A pair of lawsuits have been filed against the town’s volunteer land use boards and building department in recent weeks, one seeking damages for an alleged jumbled process that resulted in clearcutting of trees and the installation of a highly reflective roof in Woodstock’s cherished scenic overlay district, and the other a “placeholder” involving ongoing planning controversies at the former site of the Woodstock Lodge, now owned by the international work/stay company Selina.

The Woodstock Zoning Board of Appeals has been in the midst of an existential exercise of late. Following deep analysis and key decisions on the propriety of several code enforcement issues in recent months, they’re currently weighing the pros and cons of new signage for the changing Bradley Meadows shopping center and its growing main business, Sunflower Natural Foods, while simultaneously taking into account a growing push by Woodstock’s Commission for Civic Design (CCD), as well as the town’s Tree Committee, to straighten up the look of the town.

Deliberations over the former Woodstock Lodge continued last week.