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee voted to put forward seems to be in compliance. We need to make a few small technical changes, nothing that we can't fix."
Haddad said he met with representatives from the Department of Housing and Livable Communities for about an hour to go over the town's proposal. Once Halifax receives official correspondence detailing the required tweaks, officials plan to make the changes internally and have the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee vote on a final recommendation.
The goal is to present an update at the next Selectmen's meeting and begin preparing for a special town meeting in late October or early November to vote on the zoning bylaw changes.
"We're looking to make some changes. We want to make sure that residents understand what we're looking to do, hold some public forums," Haddad explained.
Selectmen Chairman John Bruno praised the work of the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee, calling them "fantastic" and saying they've "really worked hard on all of this stuff."
Bruno said the committee is making "good progress" and hopes to have proposed final zoning bylaw changes ready to bring to the Planning Board soon to start the formal approval process.
A team including Bruno, state legislators, and members of the Old Colony Planning Council have also been meeting regularly on the MBTA requirements. Haddad said they plan to schedule a public forum with the planning council and state representatives present to provide factual information and answer residents' questions.
In other business, the board discussed implementation of a new training policy for town board and committee members aimed at improving governance.
The policy gives new appointees 90 days to complete required training courses, while existing members have one year. However, some specialized zoning and conservation courses are only offered once or twice annually.
"As people are up for reappointment, it'll be one of the things that we, the board can look, we'll look at, have you completed this?" Haddad explained. "And also as you appoint, we put in there as new members were appointed, that the board would take into consideration any work that they've done towards that."
Members will be asked to submit proof of course completion to the town. Bruno emphasized the importance of tracking compliance, saying "sometimes you make a policy and then you never have a way of tracking it. So it doesn't really accomplish what you're trying to do."
He added that the training is "beneficial for both the town and for the volunteer person, I think, because it helps them know what they're doing. It helps us get things done correctly."
The board agreed to remove regular updates on the training policy from future agendas now that it has been implemented, with Haddad to provide any necessary updates during his regular report.