ATHOL – Town Manager Shaun Suhoski has informed the Selectboard that it appears the time has arrived to review the policies covering car dealerships.

“What we’ve found as we were going through the renewals this year,” Suhoski told the board at its Nov. 21 meeting, “is that we currently have seven Class I, II, or III dealers in town. We have an existing policy that’s provided each and every year – it still is – to the licensees. We want to have a plan on file that illustrates that the site can accommodate the number of vehicles, and the license would typically have a maximum number of vehicles – and they do, for the most part.”

Suhoski then gave the board an example of a license that spelled out how many vehicles a particular dealership – which he did not identify – was supposed to have, as opposed to how many were actually on its lot.

“Over the years, things change,” he said. “We have an example of where a new business came in in 1994, with a maximum of 15 vehicles on site. Two years later it was renewed – 20 vehicles. Seven years later, now they can have 30 vehicles. That ‘30’ was whited out and typed over, so I don’t know what it was under the whiteout. 2005, now they’ve got 35 vehicles.”

Suhoski then noted there were several years when the town didn’t use pre-printed licensing forms, meaning they contained no references to the maximum number of vehicles allowed.

“From 2009 to the present,” he continued, “we’re referring to the site plan on file and you can see that the site plan shows 25 vehicles, not 35. And the site looks bigger on the plan than I see it in the field, for this particular business.”

Suhoski said some dealerships seemed surprised when asked if their current site plans were up to date “and still current.” He then suggested that licensees be allowed to operate under existing permits for another year, “but we’re going to go through all the files and make sure the site plans match what’s happening in the field, at the next round of licensing. I kind of discovered this a little too late (for this year).”

“The policy, especially for new licenses is pretty good and pretty clear,” said board member Rebecca Bialecki. “But I think we do need to amend the existing license renewal piece, asking that – starting in 2024 – renewal packets will need an up-to-date plot plan, and vehicles must be parked within the business’s property boundaries.”

Board Chair Andy Sujdak asked Building Inspector Bob Legare if there is anything in the town bylaws limiting the number of vehicles allowed per square feet based on the size of the property. Legare said that he was not aware of any such stipulation. Legare said that the Fire Department inspects dealerships each year to ensure property access for emergency vehicles is maintained.

Sujdak then asked Suhoski for his specific recommendation regarding the dealership license policy.

“Because this policy was created 14 years ago, and I’ve been here 10 of those years,” Suhsoki replied, “I would say maybe I’ve been lax and I don’t check the plot plan every year. I want to give our licensees fair warning that we need to make sure everything is up to date.”

At the suggestion of board member Kala Fisher, the board voted to completely remove the existing paragraph relative to the renewal of existing licenses.

“Let’s just have one policy straight across the board,” said Fisher, emphasizing the same policy should apply to both new licenses and existing licenses up for renewal.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.