Citizens will get ample time to weigh proposed zoning changes
Proposed changes to Dracut's Zoning Bylaws are going to be the talk of the town soon — and that's a good thing.
Dracut is in the process of overhauling those bylaws for the first time since the 1980s. It's a big undertaking and there's going to be a strong focus on public outreach, to ensure the townspeople can be aware of and understand the proposed changes, before they are brought before Town Meeting for consideration.
The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to support Town Manager Ann Vandal's recommendation to refer the 17 articles to a future Town Meeting instead of the one scheduled for June. Doing so will allow for more review, discussion, and public outreach.
Community Development Director Alison Manugian, the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee, and the consultant they've been working with have done a tremendous job working through and preparing these changes. Alison and the team worked hard on this overhaul, and they deserve our thanks for their help with spearheading this project.
With that first half of the job done, the second half of the job is to educate the townspeople — including the Board of Selectmen — about these proposed changes, the purpose for them, and the results to expect if they are adopted. We need to understand why these changes are being proposed.
There are a lot of proposed changes, and a lot of those changes are going to have major impacts on the town, as I understand them so far. Some of the changes being proposed would allow certain things by right and remove the need for a special permit. Some would change the current zones. Some would change the permitted uses in certain zones.
Overall, the changes are significant, and they will impact the town significantly as a whole in the long run. That's why it's so important for there to be more communication between the Board of Selectmen, Zoning Bylaw Review Committee, and the townspeople, to get us all up to speed about how to make an educated decision about what our town is going to look like in the future. I, for one, need more information to be able to make smart recommendations and decisions on these items.
For example, one of the proposed bylaw changes would allow a two-family home to be built on 22,000 square feet in some zones. Considering the standard in our town for more than 30 years has been 40,000 square feet for a single-family home, I'd like much more information and insight about the
purpose, the thinking behind it, and the results to expect. I'm sure the townspeople would appreciate the same clarity before they are asked to vote on this change and the others.
Along those lines, the plan is for the Board of Selectmen to meet with the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee to talk about the process, concerns, education, outreach, timelines, and other related issues. In addition, involvement from townspeople will be a vital part of the process moving forward: there will be a lot of discussion and efforts to spread awareness about the proposals that will be brought forward for consideration sometime in the future. The intention is to ensure we're all fully informed before making decisions that will have long- term impacts on the town's character, density, and future.