SOUTHWICK – Voters in Southwick will have plenty of opportunities to cast votes next week as the annual town meeting takes place Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Southwick Regional School. Prior to that, the special town meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
With 27 articles scheduled for the annual town meeting, there are a few articles that stand out due to their importance.
Article 6 consists of the town appropriating $240,000 for a new dump truck. The current truck is from the year 2000 and has had some problems that aren’t worth trying to fix anymore.
“With the issues it currently has, it’s not salvageable,” said Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown.
The brand new 2018 vehicle will have a wing plow on it and a stainless-steel body.
“We need that vehicle especially during the winter months when we are running our snow plow operations,” said Brown.
Article 8 also pertains to the DPW, as the warrant article looks for the town to appropriate $1.7 million to relocate the current College Highway pump station to a new location that is closer to the town line on College Highway.
Southwick registered voters are seen at the Annual Town Meeting in May of 2015. (WNG File Photo)
With Southwick receiving their water from Springfield Water & Sewer, they’ve had a change in scope due to some operational changes. As a result of that, Brown feels it’s important to relocate the town’s pump station.
“It will impact the availability of treated water to be delivered to our system,” said Brown. “That will allow us to better the entire town through that one pump station.”
A number of articles on the warrant focus on marijuana. Article 18 is for the town to pass a zoning bylaw for both medical and recreational marijuana. The two parts to the vote are based on the purposes and the definitions of the zoning bylaw. The purposes pertain to the meaning of the locations of where medical and recreational establishments could be located. There was also a third section that had to do with prohibited uses, but since residents voted in favor of prohibiting non-medical marijuana retail stores in town during the town election on May 8, that section will be taken off the warrant.
Article 19 is centered on the overlay map district and addresses whether the town will amend the zoning map to include the Registered Medical and Recreational Marijuana District and the Off-site Marijuana Dispensary District as overlay districts on the map.
According to Town Planner Alan Slessler, there are two colors on the map to show where off-site marijuana dispensaries can be as well as medical marijuana sales. Slessler pointed out that the industrial zone like Hudson Drive is an appropriate area for medical marijuana sales in town. The Planning Board and the marijuana sub-committee have also looked at other areas in town.
“We felt that those are good areas to have those kind of operations,” said Slessler.
Slessler noted that both Article 20 and 21 could be taken out since they’re affected by the result of the ballot question that won’t allow non-medical retail users to operate in town.
Another important topic on the agenda on Tuesday will be Article 22, which is to see if the town will accept a bylaw for personal watercraft use on North Pond. Personal watercraft refers to a Class A inboard motorboat that is propelled by a water jet pump or another kind of machinery.
The purpose of the bylaw would be to allow jet skis or other personal watercrafts on North Pond, but at a headway speed of six miles per hour. Any violation of this law would result in a $50 fine for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and each subsequent offense.
Southwick Police Chief David Ricardi is hoping that the bylaw will pass in order to enforce the rules but also still allow personal watercraft users to enter North Pond.
“It’s going to benefit everybody,” said Ricardi. “It’s going to allow them to go out there.”
