Acre(s).

A building devoted exclusively to an accessory use as herein defined, and not attached to a principal building by any roofed structure.

An activity incidental to and located on the same premises as a principal use conducted by the same person or his agent. No use (other than parking) shall be considered accessory unless functionally dependent on and occupying less land area than the principal use to which it is related and occupying less than 1/3 as much gross floor area as that principal use, or such larger share as this chapter may specify for particular uses.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Coverage is considered to be "adequate" within the area surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the transmitted signal is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95dbm, as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm further away from the base station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.

Capacity is considered to be "adequate" if the grade of service is p.05 or better for at least 50% of the days in the preceding month, prior to the date of application, as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless service facility in question, where the call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).

A facility for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, with or without incidental service, storage or sales, if having a level of activity requiring it to have a certificate of approval from, or annual registration with, the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission.

A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.

A retail establishment which offers merchandise for sale, at least 90% of which is over 50 years old.

Geologic formation composed of rock, sand or gravel that contains significant amounts of potentially recoverable water.

Any residential development owned and operated by an entity, whether conducted for profit or not for profit, which meets all of the following criteria:

The space on a tower or structure to which antennas of a personal wireless service provider are both structurally able and electromagnetically able to be attached.

The elevation of a flood having a one-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in a given year.

The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications network. More than one base station and/or more than one variety of personal wireless service provider can be located on a single tower or structure.

A building or premises, other than a tourist home, hotel or motel, where rooms (without kitchens) are let to three or more persons by the week or longer, and meals may (or may not) be regularly served to roomers by prearrangement for compensation.

A structure having a roof or cover supported by columns or walls for the shelter, support or enclosure of persons, animals or property.

The area included within surrounding exterior walls. Areas of the building not provided with surrounding walls shall be included in the building area if such areas are included within the horizontal projection of the roof or floor above.

That Town official designated by the Town Manager to carry out the responsibilities as assigned by Section 3 of Chapter 143 of the Massachusetts General Laws. The Building Commissioner shall act as the Planning Administrator if no other official is designated to that position.

A solar photovoltaic panel or array, solar hot-air or hot-water panel collector device, or other type of energy system which relies upon solar radiation as a source for the generation of electricity or transfer of heat that is mounted on a building or roof of a building.

The percentage of lot area covered by building roofs.

A building, or part thereof, used for the transaction of business or the provision of services exclusive of the on-site sale of merchandise; no medical or dental offices directly serving patients.

Self-service facilities for sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises.

A portable dwelling, eligible to be registered and insured for highway use, designed to be used for travel, recreational and vacation purposes, but not for permanent residence; includes equipment commonly called fifth wheels, independent travel trailer, dependent travel trailer, tent trailers, pickup campers, motor homes, converted buses and other equipment, but not mobile homes.

Any lot or tract of land upon which two or more plots are available for campers.

Canopy-mounted solar photovoltaic installations are composed of solar photovoltaic panels on mounting equipment and its supporting structures designed to be installed over a parking lot or other access drives or vehicular maneuvering area.

The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal. An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.

Code of Massachusetts Regulations, as compiled and codified by the Massachusetts Secretary of State.

Generation of electric power, other than by a public utility or as an accessory use, for sale to a public utility.

A structure located at a base station designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service transmissions.

A collection of densely spaced small single-family or duplex structures, arranged around a common area or areas, developed under a single land development plan.

Any facility operated on a regular basis whether known as a day nursery, nursery school, kindergarten, child play school, progressive school, child development center, or preschool, or known under any other name, which receives children not of common parentage under seven years of age, or under 16 years of age if such children have special needs, for nonresidential custody and care during part or all of the day separate from their parents. Day-care center shall not include any part of a public school system; any part of a private, organized educational system unless the services of such systems are primarily limited to kindergarten, nursery or related preschool services; a Sunday School conducted by a religious institution; a facility operated by a religious organization where children are cared for during short periods of time while persons responsible for such children are attending religious services; a family day-care home; an informal cooperative arrangement among neighbors or relatives; or the occasional care of children with or without compensation therefor provided; in the last two instances, such arrangement or care shall not be for more than five children including participating children living in residence.

Decibel as measured on the "A" scale of a standard sound meter.

Unit of measure of the power level on an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels referenced to one milliwatt.

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Department of Public Works, Williamstown's if not otherwise specified.

A building or part of a building used as the living quarters for one or more families.

