Hardwick Sets January 7 Special Election on Great Meadowbrook Farm Racetrack

HARDWICK — November 21, 2022 — Hardwick Select Board schedules January 7 racetrack vote after rejecting reconsideration two to one. The board, meeting via Zoom with roughly 90 residents watching, first voted two to one against reconsidering its November 9 approval of a proposed horse racetrack at Great Meadowbrook Farm on Berry Road — Chair Jeffrey S. Schaaf and Clerk Zachary E. Spencer voting no, Vice Chair William F. Tinker voting yes — then unanimously called a special election for January 7, 2023, with polls open noon to 7 p.m. A resident speaking for Hardwick Villages for Responsible Growth told the board her group gathered 438 signatures, 335 of them certified, opposing the project, and cited resident concerns about sports betting, Agricultural Preservation Restriction land conflicts, and a "surplus of misinformation" in town. Schaaf announced a November 29 follow-up meeting to appoint a seven-to-nine-member review committee tasked with vetting the applicant's draft host community agreement and coordinating public information before the election.