2016 Town Meeting - Night One

Welcome back to another Annual Town Meeting.  I am a meeting member from Precinct 10, and I write this blog to let anyone who is interested know how I voted and a little bit of why.  I include a little flavor of what goes on in the discussion, but if you want a very comprehensive review of what went on, I recommend Dan Dunn's blog as being a very good representation of what goes on.  Plus he's better at remembering names.

We started out in the traditional way; the Menotomy Minutemen marched in playing "Yankee Doodle" then led us in the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner."  We had a very tasteful opening "prayer", followed by a very brief State of the Town Address.  The students visiting from Arlington's sister city in Japan, Nagaokakyo, were in attendance, and a member of their school administration gave a few introductory remarks.

The first surprise came during, of all things, the acceptance of reports.  Typically, a committee announces they have a report, and we vote to accept that report.  When the Redevelopment Board submitted their report, they noted that they were only reporting on Articles 6 & 7, because they had voted within the previous hour to change their votes on Articles 8, 9, &10 to "No Action".  No explanation was given as to why they chose to reverse themselves on those articles.

No surprises on our elected positions.  Town meeting gets to directly vote for two town positions.  For the umpteenth year, we voted Elsie Fiore from Precinct 2 to be the town's Measurer of Wood and Bark.  If you have reason to doubt that your mulch delivery is appropriate, she's the one to call.  We also reelected James O'Conor from Precinct 19 to be our Assistant Town Moderator.

Our next action was new this year, and it moved us forward considerably.  The moderator proposed a Consent Agenda of items that would typically garner little or no discussion before approval.  His initial list of 22 articles, a full third of this year's articles, was pared down to 14 after members were given the opportunity to request certain articles be removed from the list.  In the end, we approved the following actions by a vote of 166 to 12:

 - Article 12:  No Action on Proposed Zoning Bylaw / Rear Yard Setbacks
 - Article 13:  No Action on Proposed Zoning Bylaw / Gross Floor Area Definition
 - Article 17:  No Action on Proposed Zoning Bylaw / Revising Definition of Half Story
 - Article 21: Passed Bylaw Amendment on Arlington Commission on Arts and Culture Membership
 - Article 24:  No Action on Bylaw Amendment on Camping on Public Property
 - Article 25:  No Action on Bylaw Amendment on Demolition by Neglect of Historic Buildings
 - Article 44:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Committees and Commissions
 - Article 45:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Town Celebrations
 - Article 46:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Miscellaneous
 - Article 48:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Harry Barber Community Service Program
 - Article 49:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Pension Adjustments
 - Article 52:  Passed recommended Appropriation for Overlay Reserve
 - Article 54:  Passed recommended Transfer of Cemetery Funds
 - Article 58:  No Action on Resolution of Community Preservation Plan

We now settled down into the articles.  By tradition, all the zoning articles are first up.  This is tricky, because many members are still getting into the groove of the meeting, and zoning is complicated.  Maybe it would be better to change the order, but it is the system we have.  Another complication, in my opinion, is that the ARB does not have the clearest or most convincing presentations.  This can leave a lot of room for doubt, which is contagious.  Tonight, the first article was a proposal to create a few new use categories.  Artisinal Fabrication is for small-scale artistic manufacturing.  Artistic/Creative Production includes multiple aspects of media production and related activities.

The major new use category would be Mixed Use, allowing two or more uses to coexist on the same parcel.  This use would only be allowed along the commercial corridors and by special permit from the ARB.  The presentation was good, but ran out of time.  An amendment was presented that would dictate minimum percentages for certain uses.  After a strong proponent for the main article, there was a series of speakers who appeared concerned and confused about what might happen if the change was adopted.  They all recommended a no vote on the main article, but some liked the amendment.  It wasn't until Mr. Jameson spoke right before the break that the discussion was brought back to real substance.  After break, Mr. Schlichtman spoke forcefully in favor of the development growth potential.  Mr. Cayer carefully explained the development parameters for each district and explained the protections built into the article.  In my opinion, this really put the membership at ease.  There was a vote to end debate, a vote rejecting the amendment, and a 186-35 vote to accept the article.

We then moved on to Article 7, which would allow reducing the amount of required parking where provisions are taken to implement Transportation Demand Management strategies.  These include discouraging car use by residents/employees and encouraging public and alternative transportation.  There was a good discussion about how this could be enforced and who would be responsible for that enforcement.  In the end, the vote was 180-34 in favor.

The next three articles are the three where the ARB changed their recommendation to No Action.  Mr. Worden requested that all three be postponed until May 4 to give members time to prepare substitute motions for those articles.  Mr. Quinn made a very convincing appeal to give that time out of fairness to all involved.  The motions were readily passed, so they will reappear.

At this point, we adjourned for the evening.  We reconvene Wednesday night to take up a Special Town Meeting.  This is done to expedite funding articles that pertain to the current year.  Once this special meeting is closed, the results are immediately sent to the state AG's office for approval.  This allows the changes to go into effect quickly.  I'll let you know how it went.