Wayne Planning Board approves moratorium recommendation, sends resolution to select board

WAYNE, Feb. 20 — The Wayne Planning Board voted to approve a moratorium acceptance resolution drafted by moratorium committee member Jim Katsiapakis and will forward the document, with the planning board's recommendation, to the town Select Board for next steps.

The vote, conducted by roll call, passed with four in favor and one abstention. Planning Board member Doug Ferris announced his intention to abstain before the roll call. Chair Andrew Goral clarified the body was voting only on the committee's resolution text, not on any ordinance changes: "we're voting today on the resolution, not on the ordinance."

The resolution documents the committee's reasons and is intended as an intermediate step. Katsiapakis told the board he had incorporated comments from the planning board and the committee and said he would next work to translate those recommendations into ordinance language that fits the town's land use regulations. "It's going to be worked on to incorporate it into the zoning ordinance, and then there will be a joint public hearing of the planning board and select board, after which there will be a product that goes to the voters that will reflect the committee's work," Katsiapakis said.

Members discussed process and next steps rather than the substantive ordinance language at this meeting. Doug Ferris, who abstained, stated he had followed the issue since its earliest phases and objected to how the matter had been handled administratively. "I'm gonna abstain from voting, Andy, because I have been watching this ever since we started way back in phase 1 ... I view this as a real disappointing failure of organizational management and span of control and leadership development," Ferris said, expressing frustration that the Select Board had removed part of the application from planning board consideration earlier in the process.

Planning Board members and Katsiapakis described the path ahead: Katsiapakis will adapt the committee's draft into ordinance language (to be integrated into the town zoning ordinance and the land use ordinance), the two boards may hold a joint public hearing on the consolidated draft, and the Select Board will determine whether the final measure goes to voters via a town meeting warrant or referendum ballot. The board was explicit that the planning board's vote at this meeting was a recommendation to the Select Board, not a final ordinance adoption.

The meeting also covered a separate, ongoing codification project handled by General Code. Board members said General Code has posed about 100 review questions and that the planning board was responsible for roughly 70 percent of land use and subdivision questions, with the Select Board addressing roughly 25–30 other questions. The planning board aims to complete its review in time for General Code's next steps; a working target mentioned in discussion was an April 1 milestone for moving the codified text forward for public review.

Katsiapakis and board members discussed enforcement and administration for mobile home parks and campgrounds as the ordinance work proceeds. Katsiapakis said the final approach likely will include an annual licensing or permitting scheme for mobile home parks and campgrounds, and enforcement authority would be drawn from the town's land use and environmental enforcement powers under state law; the committee will draft those enforcement provisions as a separate but related piece.

Next steps: the planning board will transmit the approved resolution to the Select Board; Katsiapakis will convert the committee draft into ordinance text suitable for integration into the town’s zoning and land use code; and the two boards are likely to hold a joint public hearing on the consolidated ordinance before any measure is placed before voters.