ASHFIELD — Resident Ron Coler will introduce two proposed bylaws at May’s Town Meeting to address environmental issues that have garnered public attention in the past year.

The two proposals focus on banning single-use plastic and addressing a contentious excessive noise bylaw that came under discussion when disruptive gun sounds were heard at 620 West Road, leading to a public forum about the issue.

There will be a public input session about both bylaws at Town Hall on April 19, at 7 p.m. Town Meeting will be held on May 7.

Excessive noise

Coler is attempting to address the issue of excessive noise with his citizen’s petition to amend the current bylaw.

“This is not an us versus them issue,” he said.

Coler said that during the public forum about gun noise in November 2022, people understood the issue to be a political one centered around gun rights. He hopes to take politics out of the equation and focus on an empirical way to mitigate unwanted noise.

The original forum on noise was organized by a different group of residents. Coler decided to propose these bylaws separately from that group, hoping to not divide the town. He worked with Evelyn Resh, a member of the Board of Health acting as an individual, and Joe Ragan, a resident who lives near the property with the original gun noise complaint, to make the new bylaw.

Coler listed multiple reasons to change the bylaw. For one, the current noise bylaw is 33 years old, and he hopes to modernize it.

“It always behooves the town to freshen up the bylaws,” he said.

One of the largest issues over the current bylaw is there are already state regulations for noise created by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Coler noted these laws were created at the same time as the current Ashfield noise bylaw, so the creators may not have known about the state laws. He is attempting to make a new bylaw that follows state regulations. MassDEP classifies noise as being under its purview because noise is listed as air pollution under state regulations.

Currently, there is no measure for excessive noise in the town’s bylaw. Instead, it uses words like “unnecessarily loud” and “boisterous singing.” Coler’s bylaw follows MassDEP regulations and uses two studies — one done by Cavanaugh Tocci Associates in 2010 for a wind project and another by Tech Environmental in 2023 to peer review the work — to identify the daytime ambient sound level at 25-30 A-weighted decibels, lower than in most quiet suburban towns. If the excessive noise were to be louder than 10 A-weighted decibels above the ambient noise of the town, the Board of Health would be able to enforce the violation. Coler proposes using a simple device to measure the potential noise violation.

MassDEP’s laws give authority to the Board of Health, but the current bylaw gives the Selectboard the authority to prosecute noise violations. Coler’s bylaw attempts to “properly recognize where the authority lies,” he explained.

There are no town boards that currently support this citizen’s petition, but the Board of Health has the bylaw on its agenda to vote on this month.

Single-use plastic

Meanwhile, Coler’s proposed single-use plastic ban has broader implications outside of town borders. With the excessive use of plastics, landfills continue to reach capacity, Coler explained. Recycling has also become a growing concern as much plastic is not recyclable and what is recyclable is shipped across the world to be reused.

This bylaw would not allow the sale of any plastic food service ware in Ashfield, with several exceptions. The bylaw would not stop the sale of plastic prepared and manufactured outside of town. For example, people would still be able to purchase a bottle of soda manufactured outside of Ashfield. Instead, any food made and sold inside the town would need to be packaged in compostable or reusable material.

The proposed bylaw was modeled on Hadley and Buckland’s recently passed single-use plastic bans.

“This goes a step further,” Coler said, referring to the fact that all items sold must be compostable.

As part of this proposed bylaw, any business would be able to request an exemption from the Board of Health through a hardship deferment application.

“This is trying to make a difference in today’s world,” Coler said.

Both bylaws have received feedback from Ashfield residents at two events hosted at the library. Further explanation and time for questions will be available during the public input session on April 19.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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