To the Editor:

I was saddened that the Williamstown Planning Board, of which I am a member, could not reach consensus on the language for a commercial overlay district at Waubeeka Golf Links at the May 4 meeting.

I am further saddened that Mr. Deep's attorney has indicated that he will not accept the amendment I drafted because it places a square-footage limit on the development. The amendment borrowed from multiple iterations from the last several weeks but it was met with hostility from two fellow board members and it was labeled as a crushing blow to economic development.

This is unfortunate because the Planning Board has worked for nine months to accommodate the development of a country inn and resort at Waubeeka, and I had hoped that we could reach a consensus that all of us could support on the floor of town meeting. After the meeting I was accused by one of our local reporters of having a secret agenda to kill development at Waubeeka. Nothing could be further from the truth. I had hoped we could arrive at a total square footage for the development that would satisfy both Mike Deep's development needs as well as the concerns of Williamstown citizens who oppose development of uncertain scale.

This has been a painful debate — I believe in careful planning — and I support an inn and resort at Waubeeka. But I want to know the scale.

Sarah Gardner
Gardner is a member of the
Williamstown, Mass., Planning Board

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