A detached structure containing four dwelling units.

A structure containing three or more dwelling units, including single-family attached units.

A detached structure, other than a mobile home, containing no more than one dwelling unit.

A detached structure containing three dwelling units.

A detached structure containing two dwelling units.

A building or portion of a building intended as living quarters for a single family, having a single kitchen not shared with any other unit.

The removal of earth, including soil, loam, sand, gravel, clay, stone, quarried rock or other subsurface materials, except water, for sale or for use on different premises than the place of extraction, except where entirely incidental to or in connection with development on the same premises for which a building permit is in force, or for the grading of a public street or any other street in accordance with an approved definitive subdivision plan.

Housing reserved for occupancy by households consisting of one or more persons at least half of whom are 62 years of age or older.

The determination that the new signal from and to the proposed new antennas will not significantly interfere with the existing signals from and to other facilities located on the same tower or structure as determined by a qualified professional telecommunications engineer. The use of available technologies to alleviate such interference shall be considered when making this determination.

A request for a modification of an existing tower or personal wireless service facility that involves co-location of new transmission equipment, removal of transmission equipment, or replacement of transmission equipment which does not substantially change the physical dimensions of the tower or personal wireless service facility.

Electromagnetic frequency radiation.

Environmental notification form as required by MEPA for determination of whether an environmental impact study will be required.

Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

United States Environmental Protection Agency.

A property, or any part thereof, which is owned or leased by one or more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal wireless service facility(ies) and required landscaping are located.

Any number of individuals living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, plus no more than two domestic employees, boarders or lodgers.

Any private residence which, on a regular basis, receives, for temporary custody and care during part or all of the day, children under seven years of age or children under 16 years of age if such children have special needs; provided, however, in either case, that the total number of children under 16 in a family day-care home shall not exceed six, including participating children living in the residence. Family day-care home shall not mean a private residence used for an informal cooperative arrangement among neighbors or relatives, or the occasional care of children with or without compensation therefor.

Facilities for the sale of produce and wine and dairy products, either seasonal or year round, where the majority of such products for sale during June through September, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner of the land on which the outlet is located.

Federal Communications Commission; the government agency responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United States.

A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio frequency emissions from FCC-regulated transmitters.

Constructed so that below the base flood level the structure is watertight with walls substantially impermeable to the passage of water; and with structural components capable of resisting hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and effects of buoyancy; and certified by a registered professional engineer or architect that the design plan specification and methods of construction are in accordance with accepted standards of practice for accomplishing that.

The sum of the horizontal areas of the several floors of all buildings on the same lot, or where apt, the sum of such areas in a specified use. Gross floor area is measured from the exterior face of exterior walls (or from the center line of a wall separating two buildings or portions of buildings), including elevator shafts and stairwells at each floor and interior balconies and mezzanines, but not including interior vehicle parking or loading areas, cellars with walls more than 50% below grade, and areas having less than six feet floor-to-ceiling height.

The sum of the area on the several floors of a building which is or could be leased, including leasable basements.

A line parallel to the street line touching that part of the building facing the street which is farthest away from the street.

Outdoor or garage retail sale or offering for sale, conducted by a resident of the premises, involving 10 or more items of personal property, such as antiques, furniture, handicrafts, household goods or clothing, on no more than two occasions in any calendar year, each occasion lasting no more than 36 hours.

Gigahertz: one billion hertz.

A retail establishment which offers merchandise for sale that can normally be expected to be given as gifts. Gift shop does not include furniture, bedding, appliances, shoes or similar items, but does include handicrafts, pottery, art and similar merchandise.

A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the base station, during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such as p.05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p.04) indicates a better grade of service.

One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity once each second, or one cycle per second.

An endeavor, business, profession, occupation, or trade conducted by the occupant of a dwelling that is incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling unit as a residence.

A building or portion thereof, or a group of buildings on a single lot, providing transient sleeping accommodations to the general public in guest units without kitchens, plus not more than a single accessory dwelling unit, but not including a tourist home or boarding or rooming house.

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Impenetrable by surface water, or having a percolation rate longer than 30 minutes per inch.

Material or structure on, above or below the ground that does not allow precipitation surface water to penetrate directly into the soil.

A planned development of a tract of land designed as a coordinated environment for a variety of industrial, office, research and related activities. It has an enforceable master plan and/or covenants, conditions and restrictions.[1]

A place for preparation of meals, having a stove and either or both a sink and a refrigerator.

