Town Meeting Night 10 - Weds May 25 - the Z O N I N G Articles begin! Article 38 comes right before 11pm!

We are now into the Zoning Articles.  Some are proposed by the Planning Department and/or the ARB and are OK (like 28, which underlines the need to reform the Mixed Use Law, that has been used to circumvent Apartment building zoning, and has hurt our businesses, the group it was designed to help by proposing accessory apartments above the businesses. 

It was noticed that neither the Chair of the Redevelopment Board or the Director of the Planning Department were present for our first full night of discussing the zoning Articles - I think this materially worsened the ability of Town Meeting to discuss the matters - and was unprecedented, in my memory. 

We started by continuing.... (Click blue text links to see the actual Article with associated materials).

Article 28  ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/ ENHANCED BUSINESS DISTRICTS

To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaw to update Section 5 DISTRICT REGULATIONS to encourage pedestrian activity, maintain an active street, and limit the amount of ground floor retail space occupied by banks, offices, lobbies, and other non-active uses, when feasible; or take any action related thereto.

Because the "Mixed Use Law" which attempted to promote businesses by allowing accessory apartments has failed to support retail business so badly, the Planning Department entered this sensible article.  However, the real point here is how BADLY our mixed use law has turned out.  It should be altered to better support 1st floor businesses, especially retail and services that help our neighborhoods near those locations.  Instead, apartment buildings without the requirements of size limitations, open space and adequate parking are being put in currently, like we see next to, and across from Stop and Shop.

This passed.

Article 30

ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/ SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS

To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaw to update Section 2 DEFINITIONS and Section 6 SITE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS to allow for and require installation of solar energy systems for buildings subject to Environmental Design Review with certain exceptions; or take any action related thereto.

This would require new commercial structures to add solar electric or hot water systems to roofs that have adequate sun exposure.

It passed - a great thing for fighting our climate impact!

As it came up to 11pm, Article 38 loomed large.  We would not be able to hear a wide selection of TMM opinions, clearly...  We adjourned to NEXT WEDNESDAY June 1 - (Monday is a legal holiday)....Article 38 will be first thing on Wednesday!

Town Meeting Night 9 - May 23 Monday

 We picked up Article 17 again - which I had originally proposed - and then asked TM to reject - in 2013.

Article 17 BYLAW AMENDMENT/CONVERSION OF GAS STATION DISPENSING PUMPS TO SELF SERVICE OPERATION

To amend the existing bylaw requiring gas station owners to have an attendant pump gasoline to a self service gas station operation without the need for a gas station attendant to do so; or take any action related thereto.  A Substitute Motion was approved, which would require stations to keep full serve for those who wanted it.  The overall Article, with substitute motion, failed narrowly 46% voting in the affirmative on a majority vote.

Article 19

 VOTE/STREET NAME “MAGLIOZZI BOULEVARD”

To see if the Town will vote to designate an unnamed public way, located between 49 Spring Street and the Route 2 Frontage Road, as Magliozzi Boulevard, or take any action related thereto.

A motion was made to name a tiny street between Route 2 and the frontage road as Magliozzi Boulevard.  Tom and Ray Magliozzi were the "Car Talk Guys" and had a wildly popular car show on NPR, created and recorded here in Boston at WBUR radio.   Both brothers lived in Arlington at one time.   Tom Magliozzi died a few years ago but Ray still lives here.

The Article was not supported by the Select Board, because there is an established Memorials commission that was the correct way to propose the honorary street.   Perhaps because of the unusual way the article was proposed, Town Meeting did not support it (majority vote).

Article 20  VOTE/CODE ENFORCEMENT

To see if the Town will vote to grant enforcement power to a Code Enforcement Officer, in the Department of Planning & Community Development, for the purpose of enforcing provisions of the Town Bylaws and Zoning Bylaws that do not pertain to building standards, or take any action related thereto.

An Article was proposed to improve compliance with Town and Zoning Bylaws (think: snow shoveling, crazy window signs, too large fences etc).  It wasn't properly crafted for what it intended and TM voted it down.  It did seem a good thing, in principle.  The town isn't doing a great job enforcing (via Inspectional Services) our codes/laws.  Hopefully the proponent will propose a version that makes sense and can be supported by Town Meeting next year.  It failed, as a substitute motion to the Select Board's recommended "No Action" vote.

Article 28  ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/ ENHANCED BUSINESS DISTRICTS

To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaw to update Section 5 DISTRICT REGULATIONS to encourage pedestrian activity, maintain an active street, and limit the amount of ground floor retail space occupied by banks, offices, lobbies, and other non-active uses, when feasible; or take any action related thereto.

