[Rich, 09:58]
ARB Report Available

The Arlington Redevelopment Board Report is now up. (1.7MB PDF).

[Rich, 02:17]
Mr. Dunn's notes are up.

[Rich, 02:01]
Now That's the TM We All Know and Love

Here are my notes for Session 2. And I would be remiss if I did not thank Ms. Mahon for volunteering to "court report" the meeting and thus allow us to proceed. Without that gesture, we would have had to go home. I'm sure it had to be tiring.

• Called to order at 20:00.
• When the meeting is adjourned, it is adjourned to 20:00 on 3 May.
• Ms. Phelps noted that the stenographer did not show up, and asked if we could legally meet. Mr. Moderator initially said yes, but after a review of by-law reversed himself and said the meeting could not legally proceed. At this point, Ms. Mahon (a court reporter by trade) saved us all from having to go home by volunteering to substitute for the missing stenographer.
• Mr. Moderator announced that TMMs could have their handouts posted on Live From Arlington by emailing them to tm@livefromarlington.com.
• Town Counsel Maher said the Town had won a trial in a civil rights suit against a police officer and said that we are not sued often because we have good employees. He then began some long, involved joke about Mr. Moderator, Mr. Tosti, himself, a measurer of wood and bark, a field driver, a cow, a rabbi, a nun, and a bar, and then bailed out of it in mid-stream.
• Article 2 - Reports of Committees:
  • Mr. Shea read the report of the Human Rights Commission. He said the HRC has existed for ten years and that it has investigated complaints, done educational programs, condemned hate crimes, and is an important Town resource.
  • The report of the Zoning Bylaw Review Study Committee was received. Mr. Leone said the Committee has two vacancies.
  • A minority report of the Affordable Housing Task Force was received.
  • Article 2 tabled.
• Article 4 removed from the table.
• Article 4 - Assistant Moderator:
  • Mr. Moderator said the candidates would have five minutes each to speak, after which the ballots would be collected and counted.
  • Mr. Caccavaro said he had been thinking about the post since last year and that he had the time and energy to take it on.
  • Mr. Leone said he is a life-long resident of the Town and has been a TMM for 10 years, with a 100% attendance record. He said knows a lot of how town meeting and town government works and that he deals with the Town a lot in his legal practice.
  • Mr. McCabe said he had been a TMM for almost 40 years, the moderator for 12 years, a selectmen for 3 years, on FinComm for 6 years, and on the Council on Aging (which he helped found) for 38 years. He said he had has a broad range of knowledge and experience. He said that as moderator he lead the effort to replace Robert's Rules of Order with Town Meeting Time and began the practice of using a list to track speakers.
  • The results:
    • Leone - 122
    • McCabe - 34
    • Caccavaro - 34
    • Carreiro - 10 write-ins
    • unintelligible - 3
    • and $0.40 placed in a ballot box.
• Article 17 - Vote Amendment/Parmenter School:
  • Both the BoS and the ARB assumed the other would make the main motion, so neither report contained a main motion.
  • Mr. Tsoi of the ARB moved that the text of the warrant article be adopted and explained that it was a necessary housekeeping article since in 1993, 1998, and 2003 the Town forgot to renew the "surplus" status of the Parmenter school. The article is to make up for that and to renew through 2008. It is needed because the leases the Town has with tenants there depend on the school being surplus.
  • ARB recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 18 - Environmental and Energy Efficiency:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Chaput said the ARB asked Sustainable Arlington to come back next year with a proposed standard better suited to the Town.
  • ARB reccommendation approved.
• Article 19 - Bylaw Amendment/Snow Removal-Residences:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report, to raise the fine from $10 to $25.
  • Ms. Mahon said Articles 19-22 came out of the BoS Snow&Ice Committee and recognizes that concerns residents have expressed about the need for better enforcement of the bylaw.
  • Mr. Trembly asked if a citation has ever been issued (to much laughter). Police Chief Ryan said yes. Mr. Trembly asked if the recipients cared. Chief Ryan said citations are issued after requests for voluntary compliance are snubbed. Mr. Trembly asked how many citations have been issued. Chief Ryan replied that the last time he checked, around 12 had been. Mr. Trembly said that some of the things in the by-law (such as removing "all snow and ice") are impossible to comply with and so it is not fair to raise the fine. He also said that raising the fine will increase the stakes between neighbors who are battling and using the by-law as a weapon.
  • Mr. Berkowitz said that both education and enforcement will be needed to change behaviors and wondered if the Police Department could properly enforce the by-law given its staffing levels. Chief Ryan said he had been directed by the Town Manager to "get creative" to find ways to step up enforcement. He said the APD has issued press releases and reminders about the by-law and will do again next year. Mr. Berkowitz asked about possibly putting reminders in tax bills. Ms. Mahon said the Town will post the snow policy in the Advocate this year and that the BoS would like to hear people's suggestions to make people more aware of the by-law.
  • Mr. Scott Smith said that he had attended the Snow&Ice meetings and supported the article, and that most people and businesses do a good job complying. He said the article is aimed at getting the attention of those few who do not.
  • Mr. Taber moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Mr. Sandrelli improperly used a point of information to attempt to continue debate, asking about plows pushing the snow back. Mr. Moderator shot him down after a bit.
