Another fun night at Town Hall. As has been our tradition for several years,the second night of town meeting is a Special Town Meeting. This allows us to pass several items quickly, usually budget items related to the current year's budget, and submit the results to the attorney general's office for approval early. If they were a part of the regular meeting's results, they wouldn't be approved until the fall.
I was a few minutes late tonight. I had a scout meeting beforehand, and I needed to try and resolve a few items regarding a trip this weekend before leaving. I didn't miss much, but it did mean that I had to sit in the back. There is a group of regulars who sit back there every session and hold a social club. I really wish they would pay attention to the meeting. They were elected to represent their precincts, but if they don't want to be there, they should stop going. Get a table at a bar and watch the proceedings on ACMI.
We opened with Dean Carman, our newly elected treasurer delivering the Treasurer's Report. It sounds like he has a handle on his new position, and I look forward to seeing how his tenure goes. Depending on other votes, he may be our last elected treasurer.
Article 1 of the Special Town Meeting (STM) was the last of the zoning articles. It appeared in the special, because it wasn't proposed in time for the general. The idea was to change the definition of Usable Open Space to allow a 20' rear yard, allowing houses to shift away from the street. The current definition requires an area with a minimum dimension of 25' in order to qualify. Since the rear setback is defined as 20', in most cases, this just increased the setback. The proposed minimum dimension for 20' for new construction only if the driveway was at grade would serve as the final piece of the changes aimed at changing the new dominant house type, the duplex with basement parking. There was some concern that this was just a boon to developers looking to add volume to houses, but after terminating debate, it passed by a 7:1 margin.
I guess STM article 2 was technically a zoning article, but it was really a one-year moratorium of implementing regulations on recreational marijuana. There was an amendment to increase the delay to two years, but it was presented tonight as merely requiring a full year's delay. In the end, that was voted down, and the main motion was approved.
The next two articles, appropriations for school construction, was postponed until May 3 to coincide with other capital budget items. The final STM article was a transfer of funds out of the special education reserve into the school budget to cover increased spending requirements. It was easily passed before heading to break.
After break, we started back on the plastic bag ban article. We left this topic open at the end of the last session. There was a good discussion about the merits, but it was finally time to vote. My amendment was passed unanimously on a voice vote - no 3/16" thick bags for us. The amendment proposing an exemption for bags with books was defeated, and the ban was passed 188-21.
We then opened the consent agenda. This was an initiative of the Moderator's from last year. He assembles a list of those articles that are unlikely to have much discussion or debate, and after reviewing the last, we vote the recommended action on all of them at once. This year's list included town email accounts for members of town bodies (no action, already policy), acceptance of local option taxes (no action, none available), rescinding previous borrowing authorizations, funding public art (no action), funding for sewer and water main work, appropriations for town events, miscellaneous appropriations, funding community service, funding the overlay reserve, transfer of cemetery funds, setting aside long term stabilization funds, and a resolution on transparency in political donations (no action). All that work in five minutes.
We went back to article 15 which had been postponed from Monday. This was the Pride Commission for Arlington. There were some moving statements from several members. There was even a discussion about how a vote against the motion didn't need to be a bigoted vote. There was a question about why this was needed when we have a human rights commission already. The discussion included a reminder that we have a lot of commissions with similar missions, but each of them addresses the needs of a particular group. This was passed overwhelmingly.
Now on to eighteen, regarding appraisal of town property. During the previous two meetings, there were articles asking us to approve selling easements on property back to the property owners. There was a fair bit of discussion regarding how best to appraise the value of those easements. The proposed article would require the town to properly appraise the value before entering into a sales agreement. There was an attempt to require an outside appraisal for every case, but that wass defeated. The measure passed strongly.
We then opened the discussion on whether to have a town-wide vote to change our treasurer from an elected to an appointed position. The pro side was concerned about our ability to continue to attract knowledgeable candidates from the residents. The con side was asking to vote no this ear and consider a yes vote next year once the new treasurer's policies have had an opportunity be implemented. My concern is that makes the vote more of a referendum on the person rather than the position. However, we ran out of time, and will need to return Monday to finish the discussion.
