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The communities of Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Huntington, Middlefield, and Worthington all passed River Protection Bylaws prior to receiving the Wild & Scenic Designation. The bylaws established buffers, septic setbacks, and special permits procedures for construction within the River Protection and Floodplain Overlay Districts. These zoning bylaws were passed before the Rivers Protection Act of 1997. Currently, the Westfield River Wild & Scenic Advisory Committee is drafting a Model River Protection Bylaw to update the existing bylaws to make them more consistent with existing regulations, as well as, provide a model for the communities who do not have a local bylaw in place at this time.