2023 Town Meeting Opens - Monday April 24, 2023
Town Meeting meets twice a week, Monday and Wednesday from 8pm to 11pm in-person in Town Hall. You can watch live by coming to Town Meeting and sitting on either side of the balcony or by watching on ACMI's website government channel: https://acmi.tv/programs/arlington-government-channel/
You can follow along with the proposals and votes via the online interactive Warrant for 2023 Town Meeting: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/town-governance/town-meeting/2023-town-meeting-warrant
You can see the progress of Town Meeting, as well as what was voted or rejected/'no action' on this progress tracker.
There are 70 Articles this spring. Below is my review of the most important votes that I think you will want to know about:
Article 6: To allow Self-Serve Gas. https://arlington.novusagenda.com/Agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=15447&MeetingID=1777 with Chris Loreti's "protect Arlington's small business" amendment:
This came up last year in 2022 (And I initially proposed it in 2013, but ended up asking Town Meeting to defeat it, because I learned that residents ALSO want full serve). The motion passed (we will now have self serve), but with an amendment by Chris Loreti to ensure that self serve can only be provided by auto service stations (so as to save our local businesses from being converted to pumps-only, or pumps with mini-marts only.
Article 10:Specialized New Construction Efficiency Code Standards https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/64832
To require the specialized stretch code in new construction. The measure will insure that new construction in Arlington is of the highest energy efficiency. It is already supported by 9 other towns and has little downside, as I could see. I am a strong proponent of not restricting existing home's choices and this seemed a good step. At close to 11pm, I motioned to terminate debate so we got the vote in. The moderator was proposing to carry the article until the next Town Meeting night (and prolonging it). The motion passed.
Town Meeting re-convened Wednesday, April 26 at 8pm. Wednesday was dogged by technical glitches with the voting process and awkward pauses.
Article 13 - To make a ballot issue to ask if the Town Clerk should be appointed, instead of elected by the public. The Town suggested that it's not political, said 120 Towns have converted. It conducts elections, maintains voters. It was mentioned that 2/3rd of towns DO elect their Clerk. It was also mentioned that the Inspectional Services Director, appointed, got into lots of problems, even with the supposed oversight of the Town appointment process. This passed - and it will go to the voters.
Article 19 - Removal of the prohibition of Parking Lots within 75 yards of Arlington Catholic. It was proposed to remove the prohibition on MBTA parking garages (which would prohibit further MBTA expansion, presumably). It turns out that Malden Public LIbrary has a digitized copy of the 1977 MBTA extension Red Line plan. Here is the 1977 MBTA plan, archived at the Malden Public Library. The motion passed, the old law was repealed. Here is some interesting 1977 Town voting and Town Officials commentary on the "NO to the MBTA in Arlington Center"
There is a Special Town Meeting coming up in the fall with very serious potential changes relating to density that are being forced on Arlington and all communities with or near MBTA transit hubs, such as Alewife. For this spring Town Meeting, I'm most concerned about the upcoming Article 30: removing the requirement for any usable open space from R0-R2 (single and two family properties). You can read more about this and the zoning Articles of interest on this blog entry.
I'll be updating my blog: http://blog.wagnerforarlington.com with each Town Meeting night's votes of interest to our neighborhood and town.