I stuck around to help collect and sort the voting clickers. There was only one volunteer to help the organizers tonight. If you have or know a high school kid in need of Community Service hours, this is a great gig. Just send an email to the Moderator.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
2017 Town Meeting - Night One
Another year of town meeting is off to a rollicking start. The opening night festivities are always fun. This year's opening was especially nice because my younger son, Connor was volunteering with the electronic voting group, so we went together. I had to put a copy of an amendment on chairs before the meeting, so it worked well that we both needed to be there early.
We opened with the Menotomy Minutemen marching in and leading us in the Star Spangled Banner. It is a little anachronistic for a Revolutionary War group, but they always do a great job. It has been fun over the years to observe my son's friend who is in the Minutemen grow up and progress from a cut-out wood prop to now carry a full muzzle-loader.
This was followed by the invocation. This year's was delivered by a rabbi from a synagogue in Lexington with strong Arlington affiliation. Since today was the end of Holocaust Memorial Day as well as Armenian Genocide Day, the tone was very somber. He encouraged us to be the light and to strive to make good decisions.
Joe Curro gave the State of the Town Address. It was well delivered, touching on the history of the town, our current struggles, and our potential to make history again. I liked the reference to the founding of Visicalc in an attic here in Arlington, and how so much of what we do at Town Meeting is now dominated by spreadsheets.
After the receiving of reports, the reappointment of Elsie Fiore as Measurer of Wood and Bark, and the reelection of James O'Connor as Assistant Moderator, we waded into the first batch of articles, those related to zoning. There is a history of these articles not going well at Town Meeting. Last year, many were withdrawn at the last instant without any warning. I was a little nervous about what this year would bring.
I was very pleasantly surprised that the articles were well presented, clearly explained, and couched in language that worked in their favor. The first two articles, on increasing residential density in mixed-use developments and increasing the area available to artisanal fabrication were passed overwhelmingly with no discussion. This brought us to Article 8 regarding driveway slopes, reduced parking counts, and buffers. We granted the presenters a full 15 minutes to make their initial presentation. Driveway slopes would be reduced to 15% to make it safer to see people in the sidewalk. The number of required parking spaces was reduced so that wouldn't be such a dominant factor in house design and massing. The buffer was introduced to facilitate the acceptance of parking in the side setback, by requiring vegetation between the driveway and the adjacent neighbor. There was an amendment that sought to limit the scope of the proposal to just reducing the slope. Despite and early attempt to quash debate that failed, there was a lot of discussion about the number of parking spaces. I felt the proponents did a good job of framing the debate as a choice to provide a lower number of parking spaces if that was a good fit for the property. Many residents, myself included, get by with only one car in their family. The additional parking space just takes up space that could be used for other purposes. A second vote to end debate passed, the amendment failed, and the original motion passed. Outstanding.
The last two zoning articles had recommended votes of no action, which were promptly affirmed. This brought us to the good neighbor proposals, Articles 11-14 proposed changes to the general bylaws, but they were for actions related to demolition and construction. They were intended to improve communication by providing notice to abutters when larger-scale projects were being approved, institute some protections for abutters in regards to site maintenance and public protection, and limiting the hours for disruptions in residential neighborhoods. I proposed an amendment that was favorably received by the proponents to require that contact information for the contractor or developer be expressly included in the neighbor notifications. There was discussion from members who thought the articles went to far, and from others who thought they didn't go far enough. After a second vote to end debate, my amendment and all four articles were adopted. My congratulations to the ARB and the Residential Study Group for this tremendous outcome.
We postponed the discussion on Article 15, the pride commission until Wednesday. I'm assuming that the proponents hadn't expected us to move so quickly through the zoning. Article 16 was voted no action. This brought us to plastic bags. I had an administrative amendment to this article. The original wording gave plastic bag thicknesses in millimeters, when it should have been mils (1/1000 inch). As it was written, bags would be 3/16" thick. There was a good presentation by the proponents, and a proposed amendment to exempt books from the bag ban. While this was likely an attempt to help a certain small bookstore in town, the mood seems to be in opposition to creating exemptions. This brought us right up to 11:00 so we adjourned.