Because the "Mixed Use Law" which attempted to promote businesses by allowing accessory apartments has failed to support retail business so badly, the Planning Department entered this sensible article.  However, the real point here is how BADLY our mixed use law has turned out.  It should be altered to better support 1st floor businesses, especially retail and services that help our neighborhoods near those locations.  Instead, apartment buildings without the requirements of size limitations, open space and adequate parking are being put in currently, like we see next to, and across from Stop and Shop.

Town Meeting Night 8 Weds 5/18 - $100K gift to Blue Bikes, more funding Articles

Night 8 - More spending money we soon won't have - when the ARPA funds run out.

Bluebikes are great, but Arlington faces a large and growing fiscal deficit: $7.9M in 2 years, then increasing to $20M or so in the years following.  For this reason I hoped it wouldn't go through - pushing our deficit to $8m!   I wasn't allowed to speak, due to debate being terminated earlier.

Article 60  Blue Bikes - providing $100,000 subsidy to let them expand.

To see if the Town will vote to appropriate $100,000 for the support of “BLUEBikes” operations, including storage, relocation, and maintenance of bicycles and docking stations, and a pilot program assisting income-eligible users with bicycle access, including costs incidental and related thereto, and to determine how the appropriation shall be raised and expended including the possibility of borrowing all or some of same; or take any action related thereto.

Article 65 $50,000 for the Planning Dept to pay a consultant for building styles

APPROPRIATION/DESIGN STANDARDS To see if the Town will vote to appropriate or transfer a sum of money to fund development of design standards to enhance the economic vitality of Massachusetts Avenue and Broadway through attractive and consistent design in alignment with the Arlington Master Plan, including payment of consultant fees in furtherance of the process; or take any action related thereto.

This passed.

Town Meeting Night 7 - May 16: Budgets!

 
Budgets.

  As I mentioned in last week's TM Blog, there will be a $7m deficit when the ARPA funds (COVID etc) run out in two years.  The Town has been on a spending binge in staffing and other areas and will need a large override, or to cut back expenses.

Joe Barr, the chair of the Master Plan Implementation Committee spoke, giving its committee's report.  He noted that the MPIC did not support Article 38, which would end single family zoning.   He noted the MPIC vote was not a negative, just no positive or negative.

Steve Revilak  proposed ending all single family zoning in 2020 and now is on the ARB, which narrowly supported Article 38, asked about "new growth" building new housing.  He asked a leading question to support adding residential units to increase the tax base.  He was told we have low new growth because we don't have land for new business or residential - we are fully 'built out'.  He asked if it helps our taxation, and to avoid overrides.  The answer, from Charles Foskett, chair of the Finance Committee was "yes, but" it left out an important point: adding residential units tends to actually hurt expenses, since the cost of education at APS isn't covered by multi-bedroom homes, often.

Article 50 Article 51  

Article 53 Article 54

Budgets - Capital Budget - Sewers/Water Infrastructure Debt - continued.  See my ATM Night 6 post for more details of this.  At the end (9:30pm) of the first part of TM Night 7 we voted all the budgets approved, except for individual budgets that TMMs had questions about.

TM Night 6 - May 11 - Special Town Meeting - Moderator implements curtailment of debate - Town Budgets

This is Night 6 - May 11 - of Town Meeting

They have Special Town Meetings within Town Meetings - a bit like a movie within a movie.  They did that tonight.  The Special Town Meeting Warrant is different from the main one.  Here are the articles with links:
https://www.arlingtonma.gov/town-governance/town-meeting/2022-town-meeting-warrant-copy

The big news announced at 3pm today was a unilateral decision by the new moderator to shorten discussion on issues after 15 min of debate, by allowing 'straw polls' of thumbs up/thumbs down voting to end debate.  This is somewhat shocking and seems to reflect the idea that, if Town Meeting is going to long, the part to get rid of is the hearing of issues and debating, rather than streamlining the procedure.  Hopefully this rash step will be rescinded.

Below are the issues that I thought you and our neighborhoods would care about most...

You can click the blue article links to see the details around each article - including amendments which are all available as URL hyperlinks at the bottom of each article's own link.  You can click this link to keep up with which Articles and Amendments or Substitute Motions have been passed/dealt with/stopped.

STM ARTICLES....

Town Meeting Night 5 - Monday May 9

 

Banning gas leaf blowers - Paying for Minuteman School's Assessment

You can click the blue article links to see the details around each article - including amendments which are all available as URL hyperlinks at the bottom of each article's own link.  You can click this link to keep up with which Articles and Amendments or Substitute Motions have been passed/dealt with/stopped.

Article 16  BYLAW AMENDMENT/NOISE REGULATIONS FOR GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWERS To see if the Town will vote to amend Title V, Article 12 (“Noise Abatement”) to further regulate or prohibit the use of internal  combustion powered leaf blowers; or take any action related thereto.

