Convened: 5:00 pm
Adjourned: 7:06 pm
THIS DOCUMENT WAS PRODUCED WITH CLAUDE AI WITH A TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY CTSB TV, AND HAS BEEN CORRECTED, EDITED AND AUGMENTED.
Corrections may be included in comments below or sent to 413villagegreen@gmail.com.
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LINK TO CTSB TV VIDEO OF MEETING
Housatonic Water Works. The board opened by voting unanimously, 5-0, to oppose any emergency or long-term rate increase Housatonic Water Works may seek from the Department of Public Utilities, as covered by The Village Green. The vote came on a day when scheduled water main work had left Housatonic without water. Several customers, including Cecilia Turner and Kate Van Olst, spoke before the vote, as did state Rep. Leigh Davis.
All Star Salvage hearing continued to Nov. 23, sent to town counsel
The show-cause hearing on All Star Salvage Inc. (Formel’s) at 21 Van Deusenville Road ended without a decision for the second time. The board voted to send the record to town counsel and continue the hearing to Monday, Nov. 23 at 5 p.m.
The building commissioner’s determination. The building commissioner, Matt Kollmer, missed the Sept. 28 session and appeared this time.
His written determination found:
The operation holds a valid special permit.
It is not currently violating zoning.
Today’s volume of car crushing is an expansion of the permitted use, not a change of use.
The business qualifies as “light manufacturing” because crushing a car counts as “processing.”
He said the one clear problem is that the special permit calls for work to be done indoors, while crushing happens outside. On that basis, the board could require a modified special permit.
He added:
The hoop house likely needs a building permit if people work under it.
The fuel-tank issues belong to the fire department.
Chair Steve Bannon pointed to the 1984 record, which said a crusher would come to the site every three or four months, and a board member contrasted that with today’s figure of roughly 50 cars crushed a day.
Phil Orenstein pressed the commissioner on the light-manufacturing definition, which requires that noise be confined to the premises. The commissioner said he measured compliance against the noise bylaw’s decibel limits, relying on the licensee’s third-party sound study. A member then asked whether audible-but-legal noise still violates the zoning definition. That question went unresolved.
Public comment reopened. Bannon first refused to take comment, which led to an exchange with neighbors’ attorney Mitch Greenwald and with Michelle Loubert. Bannon then reopened comment to everyone, three minutes each, after Orenstein said he wanted to hear it.
Donna Jacobs read the bylaw’s definition of heavy manufacturing and argued that it, not light manufacturing, fits the operation.
Mitch Greenwald, attorney for Michelle and Bruce Loubert, said the 1985 “renewal” was only a board vote, with no abutter notice, no hearing and no registry recording. In his view no valid special permit exists, and the business would need to apply as if new.
Trevor Forbes cited state sources classifying auto salvage as heavy industrial. He argued the use doesn’t belong near homes.
Ruby Chang, a Board of Health member, presented a Clean Harbors report dated Oct. 15, 2026. It found benzene at 77.6 micrograms per liter at one drill site, against a 5 µg/L standard, above an aquifer that feeds private wells. She linked it to the Oct. 21, 2022 fire and asked the town to have the responsible party pay for testing nearby private wells.
Michelle Loubert said the town has an enforcement problem. She cited the bylaw’s performance standards and said she and her husband can’t enjoy the yard of the home her father built in 1958.
Eileen Mooney asked whether the board had consulted a lawyer. Bannon said it had not.
The licensee’s attorney, Shawn McCormick, responded that the 1984 permit required renewal, which happened in 1985, and that the board at the time knowingly classified the use as light manufacturing. He added that zoning compliance is for the zoning enforcement officer to decide, with appeals going to the ZBA, not the select board.
Bannon said he wasn’t prepared to make a legal call. The board asked counsel to address five questions:
Whether a valid special permit exists
The light-manufacturing definition
The conflict between the noise bylaw and the zoning definition
When an “expansion” becomes a violation
How much the 40-year gap since the permit matters
Other business
Sewer asset management. The board, sitting as sewer commissioners, heard a closeout report on the year-four sewer inspection.
