Business View City & Municipal | August 2022

145 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 TOWN OF YARMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS together even more, because we were all searching for ways to get through the same difficult time.” She provides the example of seasonal housing, which became much harder to find and started affecting the local businesses. “The Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce and the Planning Board worked together to amend the Zoning Bylaw, expanding the housing opportunities available for seasonal workers. So, we now work together more to solve our problems.” The town also implemented additional remote capabilities, allowing residents to apply for a variety of permits and attend public meetings within the safety of their homes. Since these advancements the town’s staff has committed to making even further progress, not only with electronic permitting but with online accessibility across the board. The overall vision for the Town of Yarmouth is straightforward: keep it the attractive, fun and inclusive community residents already love to live, work, play, and learn in. Ensure it the impressive Yarmouth Sand Sculpture Trail featuring 32 family-friendly sand sculptures. According to Karen Greene, Director of Community Development, it’s not these distinctive highlights that make the Town of Yarmouth special, it’s the community “with all our different neighbourhoods, groups, and projects. There are folks like the Friends of Bass River who are interested in conserving our environment. Others like the Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association help to preserve and run our historic properties like the 17th- century farm. We’re collaborating with them on the barn’s foundation repair. This may sound kitschy, but we’re like a mosaic. We have all these populations, that together, make up our wonderful Town of Yarmouth.” This sense of community was further strengthened during COVID. For Kathy Williams, Yarmouth’s Town Planner, it was one of the pandemic’s few silver linings. “We were brought