A street which carries traffic equivalent to that generated by 12 or fewer dwelling units (120 trips or fewer, based on the ITE Trip Generation Manual), which provides access to no abutting property either used or zoned for business or industry, and which is capable of extension.

Commercial raising or breeding of animals (other than household pets) for sale, or poultry farms.

An off-street space or berth, on the same lot with the building it serves, for the temporary parking of vehicles while loading or unloading merchandise or material, and which has access to a street, alley or other appropriate means of ingress or egress.

Production, sale and distribution of products indigenous to the Berkshires, to the arts or to handcraft industries (such as handloomed fabrics, hand-blown glass, pottery, paintings) or specialty food products (such as baked goods or candy), using no motors of more than five horsepower.

A continuous parcel of land in the same ownership throughout, with boundaries established through one or more recorded deeds or plans.

The horizontal area of a lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way open to public use. At least 90% of the lot area required for compliance shall also be exclusive of areas subject to protection under the Wetlands Protection Act, MGL C. 131, § 40, for reasons other than being subject to flooding.

A lot as defined above which is available for building, in that it meets dimensional and access requirements of this chapter and has no restriction on it precluding its use for building.

A lot abutting on two or more streets at their intersection.

The boundary of a lot on land coinciding with a street line if there are both rights of access and potential vehicular access across that boundary to a potential building site, measured continuously along one street line between side lot lines; in the case of corner lots, measured between the side lot line and the midpoint of the corner radius on the street designated as the frontage street by the owner or, failing that, by the Planning Administrator.

Major residential development as defined below, or any use requiring a special permit under Article III, Use Regulations, because of exceeding stipulated floor area thresholds, if any.

Any change or proposed change to any existing tower or personal wireless service facility that will result in a substantial change to the physical dimensions of the tower or personal wireless service facility.

Either of the following from or on a parcel or set of contiguous parcels in common ownership as of the effective date of this provision:

A structure, built in conformance with the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, which is transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length or which, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling unit, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities and includes plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.

Any lot or tract of land upon which three or more manufactured homes occupied for dwelling purposes are located, including any buildings, structures, fixtures and equipment used in connection with manufactured homes.

A mechanical or chemical transformation of materials or components into new products, including fabrication, processing, finishing or packaging.

An entity licensed to cultivate, process and package marijuana, and to transfer marijuana to other marijuana establishments as defined by 935 CMR 500, but not to consumers. A craft marijuana cooperative is a type of marijuana cultivator.

An indoor cultivator means one that cultivates the growth of marijuana plants within a building through use of artificial light. An indoor marijuana cultivator shall be entirely enclosed in a building and activity therein shall not be visible to a public way or adjacent properties. All indoor cultivators shall use artificial ventilation and filtering equipment to minimize the impact of odors on surrounding properties.

An outdoor cultivator means one that cultivates the growth of cannabis without the use of artificial lighting in the canopy area at any point in time. Artificial lighting is permissible only to maintain immature or vegetative mother plants.

An entity licensed to obtain, compound, blend, extract, infuse or otherwise make or prepare a cannabis or marijuana product, process and package marijuana or marijuana products and to transfer these products to other marijuana establishments, but not to consumers.

An entity licensed to purchase, repackage, white label, and transport marijuana or marijuana product from marijuana establishments and to transfer or otherwise transfer this product to marijuana establishments and to sell to consumers.

An entity licensed by the Cannabis Control Commission or having received a final certificate of registration from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to test marijuana and marijuana products, including certification for potency and the presence of contaminants, in accordance with applicable Massachusetts General Laws.

For purposes of a stormwater management plan (see § 70-5.3B), an applicant seeking to demonstrate compliance with some or all of the standards set forth in the DEP Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook to the maximum extent practicable shall demonstrate (i) that it has made all reasonable efforts to meet each of the applicable standards, (ii) that it has made a complete evaluation of all possible stormwater management measures, including environmentally sensitive site design that minimizes land disturbance and impervious surfaces, structural stormwater best management practices (BMPs), pollution prevention, erosion and sedimentation control, and proper operation and maintenance of stormwater BMPs, and (iii) if full compliance with the standards cannot be achieved, the applicant is implementing the highest practicable level of stormwater management.

A building or portion thereof where patients are seen for examination and/or treatment by one or more physicians, dentists or other medical personnel, psychologists, or social workers.

