By Christine Rasmussen
Notes from two of three Seasonal Communities Advisory Council meetings:
Stockbridge is one of eight communities in Berkshire County that qualifies as a Seasonal Community. A vote will be taken at a Town Meeting to determine if Stockbridge accepts the designation.
The Seasonal Communities Advisory Council met on May 16, 2025, in Provincetown. Council members have been meeting in three working >groups to guide the forthcoming regulations. These working groups met three times before the May Advisory Council meeting, where >the groups reported their recommendations (Presentation: Seasonal Communities Advisory Council Meeting (May 16, 2025). EOHLC intends to prepare and publish draft regulations in late July / early August. The next Advisory Council meeting is tentatively scheduled for September. Material on Seasonal Communities can be found at: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/seasonal-communities.
Tom Matuszko, Executive Director, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) reported that there were recommendations from various working groups focusing on helping to shape the regulations that will be released.
One suggestion: A Regional Housing Trust
The two main requirements in the law are approving undersized lots and allowing tiny homes by right. Matuszko questioned how to get other communities designated by thinking about the criteria that could be adopted to allow communities like Great Barrington or Lenox to be designated. Both towns have the infrastructure to create affordable housing. He stated that the housing crisis for workers on the Cape and the Islands is severe, and he would like to be proactive so that Berkshire County does not reach the same level of crisis.
The regulations are expected to be released by late summer and will require review to understand the designation requirements and the process once a town accepts the designation. Additionally, a town can lose its benefits if it fails to meet the requirements.
Opportunity for Comment:
You’re invited to join the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) for three virtual listening sessions to share your hopes for the Seasonal Communities Designation. In each session, EOHLC will provide a brief overview of the designation and the work we are doing alongside the Seasonal Communities Advisory Council to develop regulations that structure the tools it makes available to communities before opening them for public feedback. Regulations are still in development, and as a result, these sessions will not provide definitive answers on questions about final regulations, but rather, will give residents the chance to shape how regulations answer these questions:
The last of three “listening sessions” is July 17 @ 11am — register here: eohlcseasonalcommunities@mass.gov
State-owned land may become housing
“From Pittsfield to Plymouth, we’re unlocking public land to build a more affordable, inclusive Massachusetts,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “By unlocking public land, we’re turning surplus lots into living communities — because everyone deserves a key to their own future.” So she said that land from Pittsfield to the Cape is being reviewed under an Executive Order directing the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (EOANF), and the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) to develop the inventory of state owned land which will be used to support the administration’s multi-pronged efforts to increase housing production and lower costs across the state. While the lands in Berkshire County that will be turned into housing have not been identified, we do know that Governor Healey has a team that pledged to use every tool to lower costs across the state. She views the first 450 acres in the Boston area as being “turned into thousands of new homes that families, seniors, and workers can actually afford. We are already getting shovels in the ground for thousands of these units…”
Federal Land
At the federal level, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said late Saturday that he had dropped his contentious plan to sell millions of acres of public lands from the sweeping domestic policy package that the Senate is debating. Mr. Lee made the nighttime announcement on social media after it became clear that the plan faced insurmountable opposition from within his own party. At least four Republican senators from Western states had announced their intention to vote for an amendment to remove the proposal from the bill. The plan had also triggered intense pushback from conservative hunters and outdoorsmen across the American West, who had warned that it threatened the lands where they hunted and fished.
