Night 13 - Weds June 8 - What happened this year in Town Meeting? SUMMARY

We're closing in on done tonight.  

What has happened in Town Meeting this year?  Here are what I think the most important votes were and links to my reports on them.

Here are the things I think you'll be most interested in:

Night 2: We have a HUGE budget problem ($5m starting when the ARPA funds expire); We formed a civilian police advisory group.see: https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/04/town-meeting-night-2-weds-427.html

Night 3: TM loosened and expanded Arlington's 2021 groundbreaking polygamy acceptance rules... https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/05/town-meeting-night-3-monday-may-2.html

Night 4: TM banned sale of plastic non-carbonated water bottles 1 liter and smaller.  TM banned the use of facial recognition software by Arlington municipal organizations.  TM required the town to notify abutters when overnight work will be done at least 48 hours ahead. https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/05/town-meeting-night-4-thursday-may-4.html

Night 5: TM banned gas leaf blowers, with a phase-out period.  https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/05/town-meeting-night-5-monday-may-9.html

Night 9: TM did NOT ban self-serve gas.  https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/05/town-meeting-night-9-may-23-monday.html

Night 10: TM required new commercial developments to install solar thermal or electric panels. https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/05/town-meeting-night-10-may-25-z-o-n-i-n.html

Night 11: TM did NOT end Single Family Zoning.  This was the Article I put the most work into educating and trying to convince the public and Town Meeting to not support.  I was glad we chose to not make us more expensive, less inclusive and less climate resilient!  https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/06/town-meeting-night-11-weds-june-1.html

Night 12: TM approved doubling the floor-to-area (FAR) ratio allowed on mixed use buildings, like the ones already built by Stop and Shop.   TM reduced the amount of parking future apartment building residents will have from 2, 1.5 or 1.15 cars to 1 spot, regardless of apartment size.  https://wfablog.blogspot.com/2022/06/town-meeting-night-12-monday-articles.html

Town Meeting Night 12 - Monday - Fiddling with FAR and cutting parking; Articles 39 and 41

 Town Meeting continued.

We moved into "Enlarging Building Mass and Reducing Resident Parking Spots."  Fun stuff.  Sorry if you are going to be a multifamily apartment dweller in Arlington's future.  Town Meeting decided to make your experience worse...

Article 39

ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/INCREASED FLOOR AREA RATIO FOR MIXED USE STRUCTURES

To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaw in Section 5.5.2 to increase the Maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR) allowed for mixed use structures in the Business districts, or take any action related thereto.

Article 39, which ARFRR previously wrote about as "Fiddling With FAR" proposed roughly doubling the building density of mixed use buildings, like the two new buildings by Stop and Shop.  I spoke about how the Article was poorly researched and there could be unintended consequences.  It passed (majority vote - not 2/3rds, due to the new Governor's "Housing Choice" reduction in density votes.)

Article 41

ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/APARTMENT PARKING MINIMUMS

To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaw to reduce or remove minimum vehicular parking requirements for Apartment Building uses; or take any action related thereto.

Article 41 would punitively reduce the required parking spaces, particularly hitting renters and condo owners (who likely don't live here yet) hard by reducing parking in 2 and 3 bedrooms substantially from 1.5 and 2 parking spots to 1 space.   Also, the redevelopment board already has the ability to reduce parking requirements by 75% when apartment buildings are reviewed by them.

It passed (majority vote - not 2/3rds, due to the new Governor's "Housing Choice" reduction in density votes.)

Article 49 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
We learned that the library will be open on Good Friday and Saturdays... yay!

Town Meeting Night 11 - Weds June 1 - Zoning: Ending Single Family...

 So this is perhaps 3 of the biggest zoning Articles.  We started off with 38 - Ending single family zoning.

Article 38 

Warrant Article Title: ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT/TWO FAMILY CONSTRUCTION ALLOWED BY RIGHT IN R0 AND R1 RESIDENTIAL ZONES

Warrant Article Text: To see if the Town will vote to or take any action related thereto: To amend Section 5.4 of the Zoning Bylaw by amending definitions and expanding allowable residential uses in the R0 Large Lot Single-Family District and R1 Single-Family District with the goal of diversifying the housing stock; or take any action related thereto. I presented, asking Town Meeting Members to vote no. 54+speakers were in the queue to speak, which went very slowly.  Somehow the pro-density folks seemed to get themselves into the majority of the earlier slots.  Moderator Christiana offered some alternating between 'for' and 'against' speakers with some 'questioners'. At 12 minutes past 11pm, the vote came in: NO to Article 38 (49.6% though of TMMs said Yes...on a 2/3rds vote threshold.  Here's what I said: Next Monday we continue with the density Articles...