A private organization, building or grounds, to include specifically country clubs and fraternities and other organizations to which membership is limited or controlled.

Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act.

Massachusetts General Laws, as most recently amended.

Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency.

Megahertz: one million hertz.

The removal or relocation of geologic materials, such as topsoil, sand, gravel, metallic ores or bedrock.

A lane which provides frontage and access for not more than three lots for single-family use and approved by the Planning Board under § 70-7.1J of this chapter.

The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from a site as a whole, or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers, antennas or repeaters.

The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities upon adoption of § 70-7.2F. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be on file with the Board of Selectmen and the Town Clerk.

A single self-supporting vertical pole with no guy-wire anchors, consisting of a galvanized or other unpainted metal, or a wooden pole with below grade foundations.

Any use of land or structures by the Town of Williamstown in accordance with statutory laws governing municipal powers and functions.

A structure lawfully in existence or begun before the first publication of notice of the public hearing for a zoning dimensional or other building regulation to which it does not conform.

A lot lawfully created before the first date of applicability for presently applicable lot area and/or lot frontage requirements of this chapter to which it does not conform.

A use of a building, structure or land lawfully in existence or begun before the first publication of notice of the public hearing for a zoning use regulation to which it does not conform.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

A corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership, joint-stock company, cooperative or condominium association, as well as an individual, a state and any political subdivision of a state or any agency or instrumentality thereof.

Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include cellular services, personal communications services (PC5), specialized mobile radio services and paging services.

All equipment (including any repeaters) with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This facility may be sited on one or more towers or structure(s) owned and permitted by another owner or entity.

An entity, licensed by the FCC to provide personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.

The Director of the Community Development Department or other Town official designated by the Town Manager to carry out the duties assigned to that position in this chapter. The Planning Administrator shall act as the Zoning Enforcement Officer and is responsible for the enforcement of this chapter.

Parts per million.[5]

A site authorized under 310 CMR 19 where solid waste from off the premises is disposed through burial.

Facilities used for public utility purposes owned or operated by any company regulated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

Computer-generated estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or structure. The height above ground, power input and output, frequency output, type of antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are determining whether a site will provide adequate coverage for the personal wireless telecommunications service facility proposed for that site.

Areas that collect precipitation or surface water and carry it to aquifers. Recharge areas may include areas designated as Zone I, Zone II or Zone III.

A small receiver/relay transmitter of not more than 20 watts output designed to provide service to areas which are not able to receive adequate coverage directly from a base station.

Research and development facilities are those used primarily for research, development and/or testing of innovative information, concepts, methods, processes, materials, or products. This can include the design, development, and testing of biological, chemical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, and/or optical components in advance of product manufacturing.

Any energy resource that is naturally regenerated over a short time scale and derived directly from the sun (such as thermal, photochemical, and photoelectric), indirectly from the sun (such as wind, hydropower, and photosynthetic energy stored in biomass), or from other natural movements and mechanisms of the environment (such as geothermal and tidal energy). Renewable energy does not include energy resources derived from fossil fuels, waste products from fossil sources, or waste products from inorganic sources.

Owner(s), persons with financial responsibility, and persons with operational responsibility for a stormwater management system.

A facility primarily for the preparation and sale of food and drink in individual portions ready for consumption without further processing, whether or not for consumption on the premises, except where such sales are clearly incidental to other activities on the premises.

United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.

A building containing. separate storage spaces, which may be of various sizes, leased or rented on an individual basis. The storage spaces may be accessed either internally or externally and shall be secured.

Square feet.

Any permanent or temporary structure, device, letter, word model, banner, pennant, insignia, symbol, trade flag or representation used as, or which is in the nature of, an advertisement, announcement or direction, or is designed to attract the eye, either by its presence or by intermittent or repeated motion or illumination, which is on a public way or on private property within public view of a public way, public park or reservation.

Large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installations are composed of solar photovoltaic panels on ground-based mounting systems (poles or racks) where the combined total area of the solar panels is greater than 20,000 square feet.

Medium-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installations are composed of solar photovoltaic panels on ground-based mounting systems (poles or racks) where the combined total area of the solar panels is greater than 1,000 square feet and 20,000 square feet or less.

Small-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installations are composed of solar photovoltaic panels on ground-based mounting systems (poles or racks) where the combined total area of the solar panels is 1,000 square feet or less.

