Town Officials to Improve Public Notification

If you were watching the meeting last night, you heard Conservation Commission Chairman ask the board to consider a proposal presented to them by of Westborough Patch. He was speaking about a letter that Kurtz, as a taxpaying resident, sent to the selectmen, town manager and town counsel two weeks ago asking for better publicity of public hearings. explained that changes are now being made to better notify residents of what town officials are doing. Specifically, the town is supporting Kurtz’s suggestion to advertise public hearings on the town’s website.

Want to know if your neighbor’s house was zoned commercial, or if the scenic vista in your backyard is about to be re-harvested? You’re now that much more likely to be aware of such actions.

“I was happy they were receptive; it’s long overdue,” Kurtz said. “I think it will help a lot of residents.”

Kurtz’s letter to town officials, dated Feb. 26, 2012, and , suggested town officials make a concerted effort to notify the public about all hearings by using two taxpayer funded resources: the town website and The plea came from weeks of reader emails asking why residents were not adequately notified about or a solar farm being added next to residential zoning on Fisher Street.

“I got a lot of feedback from residents who said, ‘why don’t we know about these things,’” Kurtz said.

To better understand how and why the public felt under-informed, Kurtz dropped in on Town Counsel Greg Franks last week to find out what the current laws are. The answer, in short, is that law varies.

In some cases, such as with the trees at Sandra Pond, there is no requirement to notify the public, he said. In the case of the solar farm installation on Fisher Street, Franks explained that the only requirement is to post a hearing notice in a newspaper. For those who have never seen one of those, they appear in small print in the back of the classified section of a newspaper.

Kurtz and Franks had a discussion about whether public hearing notifications are sometimes quietly posted in the back of a newspaper, where presumably few residents would see them, so that departments can progress a project without having to deal with delays that might come from public input. Franks explained that in some cases that might be the case. But, he added, it can also benefit a project to hold a public hearing and get public feedback.

Could this be why some public hearings, such as with the , are widely publicized and others, such as the solar panel installation, are not? Franks did not answer, Kurtz said; he just smiled.

The point was further illustrated at the Feb. 28 Board of Selectmen meeting at which Town Planner Jim Robbins had an exchange with Selectman Leigh Emery. He was seeking approval for a zoning change on East Main Street that would stretch a commercial zone to border residential property. Robbins said the public had been notified and there were no objections. When Emery questioned how the public was notified, Robbins said that a notice was put in the paper and no one showed at the hearing. She requested that letters be sent to abutters.

The selectmen listened to Koenigsberg address Kurtz’s letter. “Can we consider a better way to get public notices out?” he asked. “The town needs to do a better job.”

“Mark [Stockman, town MIS/GIS Director] has been working with the town clerk’s office so that going forward the meetings that are posted on outside of the town clerk’s office [on a clipboard hanging in the lobby] will also be posted on the town website and in the email subscriptions,” said Malloy.

contributed to this report.

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