May 2018 Town Meeting, in Three Parts

This year’s town meeting is set to run, 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 2; Tuesday, May 8; and Thursday, May 10 at the Ashland High School (AHS) Auditorium, 65 East Union St.
“We will start on May 2 and go through the warrant as we normally do, except we will not address any articles that relate to the [town] charter,” Adam Schuster, town meeting moderator, explained. “We will return on May 8, when we will start with articles that relate to the charter. Should we complete the charter-related articles at a reasonable hour, we will continue where we left off on May 2 . . . All charter-related articles will be completed before we leave for the evening on May 8.”
At the time of this writing, the articles are in various stages of review. The warrant will be posted in early April on the town website, www.ashlandmass.com.
See the articles in this issue: “Proposed Town Charter Changes Up for Vote, May 8” and “Residents Get Opportunity to Vote on Valentine Purchase at May’s Town Meeting.”
Town Meeting Highlights
Board of Selectman member Steve Mitchell cited several key articles, in addition to the Valentine property vote and town charter, that will likely be on the May warrant:
Marijuana opt-out: A discussion and vote to opt out of recreational marijuana commerce in town. If town meeting votes to opt out, the question will go to ballot for the May 15 town election.
School feasibility study: At town meeting, we will vote on funding a feasibility study for rehabilitation or construction of the Mindess School. Ashland is already in the queue for Massachusetts School Building Authority (www.massschoolbuildings.org) funding.
Public safety building: If the town is able to purchasing property before town meeting, town meeting will vote on design and engineering plans for actual construction.
Business incentive program: Discussion and a vote on a program to modernize downtown, such as putting utilities underground.
“The Planning Board will have a number of articles for town meeting,” Preston Crowe, Planning Board chair, said. Some articles proposed by his board are:
Change the procedures for the site alteration special permit to cite state law instead of having contradictory local practices.
Expand the Groundwater Protection Overlay District. This district adds restrictions to protect public water supplies, and when it was previously instituted, we failed to include protection for Holliston’s water supply near the town line. The area being added is all residential, so the impacts should be minimal, but it may require additional permits for building homes, adding extensions, or installing swimming pools.
Eliminate 4.1.6, which places restrictions on dimensional requirements for multiple commercial uses on a single lot. This one is technical and significant. The most important point is that if someone has a commercial property with multiple uses—such as retail and restaurant—they need to have the frontage for both uses separately under 4.1.6, but the Planning Board is proposing eliminating this. So instead of requiring 150 feet of frontage for a building with two retail uses, but 300 feet for the same building with a retail use and a restaurant, it would be 150 feet in both cases.
Town Meeting is an opportunity for every resident to directly participate in town government. Residents may ask questions and share concerns before voting on the operating budget and other matters that directly affect the community over the next 12 months and beyond. To learn more about town meetings, see the Massachusetts Citizen’s Guide to Town Meetings, www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cistwn/twnidx.htm.