Rehoboth Planning Board Closes Hearing on Disputed Zoning Bylaw Overhaul

REHOBOTH -- May 13, 2014, Rehoboth Planning Board closes hearing on contested zoning bylaw overhaul, with the article already on the town meeting warrant. The board unanimously voted to close the public hearing on a full replacement of the town's 1956 zoning bylaw, brought forward at the Board of Selectmen's request after the selectmen incorporated earlier Planning Board suggestions into the draft. At least one board member, identified only as Mike, said he had flagged 25 to 30 problematic sections in the draft, including missing definitions for "personal service establishment" and "medical office," the near-elimination of home-occupation uses by right, and an insufficiently restricted mobile-home special-permit provision, and said he could not vote in favor of the article. A colleague countered that no rewrite would ever be perfect and that codifying the bylaw was the necessary first step toward intelligent future editing. No members of the public spoke at the hearing.