In the Mount Greylock Regional School gymnasium, voters approved a $10.6 million municipal operating budget – up over 6% from the current year – as well as a nearly $15 million school district budget, up over 7.5%.
Over the course of three hours, roughly 300 community members debated and passed all 32 articles on the town meeting warrant – including a zoning bylaw amendment to set a 90-day cap on short-term rentals in the Northern Berkshire town of around 7,500.
“Last we checked, there were 168 short-term rentals in town. Many of these are spare bedrooms and private houses. Others are rented out for only a portion of the year, seasonally or during periods of peak demand. But some – and unfortunately, we don't know how many, we don't have that data – are essentially full-time operations whose owners don't live on site. We know anecdotally that some of these are owned by out-of-town investors who use them as income property," said planning board member Ken Kuttner. “This raises two concerns. One is that when a house is converted to a full-time short-term rental, that house is removed from the supply available to prospective residents, contributing to the scarcity of housing in town. The other is that we now have a fair number of mini-hotels operating in residential areas, but without the special permit required of old school B&Bs.”
During discussion of the article, resident Laurie Heatherington asked two questions of her fellow Williamstowners.
“One is, do any of you besides me, know 20 and 30 somethings who grow up in town, who want to come back here and live and raise a family, who can't find a house, number one?" she said to applause. "Number two, do any of you know people who live in other towns where private equity companies have bought up housing for investment and real people can't live there?”
The measure easily secured the two-thirds majority required for passage.
Williamstown voters also discussed a ban on smoking and vaping in private multi-family apartment buildings and condos.
“What happens when someone smokes in an apartment building or counter complex and the smoke drifts from the smoker's unit into the homes of neighbors who are non-smokers? This is an issue about rights. Neighborhoods and apartments and condos have the right to breathe clean, healthy air in their home. The elderly neighbor, the families with young children, the people with chronic heart and lung conditions have the right to not have their health damaged by the unhealthy habit of a neighbor who smokes," said petition author William Raymond. “People say, well, let the HOA board deal with this. What if they don't? These are not medical professionals. They're all volunteers. They're busy. HOA boards do not want to take on tricky, complicated issues. Is an absentee landlord in an apartment building going to say, oh, yes, I must take on this issue to protect the health of elderly or children living in the building? Probably not.”
Retired Williams College chemistry professor Anne Skinner said she opposed the article due to what she described as a misinterpretation of science.
“Smoking is hazardous to your health," she said. "Secondhand smoke is potentially a problem, but only potentially. Unlike smoking itself, secondhand exposure to nicotine and other substances varies. Pubs full of smoke are one thing- A bit of smoke drifting in the air is another.”
Citing data that shows marginalized groups are more likely to smoke, resident Andi Bryant said she would not support the petition.
“This citizens petition worries me," she told town meeting. "It feels like it's designed to target fragile communities. And to be honest, other than the fact that I'm personally offended by this article, I find it extremely discriminating against laborers, military veterans, LGBTQ, the undereducated, the lower income, those without medical insurance, indigenous people, those with mental health issues – which subsequently make up 25% of the country's overall population – those battling addiction, and the disabled. And it's just another way for the town to attempt to keep out the riffraff.”
Justin Adkins, who identified himself as a low-income trans person, rejected that argument.
“The reality is that most of minoritized populations have increased rates of smoking because of anxiety and stress created by the outside world," he said. "Being allowed to smoke within a building does not address that or change those numbers, and being able to smoke outside does help a lot of people who live inside.”
The measure passed easily.
Despite opposition from some members of the finance and select board, voters signed off on all eight Community Preservation Committee projects on the warrant. Those include a $32,000 plan to support construction of a new skatepark in Williamstown, allocations to both Images Cinema and the Store At Five Corners, and $16,000 to build mountain bike trails.
Residents also approved new regulations over geothermal wells along with a statement supporting the transgender and gender-diverse community and an ongoing commitment to provide due process to all Williamstown residents regardless of immigration status.
