Master Plan committee seeks town input

By Matthew Bernat
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE -You can’t predict the future, but you can plan for it.
And when discussing Sturbridge’s future the question that follows is almost always: What should it look like? Those who regularly attend Town Meeting know the question has no easy answer and usually involves lots (and lots) of debate.
Still, the Master Plan Steering Committee wants to gain insight on what direction residents feel the town should take through a survey to be mailed soon.
Residents will be asked to comment on town services, infrastructure, transportation, open space and development.
The survey is confidential and will be prepared and tabulated by the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center. Members of the Master Plan Steering Committee decide what questions the survey will ultimately ask.
Surveys will be sent with a prepaid envelope with the deadline for mailing them back set for on or before April 9, 2010. Committee members hope to hear from at least 1,500 people.
During their Feb. 9 meeting, committee members were aware of how hotly-debated the issues of open space and development will be in the coming years, discussing the survey questions at length before deciding how to modify them.
“Questionnaires like this are used very tactically at Town Meetings and we have a huge amount of sensitivities to that that extend different ways,” John Kittel, a resident who attended the meeting, said. He noted if the questions weren’t worded carefully, the results they generate could be used to defend or attack any number of proposals on Town Meeting floor. He stressed that the committee needed to focus on questions that would offer the most valuable information to help them when crafting the master plan.
At one point, Committeeman Arnold Wilson went so far as too suggest removing questions related to development and taxes altogether.
“It becomes an emotional issue and historically any residence is a tax burden, commercial enterprise is either a tax burden or (tax) neutral. Industry is a plus,” he said. “That’s about the only given that I’ve heard of in 40 years.”
Wilson has served as selectmen in the past and also chaired the town’s former charter commission.
His comments came after a long discussion where the committee debated whether or not to keep language in the survey that asked opinions on a range of specific developments (such as bookstores, big box retail, offices, etc.) and whether or not respondents would favor their arrival if traffic and taxes were to increase.
Consultant Ralph Willmer, a senior planner and project manager with Vanassee Hangen Brustlin, Inc., told members it would be difficult to determine what influence any development would have on taxes until after it was built.
The discussion also touched on related survey questions that asked what areas of town – specifically Route 15 and Route 20 – residents would like to see non-residential development.
One question in the survey draft asked if the town should actively seek new developments to mitigate tax increases caused by recent spending approvals for projects such as the Burgess Elementary School and Town Hall renovations.
“We’ve approved a lot of new spending in town and I think a lot of people don’t know what the net impact of all those approvals will be,” Committeeman Steven Dalberth said.
He noted that a five-year projection of the town’s revenues and expenses prepared by the finance department showed a 40 percent increase to local tax bills is required to afford projects already approved. He said providing that information would inform residents’ decisions when completing the survey.
Committeeman Charles Blanchard stepped in to clarify Dalberth’s comments.
“We’d like people to understand that the Burgess project adds 13.7 percent to your taxes to the average single family home the first few years,” he said, noting that percentage decreases each year as the debt is paid off.
Willmer suggested that particular information might not be in line with the committee’s purpose, which right now is to gather information from the community to help draft a master plan.
The committee did stress the importance of resident’s involvement in the process, asking them to take time and fill out the survey thoughtfully once it arrives in the mail.
Sandra Gibson-Quigley, steering committee chairwoman, said these issues would not be disappearing any time soon.
“This is what we wrestle with all the time in this town…what do you mean? What do you mean by commercial (development), what do you mean by industrial (development), is it going to lower our taxes or raise our taxes? Those questions come up all the time,” she said.
The next Master Plan Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m. to be held in the Sturbridge Senior Center.