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Owner seeks zoning change at 155 Williamsville Road for agricultural accessory use; planner to prepare case study
Summary
Property owner asked the planning board to consider rezoning or bylaw changes so an equestrian‑related cleaning business could operate more clearly as an accessory agricultural use; staff will gather case data and comparable examples for future hearings.
At the July 17 meeting the Planning Board discussed a rezoning request for 155 Williamsville Road intended to permit an agricultural‑adjacent accessory use—described in meeting materials as a cleaning service for equestrian gear—and to consider amending the town’s agricultural accessory bylaw.
Alec (Town Planner) summarized materials in the packet and said Rebecca (property owner/applicant) presented to the board at the prior meeting. Alec told members he has a meeting scheduled with Rebecca and plans to collect water and septic records, daily traffic estimates and comparable data from similar businesses to build a case study for the board.
Alec said the matter ties into an earlier effort to revise the town bylaws to clarify allowed agricultural accessory uses. “The proposal originally considered creating an ecotourism/agricultural accessory bylaw revision that redefines agricultural accessory uses,” Alec said, adding that defining “agricultural” can be “pretty murky” in practice because tests can be based on acreage, income or primary use.
The board discussed whether to pursue a zoning map change, an overlay or an amendment to the bylaws. Alec said the previous attempt to change the bylaw produced long public hearings and multiple compromises that ultimately led to the proposal failing to pass in earlier rounds; he recommended bringing a focused proposal and public hearings to the board and warned against over‑compromising the language.
Direction from the meeting: staff will compile the case study data (water/septic, traffic, competitor examples and prior bylaw drafts) and return with a draft approach for whether to pursue a targeted bylaw amendment, a zoning overlay or a map change. No formal vote to rezone or amend bylaws was taken at the July 17 meeting.
Background: the board previously considered similar bylaw language and a multi‑night public hearing process that the planner described as protracted; towns that have adopted agricultural accessory approaches (Alec cited Rutland and other towns) provide models the board may review.
Provenance: The rezoning/bylaw discussion and Alec’s planned follow‑up began during the planners’ report and the agenda item for 155 Williamsville Road and continued through the board’s questions about bylaw strategy.
