Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Feedback Growth Areas topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Berlin planning commissioner tells county ‘we don’t want to grow’ and says mayor asked removal of nearby growth areas
Summary
A speaker identifying themselves as representing the town of Berlin said the town opposes expansion of growth-area boundaries west of Berlin and said the mayor sent a letter asking the county to remove those areas.
During the Worcester County comprehensive plan work session, a representative who said they speak for the Berlin planning commission told county staff the town does not want additional land designated as growth areas.
The Berlin representative said the town is committed to “infill and upturn” rather than physical expansion. “We don't want to grow anymore physically … we're gonna grow from within and not from without,” the speaker said, describing local concerns that expansion would change the town's character and livability.
The speaker asked the county to recognize a letter from Berlin’s mayor that, the speaker said, requests removal of the designated growth areas to the west of the town — describing the parcels roughly from the state police barracks south toward Evans Road and naming specific local properties. County staff responded that municipalities had been asked for feedback on growth-area boundaries and that municipal recommendations would be considered in finalizing the map. Staff said the county had received municipal input in response to a prior request and that recommendations from the town would be reviewed and folded into the next draft.
Why this matters: municipal feedback can change which areas a county designates for future infrastructure and sewer extensions. Removing a growth-area designation would reduce the county's justification for directing public sewer or other infrastructure to those parcels.
The Berlin speaker urged the county to respect the town's stated preference for internal growth, citing concerns about traffic, loss of small-town character and cross-border development pressure from neighboring Sussex County, Delaware. County staff and the consultant said they would incorporate municipal comments and adjust boundaries where appropriate, and they reiterated plans to post revised boundaries to the web-mapping application for municipal review.