• Article 20 - Bylaw Amendment/Snow Removal-Apartments/Condominiums:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report, to raise the fine from $10 to $25.
  • Mr. Doherty asked why it was being proposed to only raise the fine for apartments/condos to $25, when it was proposed to be raised for businesses to $50, given that apartments/condos and businesses both tend to abut busily travelled sidewalks. Mr. Moderator interjected that perhaps the BoS should re-visit the entire snow removal section of the by-laws and propose a unified by-law. Mr. Doherty moved to amend the BoS vote to change the fine to $50 instead of to $25.
  • Mr. Carreiro, on a point of order, asked if the amendment was within the scope of the article, which specifically mentioned $25. Mr. Moderator ruled the amendment within the scope, saying that $50 was not sufficiently different than $25.
  • Mr. Sandrelli said that the Town used to plow sidewalks and that residents thus did not have to worry about snowy sidewalks. He complained that the sidewalk clearing burden was placed on the taxpayers. He asked what residents are supposed to do when street plows push the snow back onto your sidewalk.
  • Mr. O'Conor said that the current by-law specifies three hours to remove the snow, not the eight hours the "this is how the bylaw will now read" text on the BoS report has. Mr. Moderator said that is not a problem, because the operative part of the vote is only addressing the fine, so that regardless of what the rest of the text says, the time will remain at three hours.
  • Mr. Trembly said it is unfair to fine an apartment/condo owner $50 to remove the snow within three hours because it is not possible to do so.
  • Ms. Fiore asked that plowers be instructed to not block sidewalks between homes.
  • Mr. Bernardin said he was in favor of the amendment to raise the fine to $50, as Chief Ryan had made it clear people are given a chance to voluntarily comply before they are fined.
  • Ms. Phelps asked if a two-family house was a residence or an apartment. Mr. Moderator said the terms are defined in the Zoning By-Law and that an apartment is defined as having four or more units. Ms. Phelps asked if a condoized two-family is a residence or a condo. Mr. Moderator said they are residences and again questioned the wisdom of having multiple pieces of the snow removal by-law. Ms. Phelps said she believed the fine should be $25 to match that in Article 19.
  • Ms. Russian asked if there is any exemption for the elderly/disabled. Mr. Abbott, sans microphone, said the by-law provides for the BoS to promulgate regulations to exempt people who would be at a hardship. Ms. Mahon said the BoS tries not to punish people for doing the right thing and uses its discretion in such matters.
  • Mr. Gilligan moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Doherty amendment approved.
  • BoS recommendation as amended approved
• Article 21 - Bylaw Amendments/Snow Removal-Business:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report, to raise the fine from $25 to $50.
  • Mr. Jones moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Article 22 - Bylaw Amendment/Public Ways:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report, to prevent anyone but Town employees from dumping snow, dirt, etc. on roads and sidewalks.
  • Mr. Scott Smith said this was more important than the prior three and that it also grew out of citizen input to the Snow&Ice Committee. He said that right now nothing prevents people from dumping snow on sidewalks and streets.
  • Mr. Leonard moved to amend the recommended vote to insert "leaves" as one of the forbidden things to dump.
  • Mr. Fiore said he was in favor of the recommended vote, having had problems with a neighbor plowing him in and finding out that the behavior was legal.
  • Mr. Carabello moved the previous question. Before the vote could be taken, Mr. Judd improperly used a point of order to try to continue debate, saying the recommended vote was flawed since taken literally it would prevent one from putting down salt and sand. The motion on the previous question was defeated, allowing debate to continue.
  • Mr. Trembly, per the relevant by-law disclosed that as a snow plower, he has a financial interest in this article. He asked why Town employees are exempted from the dumping ban. Mr. Maher said that DPW workers have to move large amounts of materials around in the performance of their jobs. He also said the APD should be given credit for using common sense and discretion when enforcing the by-law. Mr. Trembly said that Arlington driveways are generally small and tight and that it is impossible to not leave some snow on the street when plowing the driveway. He said the recommendation is too broad and should be more narrowly targeted at those who offend.
  • Mr. Gilligan moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Leonard amendment approved.
  • BoS recommendation as amended approved.
• Article 23 - Bylaw Amendment/Repairs to Private Ways:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report, to add thincoat and drainage work to the list of temporary repairs the Town can make to private ways, to increase the required "downpayment" by abutters from 1/3 of the project cost to 2/3 of the cost, and to decrease the payback time from 20 years to 5 years. The BoS said it would also ask the Assessors to give it data on the amount of road betterments funds collected, so that future Town Meetings could be asked to appropriate that out of free cash and into the revolving fund.
  • Mr. Hurd said the purpose is to revitalize the temporary repairs program by getting more money into the repairs revolving fund.