The big issue tonight is a proposed ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.  There were several amendments to tighten up (or loosen) the proposed ban, one to include Saturday in days when such devices should be used.  The main motion proposes a sensible transition period for residential and commercial gas leaf blowers to electric devices.  Using the logic that leaf blowers are regulated under the "noise abatement" rules in our Arlington bylaws, the moderator decided to limit comments to only those about the noise of leaf blowers, even though the proponents and supporters would surely have lots to say about fumes, dust and pollution.  Regardless of how a person feels about the issue, I thought it was pretty bad to limit discussion in Town Meeting to only one aspect of an issue being seriously and contentiously debated.

Anyway, the ban (with 2 year phaseout) of gas leaf blowers passed.

Here's a detail of what passed in this much amended Article: 

Article 55  APPROPRIATION/MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL AND OUT OF DISTRICT VOCATIONAL PLACEMENTS

Tonight we voted the $7+million assesment for the Minuteman Regional school.  Arlington is the largest contributor of students.   Interesting fact: It costs about $30,000 to educate a technical school student at Minuteman.  The school is already over capacity at 800+ students, having been demolished recently (it was a 1,200 student school) and rebuilt as a 650ish student building. 

Town Meeting Night 4 - Thursday, May 4

 We addressed Article 12: The water bottle ban

Article 12  BYLAW AMENDMENT/SINGLE USE PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE REGULATION
To see if the Town will vote to amend Title VIII of the Town Bylaws by adding a new section to prohibit the sale of bottled water in single-use plastic bottles, establish criteria for such prohibition, and provide for enforcement of and exemptions from such a bylaw; or take any action related thereto.

I introduced an amendment to allow 1 liter or less, instead of the main proposal's ban of everything 1 liter or less.  This failed.

Another amendment would have put the date of implementation to November 1, 2023, to give the Town time to provide water fountains, refill stations and infrastructure, as well as to allow merchants to find suitable substitutes.  This also failed.

The main motion - to ban non-carbonated water bottles of 1 liter or less passed by about 83% (majority vote).  Implementation date would be the originally proposed Nov 1 2022.

It turns out that 21 other communities in MA have already enacted such bans.

Article 13 BYLAW AMENDMENT/PROHIBIT THE USE OF FACE SURVEILLANCE To see if the Town will vote to amend Title I of the Town Bylaws to prohibit the use of face surveillance by the Town of Arlington, including departments and officials; or take any action related thereto.

It turns out that the Town of Arlington has more than 400 surveillance cameras.  This was a resolution directing our Town not to use facial recognition and to ask our state legislators to advocate against it.

This motion passed  (majority)

Article 15

BYLAW AMENDMENT/NOISE ABATEMENT To see if the town will vote to amend the Town Bylaws by replacing Title V Article 12 Noise Abatement with Title VIII Article 11 Noise Abatement, and to further regulate non-emergency work by the Arlington Department of Public Works, public utilities, and/or their contractors, or take any action related thereto.

This passed (majority).  The Town must alert affected (abutters) residents at least 48 hours ahead of loud overnight work. This is already practice, but wasn't written, I guess.

Article 16 BYLAW AMENDMENT/NOISE REGULATIONS FOR GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWERS To see if the Town will vote to amend Title V, Article 12 (“Noise Abatement”) to further regulate or prohibit the use of internal combustion powered leaf blowers; or take any action related thereto.

Town Meeting Night 3 - Monday, May 2

Starting this year, you can see the process of how the voting on Articles is going:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSeUZ9OjVkCkDBjcRoJ1mZNcWg5_VBbLVtmo4IhNV2A1TR0z_5GlPdRctliN86rsxYFwF-TZWP3bxpX/pubhtml?gid=632365380&single=true

Article 10: We addressed the current Tree (protection) law.  You can see the presentation here:

https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showdocument?id=60871&t=637865118168698928

If you have trees of 6 inches on your property in the setback area (the frame around where the structures can sit), the tree law protects them from loss when demolition or major work is done.    $375/inch of tree width is the fine for removing these trees.  I hope this will prevent further loss of our tree canopy.  The TM vote today was to bring the law into line with existing rules in nearby communities, moderately strengthening the rules.

Article 11

BYLAW AMENDMENT/DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS
To see if the Town will vote to amend Title I Article 23 of the Town Bylaws to define the parameters of domestic partnerships in Arlington; modify the process for registering, amending, withdrawing from, and terminating a domestic partnership in Arlington; specify employment benefits with relation to domestic partnerships; or take any action related thereto.

Loosening the 2021 Groundbreaking Domestic Partnerships Bylaw (that allowed polyamorous relationships) - The motion would have allowed partners to be married to others, live elsewhere and not share living expenses.  An amendment to still further enhance polygamous relationships but to require the partners to live together and share expenses was proposed.  The amendment failed, but the overall loosening of domestic partnerships to allow the above passed.