The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 23, to discuss three proposed amendments to the town’s protective bylaw.
The first amendment concerns overlay districts, which provide additional restrictions or incentives that are not considered in traditional zoning uses. The Planning Board wants to remove the zoning map overlay from the historic district in town center and add an overlay district for solar farms.
The second amendment would revise regulations approved at the 2014 Annual Town Meeting regarding the town’s adult entertainment district. The state attorney general did not accept the bylaw as written, so the board will revise the existing language and, if accepted by voters at Annual Town Meeting, send it back to the attorney general for approval.
Finally, the board aims to add new definitions for “building” and “grocery store” to the bylaw. Both definitions would seek to limit any existing loopholes that might allow undesired development.
Once language for the proposed amendments is finalized, voters will decide whether to approve the changes at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 28.
The full text of the proposed amendments can be viewed at the Town Hall and the town clerk’s office, as well as on the town website (www.harvard.ma.us/Pages/HarvardMA_BComm/Planning/2015%20ATM). The Feb. 23 hearing is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. in the Bromfield School Library.