  • Ms. Harrington moved to amend the BoS recommendation by changing the 2/3 downpayment requirement back to 1/3. She said members of her precinct were in favor of her doing that and that it will make it more affordable for people to use the program which will result in more private ways being repaired.
  • Mr. Streitfeld said Ms. Harrington beat him to the punch. He said that the appropriations from free cash into the revolving fund are much more important than the size of the downpayments, so they should be left at 1/3.
  • Mr. Rehrig asked why we do not create an enterprise fund to take the repayments over time instead of letting them go into the general fund. Mr. Maher we already have a revolving fund for this. The problem is that since the "installment" payments are collected persuant to a tax lien, they are required by state statute to go into the general fund.
  • DPW Director Sanchez said that repair projects cost a significant amount of money and that if downpayments are only 1/3, there will not be a enough money in the revolving fund for the program to work for the first five years. He said the DPW worked hard on the numbers and determined that 2/3 would make things work.
  • Mr. Gilligan said he supported the BoS recommendation and asked the meeting to keep in mind that the costs are not imposed by the Town but are requested by private way abutters. He said they get a good deal because the Town is already doing the repair work elsewhere and that using the 2/3 downpayment will save everyone else in town money because the float being financed by the Town will be smaller.
  • Mr. Hurd said that the revolving fund funds the repair projects, but that "installment" repayments have to go into the general fund. He said in the future the amount of these repayments will be tracked and the meeting will be asked to appropriate them into the revolving fund.
  • Mr. Ellis asked if the downpayments and the installment payments go into the general fund. Mr. Moderator replied that the down payments go into the revolving fund and the installment payments go into the general fund. Mr. Ellis asked if there was any sense of how the proposed change would impact the number of people using the program. Mr. Sanchez said that there are 24 miles of private ways in Town and that very few people use the program because there is no money in the revolving fund. Mr. Ellis said that many people are bitter that requests to fix plow damage go unanswered. He asked how decisions are made about private way repair and if rebuilding the revolving fund would affect that. Mr. Sanchez said that the program only covers temporary repairs, not rebuilds. Mr. Ellis asked where temporary repair funds come from. Mr. Ellis said they come from the revolving fund.
  • Mr. Carrigan asked how much it costs to repair a street. Mr. Sanchez said between $100 and $300 per foot. Mr. Carrigan asked what a typical project cost is. Mr. Sanchez said between $10,000 and $50,000. Mr. Carrigan said it would be outrageous to double the size of the downpayment.
  • Mr. Fischer jokingly asked if the people on Cutter Mill Road could put in a tollbooth to make up for the wear and tear on it due to cut-throughs. He said the downpayment should be left at 1/3, since a 1000ft project that might have 10 abutters could cost $100,000 and this would mean the downpayment would rise from $33,000 to $66,000. Mr. Hurd said that in his experience, a typical per-home cost for a chipseal repair was $800, for a thincoat report $1,500-$1,800, and for a 2-inch repave $2,500-$3,000. So for a chipseal the downpayment would rise from around $260 to around $520. Mr. Fischer said he was now in favor of 2/3.
  • Mr. Streitfeld said that if you put enough seed money in the revolving fund the 1/3 vs. 2/3 question would be irrelevant. [at this point confusion broke out, with Mr. Streitfeld apparently confused about how the money moved and other people being confused about what Mr. Streitfeld was asking, and it eventually got resolved with another repetition from Mr. Maher and others that the downpayment goes into the revolving fund, the installment payment goes into the general fund, that the state law only allows the Town to make temporary repairs, and that the BoS believes that the downpayment has to be 2/3 for the program to work.]
  • Mr. Leonard said he was against the recommended vote because it was too confusing. He asked if more people would use the program if asphalt was used instead of chipseal and said it is unfair for the Town to decide what type of repair to make. Mr. Sanchez corrected him saying the Town does not impose a method of repair but rather the particular method is decided upon by the landowners based on how much money they wish to spend. Mr. Leonard asked if the landowners have the right to choose the repair method. Mr. Sanchez said they do.
  • Mr. Judd said he had several problems with the recommended vote. He asked why the Town had not been appropriating funds into the revolving fund all along, and that the revolving fund can be built up without changing the 1/3 to 2/3. He said that he also did not like that 2/3 of abutters can bind the remaining 1/3 to pay for repairs whether the dissenters like it or not and that this could pose a financial strain on people. Mr. Maher said that he (Maher) had not previously thought of replenishing the revolving fund by tracking the installment repayments and appropriating them into the revolving fund.
  • Mr. McCabe said the program is voluntary and urged people to vote for the 2/3 requirement so there would be a program. He said one has to live on a private way to truly appreciate the program. He said he did not believe the $10,000 or $100,000 numbers mentioned earlier and does not know what his private way association would do without the program.
  • Mr. Carreiro moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Harrison amendment defeated.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Motion to adjourn approved.
• Adjourned at 22:58 to 3 May at 20:00.