Highlights:
The work was funded by a $150,000 MassDEP grant.
This year covered about 20% of pipes and 42% of manholes. Year five, also grant-funded, will complete inspection of the full system.
MassDEP has since ended the grant program.
Findings were mostly cleaning needs, plus candidates for pipe relining. Few dig-and-replace repairs turned up.
A consultant told Orenstein the work is unrelated to the roughly $21 million treatment-plant project approved at the Oct. 19 special town meeting and is already built into sewer rates. In response to Chang, staff said four upgraded pump stations, with a fifth underway, now pass “flushable” wipes. The board approved Aug. 26 minutes 4-0, with Elliott abstaining, and Sept. 17 minutes 5-0.
Cannabis equity notice. Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove disclosed that the Cannabis Control Commission notified the town on Sept. 23 that it is out of compliance with state social-equity requirements for evaluating host-community-agreement applicants.
Town counsel has drafted a policy, which will come before the board Nov. 9.
The Common (425 Park Street). The board gave a unanimous positive recommendation to the Planning Board on the special permit for 274GP LLC. Steve Mack of the applicant’s engineering firm presented.
The plan:
A fire egress for second-floor offices
A smaller deck and stairs pulled back off town land
A split-rail fence on town property
Conservation agent Kate Van Olst confirmed the public magnolia tree will stay. Eric Gabriel, who owns the building, recused himself.
Du Bois Freedom Center legacy trail. Deputy director Marcus Smith previewed a joint town–Freedom Center Community Preservation Committee application for interpretive kiosks around Rosseter Street and Elm Street, linked by QR code to the digital Black history tour. No vote was taken. The first-step application goes in next week.
Routine approvals (all unanimous):
Sept. 28 minutes approved; a second set was held for a minor fix.
Temporary beer and wine license for Guthrie Family Apples shows, Nov. 14–15, Guthrie Center.
Erik Bruun appointed to the Historical Commission, term through June 30, 2028.
League of Women Voters “vote” sign at Town Hall.
Positive recommendation to the ZBA for a taller garage on the same footprint at 110 Cottage Street.
Donations:
$248.80 to the Great Barrington libraries (anonymous)
$350 to the police K-9 unit from the Thursday Morning Club
$1,000 to the fire department
$344.75 in bottled water for Housatonic residents from the Pan Mass Challenge
Town manager’s report.
The House adopted amendments preserving $50,000 for the water emergency, extended through Dec. 31, 2028, and $20,000 for the South County Connector. Both still need final approval and the governor’s signature.
New pedestrian-activated flashing beacons are installed at the South Main Street crosswalk, and a Tighe & Bond design contract has been executed.
Health agent James Massey passed his soil evaluator exam.
The South County Connector has restored full weekday service, 6 a.m.–9 p.m.
Early voting runs through Oct. 30.
Announcements. Elliott said he couldn’t shower that day because of the main break. He called HWW a “slow-moving car crash” that is speeding up and repeated his call for Gov. Healey to declare an emergency and begin receivership.
Gabriel urged HWW customers to sign up for CodeRed alerts.
Citizens Speak
Michelle Loubert thanked Orenstein for allowing her attorney to speak. She warned residents that the special permit process doesn’t protect them and said she and her husband have spent $5,000 defending their home.
James Garzon of 84 North Plain Road criticized years of departments passing responsibility back and forth, on both All Star and HWW.
Top 5 moments (elapsed time)
58:20 – Building commissioner finds no zoning violation; crushing is an “expansion”
1:12:45 – Greenwald: no valid special permit exists
1:18:42 – Chang reports benzene at 77.6 µg/L
1:29:30–1:34:26 – Bannon refers the record to town counsel; hearing continued to Nov. 23
46:19 – Elliott, without water at home, renews call for state receivership of HWW
Next steps
Nov. 9: Cannabis equity policy, with town counsel
Nov. 23, 5 p.m.: All Star hearing resumes
Later meeting: Affordable Housing Trust CPC application scope (deferred tonight)
Pending: Supplemental budget needs final passage and the governor’s signature