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Resident urges clearer economic-development guidance and website updates to help small businesses
Summary
A public commenter urged the Select Board to streamline West Swanzey’s online resources and clarify the site-plan review process to make it easier for small businesses to find permitting information and for town committees to coordinate.
A resident addressing the West Swanzey Select Board urged the town to make its website and site-plan review guidance easier to use for small businesses and to improve coordination between planning and economic-development committees.
The commenter, speaking during the public input portion, said she reviewed the town website with the perspective of a small-business owner and found it hard to locate application materials. “If I’m a small business owner, I wanna do this … So streamlining that management, making it easier, and more intuitive for people,” she said, adding that the proposal was meant as an opportunity to improve existing processes rather than as a criticism: “I wanna stress that this is an indictment of any staff or process currently in place in Swansea. Just an opportunity to make things better.” (Transcript spelling corrected to West Swanzey.)
The resident suggested several specific changes: a clear “Economic Development” header on the town website that leads to initiative descriptions and resources; a single entry point that explains typical application steps for prospective business owners; and a more current listing of available properties. She also asked whether the planning board still required some new businesses to come before it for consultation and whether volunteer help or navigation assistance might be offered to business owners.
Board members and staff discussed how planning review currently operates: staff (identified in discussion as Adam and Scott) said planning still reviews projects and that staff triage many inquiries to determine whether formal site-plan review is required. The board noted past turnover in the department and the absence of a dedicated economic-development staff member since 2018, which the commenter said had left some website initiatives stalled.
The board agreed the town could do a better job of organizing existing online resources and that staff and committee members could explore highlighting available properties, updating business listings, and coordinating with the conservation commission on wetlands-related guidance. One select board member asked the resident to work with staff and titled contacts (including Katrina and Brandon Ward) to develop concrete edits for the site.
No formal action was taken; the item was public comment and direction to staff to follow up if the resident and board determine a specific work plan.
