The Planning Board will propose two amendments to the Protective Zoning By-Laws of the Town of Worthington for consideration by the residents at the Annual Town Meeting on May 4, 2024.
The amendments both relate to Outdoor Recreation and seek to make a distinction between long term uses which are allowed under Special Permit issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals, and temporary uses which may be allowed under an Event Permit issued by the Select Board.
More specifically, the amendments:
- Remove some existing specific uses allowed under Special Permit (in section 4.4(a)), replacing them with a more general use “Outdoor Recreation”, and add a definition of “Outdoor Recreation” in the Definitions section.
- Add a new section, 4.4(c), which would enable the Select Board to issue “Event Permits” to allow temporary events on land with a residential or other primary use not typically inclusive of such events.
Each of these categories will be presented at Town Meeting as separate warrant articles. The documents below provides summaries and the proposed changes to the zoning by-laws.
The Town of Northfield’s Event Permit Application provides a model for what the Planning Board recommends for the Town of Worthington.
A Public Hearing addressing these amendments will be held April 18 @ 6:30pm at Town Hall.
Survey Results (from Fall 2022)
The survey results can be found in this document.
It has been edited slightly to protect privacy. We removed question #2, which mapped “Response ID” to street name, and #11, in which people provided their email addresses. We also removed question #4, which was a question left over from a draft version of the survey, and which was not asked.
The Planning Board meets at 6:30pm on the fourth Monday of every month in the Town Hall
Questions? Contact Bart Niswonger, Chair at planning@worthington-ma.us
| General Zoning Documents |
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| Accessory Dwelling Units |
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| Worthington passed an amendment (section 8.7) to our zoning bylaws allowing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in 2022. Under that bylaw, ADUs are allowed under the Site Plan Review process outlined in section 2.6 of the bylaws. There are various conditions which must be met in order for an ADU to be allowed. Those conditions are listed in section 8.7, but include that the ADU must be less than 900 sqft, and that at least one of the dwelling units is occupied by an owner of the property. This second condition requires filing a Declaration of Covenants with the Registry of Deeds prior to an occupancy permit being granted. |
| Site Plan Review Application – This is used to apply for an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) |
| Declaration of Covenants – This template can be recorded with the Registry of Deeds to satisfy the filing requirements for an ADU prior to getting an occupancy permit. |
| The Site Plan Review process has several steps. In order to ensure that the Planning Board is consistent in our review of application, we developed the following documents. They are presented here to give a sense of the process, but the Planning Board reserves the right to modify its procedure at any time. |
| Site Plan Review Application Process – We encourage interested parties to reach out to the Planning Board before submitting an application. However, once an application is ready to be submitted, this is the outline of the process that we will use to review it. |
| Site Plan Review Application Checklist – This is a document we use to determine that we have considered all the elements required by the bylaws when reviewing a Site Plan Review application. It is a distillation of sections 8.7 and 2.6 of the zoning bylaws. It is here for informational purposes, and may change as we gain experience with the Site Plan Review application process. |
| Notice of Site Plan Review Decision – This form is used by the Planning Board to communicate their decision on a Site Plan Review Application. |
| Members | Title | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
Kate Bavelock | Member | 2026 |
Bart Niswonger | Chair | 2027 |
Nestor Matthews | Member | 2028 |
Anna Maunz | Member | 2024 |
Susan Warner | Member | 2025 |
Past Zoning Bylaw Amendments
2023
The Planning Board proposed several amendments to the Protective Zoning By-Laws of the Town of Worthington for consideration by the residents at the Annual Town Meeting on May 6, 2023. All three passed. The Attorney General’s office approved the amendments on August 9, 2023.
The new bylaws are now in effect and can be found here.
The amendments fall into three basic categories:
- To see if the town is interested in adding Seasonal Food Trucks and Food Trailers to the list of uses allowed by Special Permit in section 4.4;
- To ask the town to consider adjusting the location requirement for marijuana establishments to bring them in line with our understanding of the intent of that by-law, and to consider adding language particularly addressing outdoor cultivation of marijuana;
- And to ask the town to make a series of editorial changes with the intent of making the by-laws more accurate.
Each of these categories were presented at Town Meeting as separate warrant articles. The documents below provide summaries and the proposed changes to the zoning by-laws.
A Public Hearing addressing these amendments was held April 10 @ 7pm at Town Hall. All three amendments were approved at Annual Town Meeting on May 6, 2023.