The Conservation Commission voted to take no advisory action on any of the articles at Wednesday's special town meetings.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Conservation Commission on Tuesday night recommended that Wednesday's special town meetings take no action on any of the warrant articles likely to be up for a vote.

The three articles in question — one at the 7:25 special town meeting and two at the subsequent meeting — deal in one way or another with the transfer of town-owned land.

The Con Comm voted unanimously in three separate advisory votes to recommend that voters somehow table or delay action on each of the proposals.

Although its only votes were to recommend no action on the warrant articles, it was clear from the conversation that the commissioners felt even if the town passes one of the two contradictory articles on the 7:30 special town meeting warrant, the votes would be invalid.

"Whatever happens tomorrow [Wednesday] night at town meeting is not legally binding on this commission," Commissioner Philip McKnight said. "It seems to me that if we were to offer our advice, it would be inappropriate to do so."

Chairman Hank Art agreed with McKnight's assessment and read extensively from Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40, Section 15A, a portion of which is on the 7:25 special town meeting warrant for approval by the town.

The section deals with the procedure for transferring municipal land. And Art's interpretation is that any vote by town meeting (or special town meeting) to transfer land must be preceded by a vote of the Conservation Commission.

"It's clear to me that Section 15A says the Conservation Commission must declare the land is no longer needed for conservation purposes," Art said. "To do that, we need to have a detailed analysis of that parcel of land."

McKnight took the discussion a step further, foreseeing a time when the Con Comm is asked to deliberate on the future of the so-called Lowry property, or even the larger town-owned Burbank property, which also has been discussed as a possible site for developing affordable housing in town.

"This commission must proceed in a very careful manner," McKnight said. "It's our decision that eventually will be reviewed by a court and an appellate court, eventually.

Philip McKnight does not think any of the votes would be binding on the Conservation Commission.

"It would be my recommendation that when the Board of Selectmen bring us a proper request that we convene a meeting and outline what we as a commission require for us to make an informed decision so we can create a record that is likely to stand up to an appeal."

In the end, the Con Comm voted three times by three different counts (due to abstentions) to adopt a strategy articulated by Andrew Hogeland and last week's joint meeting of the Con Comm and the Selectmen.

On the only warrant article for the 7:25 special town meeting tonight at Mount Greylock Regional High School, the Con Comm recommended no action be taken by a vote of 6-0-1 with McKnight the lone abstainer.

"I would as soon we not involve ourselves in areas that, to my mind, are not properly before this commission so as not to prejudice our future decisions," McKnight said in explaining his abstention.

The commission took no advisory vote on Article 1 of the 7:30 special town meeting, largely because the property owner of the land at issue has announced his intention to withdraw for now a request that the town approve a conservation restriction on the so-called Carmelite Fields on Oblong Road.

The second two articles on the 7:30 special town meeting warrant — one seeking to take a portion of the Lowry property out of conservation for the purposes of building subsidized housing and another seeking conservation restrictions on all of Lowry and all of Burbank — received the same treatment from the Con Comm. It recommended no action on Article 2 by a vote of 5-0-2 (McKnight and Sarah Gardner abstaining) and no action on Article 3 by a vote of 4-0-3 (McKnight, Gardner and Thomas Ennis abstaining).

"Given the comments the other night, everyone at the table was very aware of the ambiguities in the process," said Commissioner Van Ellet, who also serves on the town's Affordable Housing Committee. "If people aren't all on the same page in terms of what's being voted on, I don't think we could make a recommendation at this time, and I think we would want to recommend that it be tabled.

"I agree with Mr. McKnight. Let's get somebody to come to this committee so we can do the work that needs to be done."

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