WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The two candidates in the only contested race on May 9's town election ballot made their case to the voters last week in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

 

Incumbent Chris Winters is being challenged by newcomer Karen L. Shepard for his five-year seat on the Planning Board.

 

Shepard, a Williams College alumna and senior lecturer in the English department, and Winters, an associate provost at the college, each talked about the role of the Planning Board and the priorities that each candidate saw for the town going forward.

 

Winters asked voters to let him continue to help the board work for positive changes to move the town forward.

 

"The Planning Board can make it harder or easier for people to do things," Winters said. "Sometimes, it's a homeowner who wants to turn their garage into an in-law apartment. Sometimes, those people are entrepreneurs. … Through zoning, we either encourage or discourage those things.

 

"My position is that reasonable people should be allowed to do reasonable things on their property."

 

Shepard said the town's bylaws can make "reasonable allowances to entice businesses but still protect our residents," and portrayed herself as a can-do problem solver who can strike that balance.

 

"I have a terrier type of mentality about problem solving," Shepard said. "I've begun to see how the Planning Board can make a difference in terms of protecting open space, affordable housing, economic development and health care.

 

"I've talked to people way more knowledgeable than I am … and begun to get a clear sense of what makes sense for the town. Everything I've read suggests we've already made enormous progress, and I'm excited to help make things better."

 

Shepard bemoaned the lack of people willing to serve on town boards and committees.

 

"It was the election of last November that inspired me to be more involved," Shepard said in her opening statement. "After the election, I encouraged my children and Williams students to get more involved. I decided it was time to practice what I was preaching and get involved myself."

 

Later in the hourlong forum, Shepard attacked Winters for parts of his record of service to the town, which includes 11 years on the Planning Board and stints on the Conservation Commission and Finance Committee.

 

Specifically, she went after him for his vote earlier this year on the marijuana zoning bylaw the Planning Board has sent to the annual town meeting and his suggestion that town voters be asked whether they want to continue Williamstown's involvement in Community Preservation Act, which the town adopted in 2002.

 

Shepard said she found it "troublesome" that Winters was the lone member of the Planning Board to vote against banning marijuana retail establishments in the Village Business District and the Limited Business District.

 

"Given that there were all these people saying it was dangerous to have it in areas that might be easy for minors to access, we should restrict it," Shepard said. "I was a little troubled that Chris voted against that."

 

Likewise, in response to a question about the Community Preservation Committee, which Winters serves as the Planning Board's representative, Shepard challenged the idea that the town ought to reconsider the 2 percent property tax surcharge that funds historic preservation, open space and recreation and affordable housing initiatives.

 

"I think the CPC is really important, and it seems like something that our town has consistently and vociferously supported," Shepard said. "I think it's odd that someone who is so enthusiastic about being on the committee is someone who wants to at least raise the idea about eliminating it.

 

"I wouldn't want to eliminate it."

 

Winters sought and received permission from the moderator to respond to the latter charge.

 

"First of all, I am not advocating eliminating it," he said. "I am advocating giving voters the opportunity to express their opinion. It's unclear to me how the town has vociferously stated its support because we've never given the town the opportunity to do that.

 

"This is a democratic suggestion that allows the town to express its interest."

 

Winters did not directly address Shepard's comment on the proposed marijuana bylaw. But at Planning Board meetings, he expressed the belief that the now legal drug should be treated by the town like alcohol, which is currently sold in both Village Business and Limited Business. And, like liquor stores, recreational marijuana dispensaries would be regulated by the commonwealth if any chose to locate in Williamstown.

 

He alluded to the 4-1 vote on the pot bylaw in his response to the Community Preservation Act discussion.

 

"I think this town need people on boards who can think a little differently than everyone else," he said. "That's a value I've added not only to the CPC but to the Planning Board."

 

In response to a question about economic development, both candidates expressed a desire to encourage growth, but each put a slightly different spin on the idea.

 

"One thing that is a current disincentive [to development] is the tiny proportion of Williamstown that is currently zoned for business uses," Winters said. "It's a fraction of a percent of the land. That presents a problem.

 

"We have a ton of land. We have a supply problem because we create artificial shortages … by reducing amount of buildable land that is zoned for commercial or retail use."

 

Shepard emphasized the need to keep development centralized while maintaining the open space that helps draw tourists to town.

 

"You want to develop more in the center — not just Spring and Water streets but also Planned Business — so you're preventing the kind of sprawl we've seen in towns across America," she said. "Tourism, I think, is our second biggest revenue maker."

 

In her closing statement, Shepard returned to the idea that Winters' positions on marijuana and the Community Preservation Act are out of touch with the majority in town and portrayed herself as someone who will follow her constituents.

 

"I'm open to hearing what people want, and I'm open to being persuaded by the will of the majority," she said.

 

Winters stuck to the themes of economic development and housing diversity. He lamented the fact that while he looks forward to day his two school-age daughters return to their hometown to visit, he has no illusions about them coming back to Williamstown to find jobs.

 

"As a community, we raise our children for export," Winters said. "Doesn't that seem strange?

 

"Thriving communities … are not net exporters of people. Why do more people want to leave here than want to come? How long can that sort of net exportation be maintained before it threatens the very concept of community?"