Town to assess casino impact

By Cherie McBride
Turley Publications Reporter

BRIMFIELD - As promised at the last selectmen’s meeting, Robert Levite, who works with the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Extension Service, and Mark Hamin, a professor in the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning department there, returned to discuss proposed revisions to zoning and other land-use regulation bylaws.
Levite and Hamin are project managers and research supervisors for the process. Hamin introduced Peter Gillo and Stephen Roberts, the graduate students on the UMass project team, who would be conducting much of the research.
The study would assess how town bylaws could be modified to address the regional impact of development in the area (i.e., the proposed casino in Palmer).
At the completion of their research, the project team would provide plan analysis, assessment, recommendations and implementation phases in support of the town’s long term growth management goals.
They would need to review existing documents and do comparative studies of towns similar to Brimfield. The team would look at what has and has not been successful in other towns and address vulnerability to mitigate or reduce the potential impact of changes in traffic, land use and other pertinent factors.
The public presentation and comment phase could be done in an interactive forum where all the stakeholders are involved.
“The results of these forums would be used to fine tune the team’s recommendations,” Hamin said.
It was expected each of the three phases would take approximately one month to complete and a draft report would be ready in January 2010.
Hamin requested a variety of materials including any previous documents addressing land use, assessor’s data and an up-to-date list of town staff.
Levite said there was an Open Space Plan that was done five years earlier, which would probably have most of the information the team sought.
He also mentioned a historical survey of the town he worked on last year could also be useful.
Brimfield resident Maurry Tamarkin asked if Hamin’s team had done a casino study before, and if so, when and could copies be acquired.
Hamin said he had worked on the master plan for the town of Warren. In addition, some of his department’s graduates had researched the economic and land use impact for their master’s thesis, which typically became public upon completion.
He said he would ask for their approval.
Levite noted the research results should eventually be helpful with whatever the town did down the road. “Brimfield wasn’t hit as hard as the towns on either side, but you are in the line of fire for development. You have a unique situation in Brimfield in that some of the property used for your flea markets is owned by people who don’t live in town. They will want to participate and be heard in the process,” he said.
The next Board of Selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Annex, followed by the Tri-Town Board of Selectmen’s meeting at 7:15 p.m.