Planning board reviews senior bylaw draft; consultant flags wording, formatting and citation errors

The Planning Board reviewed a draft senior bylaw forwarded by the General Bylaw Committee during its March 5 meeting. Richard Harris, the board’s consultant, said he had several technical comments and recommended clarifications.

Harris told the board he found missing words and suggested rewording paragraphs that made applicability unclear, particularly provisions about stone walls and scenic roads. He questioned whether five listed stone-wall criteria were intended to be conjunctive and suggested clearer formatting for sections that currently lack subsections. Harris also recommended moving detailed application requirements from the bylaw into the planning board’s rules and regulations where they could be updated more easily.

Harris flagged an incorrect statutory citation in the draft that referred to “master and law 256 section 105”; he said chapter 256 has only nine sections and the reference therefore appears to be in error. He urged the drafters to correct statutory citations and clarify language so the bylaw’s intent is unambiguous.

Board members asked Harris to forward his comments to Christine (the board’s contact identified in the packet) and to provide suggested rewritten paragraphs. The discussion closed with the board agreeing to incorporate Harris’s technical edits and to return to the item in a future meeting once revisions are prepared.

What’s next: Harris will forward his marked-up comments and suggested rewrites to Christine for the board’s consideration at a subsequent meeting.