Town Meeting Update: Citizen Petitions due by February 23

The state approved new bylaws impacting the upcoming Town Meeting. One increases the notice the Town is given for Warrant Articles submitted by voters.

At the Special Town Meeting last fall, voters passed two new bylaws impacting future Town Meetings. One of those bylaws sets a deadline for Citizen Petition Articles to be added to the Warrant. The second will hopefully help make Town Meetings run quicker. Both were recently ratified by the Attorney General’s office — in time Read the full article → from Town Meeting Update: Citizen Petitions due by February 23

Voters opposed Tree Protection bylaw

Residents voiced concerns that Planning's proposed bylaw could interfere with homeowners' rights.

On Thursday night, residents questioned the process laid out by a proposed Tree Protection bylaw. Voters expressed concern that red tape would cause issue for homeowners. After 1½ hours of discussions, the Article was shot down by a clear majority. Read the full article → from Voters opposed Tree Protection bylaw

Citizen Petition Article: Old Burial Ground Flags policy

At Special Town Meeting, voters will weigh in on the (non-binding) request to remove all flags from the Old Burial Ground except for the official U.S. flag (and grave markers)

flags placed by veterans at Old Burial Ground (photo by Beth Melo)

One of the Articles that Special Town Meeting voters will decide this Thursday night is whether to urge the Select Board to limit the flags in the Old Burial Ground to the American flag. Read the full article → from Citizen Petition Article: Old Burial Ground Flags policy

Tax outlook bleak again (Updated)

The Select Board voted to use more ARPA funds to reduce the impact of Special Town Meeting.

That won't stop tax bills from increasing higher than predicted, driven by home values that continued to skyrocket beyond expectations.

Although the Town hasn’t yet set next year’s tax rate, the Select Board is predicting that residents will be paying an average of 5.89% more in taxes year. Read the full article → from Tax outlook bleak again (Updated)

St. Mark’s triangle update: Announced “land swap” and indefinitely postponed forum (Updated)

The public forum has been indefinitely postponed. The following week, the Select Board will discuss next steps on the St. Mark's "triangle", including potentially moving ahead with construction before bringing a land ownership swap to Annual Town Meeting

St. Mark’s School has agreed to swap parcels of the St. Mark’s “triangle” to allow for the project to proceed with a “pocket park”, relocated intersection, and parking for the school’s sports fields.

In related news — there was an a second announcement about the previously scheduled and rescheduled St. Mark’s Street Working Group’s Public forum. It is now postponed again. Read the full article → from St. Mark’s triangle update: Announced “land swap” and indefinitely postponed forum (Updated)

Town Meeting votes to postpone Articles on trees, oversight, and election recalls, forces through removing Trails’ Associate Members (Updated)

Select Board members weren’t the only officials to request Town Meeting Article postponements, and or be outvoted on the motion. Meanwhile, two other Articles were indefinitely postponed at the request of voters. Read the full article → from Town Meeting votes to postpone Articles on trees, oversight, and election recalls, forces through removing Trails’ Associate Members (Updated)

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