A permit which the special permit granting authority (the Planning Board or the Board of Appeals, as designated in this chapter) is authorized to grant upon its finding that the criteria for approval have been satisfied.

Special permit granting authority. The Zoning Board of Appeals shall be special permit granting authority for § 70-7.2F.

A street which handles average daily traffic equivalent to that generated by 50 homes or more (500 trips or more, based on ITE Trip Generation Manual).

A street, extension of a street or system of streets connected to other streets only at a single point.

A street that serves as access for land in a nonresidential district.

A street which cannot qualify as a lane, but which can be expected to handle less traffic than a collector street.

Premises for outside storage of materials, such as sand or lumber, or of fabricated subassemblies or equipment.

That portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above it, or, if there be no floor above it, then the space between such floor and ceiling next above it. Any portion of a story exceeding 14 feet in height shall be considered as an additional story for each 14 feet or fraction thereof. "One-half story" means any story or space situated wholly or partly in the roof, so designed, arranged or built to be used for storage or habitation.

A public way or a private way either shown on a plan approved in accordance with the Subdivision Control Law[6] or otherwise qualifying a lot for frontage on a street under the Subdivision Control Law.

The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of public way, the street line established by the public authority laying out the way upon which the lot abuts.[7]

Any building or other construction, erection, assemblage or other combination of materials upon the land necessitating piling, footings or a foundation for attachment to the land, including swimming pools 24 or more inches deep or having a surface of 75 or more square feet and including all swimming pools permanently equipped with a water circulating system.

A facility utilizing satellite dishes of greater than 2.0 meters in diameter designed to uplink to communications satellites for transmitting in the C-Band (46 – GHz) spectrum.

Title V of the State Environmental Code, 310 CMR 15.00, Minimum Requirements for the Subsurface Disposal of Sanitary Sewage.

An establishment in a dwelling with transient accommodations for more than two and fewer than 10 overnight fee-paying guests, or any dwelling rented or leased for periods of fewer than 35 days more than twice in a year; includes establishments called "bed-and-breakfasts." If having more accommodations or not in a dwelling, such establishments are categorized as "hotel or motel".

A lattice structure or framework, or monopole, that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.

Any substance or mixture of physical or chemical, or infectious characteristics posing a significant, actual or potential hazard to water supplies or other hazards to human health if such substance or mixture were discharged to land or water of the Town of Williamstown. Toxic or hazardous materials may include, without limitation, synthetic organic chemicals, petroleum products, heavy metals, radioactive or infectious wastes, acids or alkalis and all substances defined as toxic or hazardous under MGL C. 21C and 21E and 310 CMR 30.00, and 40.00, and also include such products as solvents and thinners in quantities greater than normal household use.

United States Code.

United States Department of Agriculture.

All equipment, machinery and structures utilized in connection with commercial wind-generated energy production and generation, including related transmission, distribution, collection, storage or supply systems whether underground, on the surface or overhead, and other equipment or byproducts in connection therewith and the sale of the energy produced thereby, including, but not limited to, wind turbine (rotor, electrical generator and tower), anemometers (wind measuring equipment), transformers, substation, power lines, control and maintenance facilities, sue access and service roads. For purposes of this definition, the term "commercial" shall mean those facilities which have less than 50% of their electrical output used on site.

Equipment used in wind-generated energy production. Wind turbines capture the kinetic energy of the wind and convert it into electricity. Primary components are the rotor (blade assembly), electrical generator, and tower. Wind turbines are mounted on lattice or tubular steel towers.

An open space located between a street or other property line and any structure or element thereof other than a fence, wall, other customary yard accessory or projection allowed by the State Building Code to encroach on a court or yard.

A yard or yards abutting the street line on each street the lot adjoins, extending across the full width of the lot, measured perpendicular to the street line.

A yard abutting a rear property line, extending across the full width of the lot, measured perpendicular to the rear lot line. The rear lot line is typically a line or set of lines approximately parallel to the street line, separating lots whose frontage is established on different streets. Yards on irregularly shaped lots where "side" versus "rear" is indeterminate shall be construed as rear yards.

A yard other than a front or rear yard, measured perpendicular to the lot line it abuts. Corner lots typically have two side yards and no rear yard.

The area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well under the most severe pumping and recharge conditions that can be realistically anticipated (180 days of pumping at safe yield with no recharge from precipitation), as defined in 310 CMR 22.00.