It was a good night, and I liked the discussion, My only critique would be that on several articles, speakers with amendments were called before the proponents could present their initial proposal. This has happened before, and it is confusing. I would encourage the moderator to try to reverse that order. Now it is time to prep for Wednesday's special town meeting.
We opened with the Menotomy Minutemen marching in and leading us in the Star Spangled Banner. It is a little anachronistic for a Revolutionary War group, but they always do a great job. It has been fun over the years to observe my son's friend who is in the Minutemen grow up and progress from a cut-out wood prop to now carry a full muzzle-loader.
This was followed by the invocation. This year's was delivered by a rabbi from a synagogue in Lexington with strong Arlington affiliation. Since today was the end of Holocaust Memorial Day as well as Armenian Genocide Day, the tone was very somber. He encouraged us to be the light and to strive to make good decisions.
Joe Curro gave the State of the Town Address. It was well delivered, touching on the history of the town, our current struggles, and our potential to make history again. I liked the reference to the founding of Visicalc in an attic here in Arlington, and how so much of what we do at Town Meeting is now dominated by spreadsheets.
After the receiving of reports, the reappointment of Elsie Fiore as Measurer of Wood and Bark, and the reelection of James O'Connor as Assistant Moderator, we waded into the first batch of articles, those related to zoning. There is a history of these articles not going well at Town Meeting. Last year, many were withdrawn at the last instant without any warning. I was a little nervous about what this year would bring.
I was very pleasantly surprised that the articles were well presented, clearly explained, and couched in language that worked in their favor. The first two articles, on increasing residential density in mixed-use developments and increasing the area available to artisanal fabrication were passed overwhelmingly with no discussion. This brought us to Article 8 regarding driveway slopes, reduced parking counts, and buffers. We granted the presenters a full 15 minutes to make their initial presentation. Driveway slopes would be reduced to 15% to make it safer to see people in the sidewalk. The number of required parking spaces was reduced so that wouldn't be such a dominant factor in house design and massing. The buffer was introduced to facilitate the acceptance of parking in the side setback, by requiring vegetation between the driveway and the adjacent neighbor. There was an amendment that sought to limit the scope of the proposal to just reducing the slope. Despite and early attempt to quash debate that failed, there was a lot of discussion about the number of parking spaces. I felt the proponents did a good job of framing the debate as a choice to provide a lower number of parking spaces if that was a good fit for the property. Many residents, myself included, get by with only one car in their family. The additional parking space just takes up space that could be used for other purposes. A second vote to end debate passed, the amendment failed, and the original motion passed. Outstanding.
The last two zoning articles had recommended votes of no action, which were promptly affirmed. This brought us to the good neighbor proposals, Articles 11-14 proposed changes to the general bylaws, but they were for actions related to demolition and construction. They were intended to improve communication by providing notice to abutters when larger-scale projects were being approved, institute some protections for abutters in regards to site maintenance and public protection, and limiting the hours for disruptions in residential neighborhoods. I proposed an amendment that was favorably received by the proponents to require that contact information for the contractor or developer be expressly included in the neighbor notifications. There was discussion from members who thought the articles went to far, and from others who thought they didn't go far enough. After a second vote to end debate, my amendment and all four articles were adopted. My congratulations to the ARB and the Residential Study Group for this tremendous outcome.
We postponed the discussion on Article 15, the pride commission until Wednesday. I'm assuming that the proponents hadn't expected us to move so quickly through the zoning. Article 16 was voted no action. This brought us to plastic bags. I had an administrative amendment to this article. The original wording gave plastic bag thicknesses in millimeters, when it should have been mils (1/1000 inch). As it was written, bags would be 3/16" thick. There was a good presentation by the proponents, and a proposed amendment to exempt books from the bag ban. While this was likely an attempt to help a certain small bookstore in town, the mood seems to be in opposition to creating exemptions. This brought us right up to 11:00 so we adjourned.
It was a good night, and I liked the discussion, My only critique would be that on several articles, speakers with amendments were called before the proponents could present their initial proposal. This has happened before, and it is confusing. I would encourage the moderator to try to reverse that order. Now it is time to prep for Wednesday's special town meeting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)