[Rich, 11:38]
How About an Arlington CD-ROM?

I had to stop in at the Town Clerk's office today to pick up a copy of the Town By-laws (for $10), since the version on the Town website is not up-to-date, plus the printed version has a helpful list of all the Legislative Acts that affect the Town, all the way back to March 5, 1838.

Walking out of Town Hall and wishing my wallet was $10 heavier, I was hit by the thought that in addition to selling $10 copies of dead-tree versions of the Town By-laws, it would be great if the Town would make a CD-ROM with:

• the Town By-laws
• the Zoning By-laws
• All the zoning maps and overlays (surely the GIS system we have should be able to create PDFs of those, and if not, then GIFs/JPGs).
• All the Board of Health regulations
• All the regulations issued by the Board of Selectmen
• School Department rules and procedures
• Official School Department curriculum documents
• Blanks of all the various forms/applications the Town has
• and so on.

Then sell the CD-ROM for $1 or $2 or $5 or so.

Yes, I know (and agree) that all this should be on the Town's website. But websites have their own inherent limitations (for starters, you have to be online to access them). Being able to stick that CD-ROM in a computer and search, view, and print out what I need would be really nice.

As for format, I don't really care initially. The first edition of the CD-ROM could simply be a collection of all the relevant existing files, whether they are Word, PDF, etc. I'll take pragmatism over ideological purity on this any day. However, once the files are discovered and collated, an effort definitely should be made to convert them to searchable PDF to the extent possible. Consider that the second edition of the CD-ROM :-)

If you like this idea, tell that to the relevant Town powers. I think it would be a great idea, but of course, I'm biased :-)

[Rich, 09:32]
More Documents Available

Courtesy of the test/preview version of the Town website:

• Board of Selectmen's Report (PDF|Word)
• PDF of list of TMMs used to print that big sheet you see Stephanie checking us in on (though it is already out of date, as Precinct 19's Pat Deal resigned on Monday night).

The test site also has an entry for the ARB report, but apparently the underlying file isn't there, since hitting the link returns an error.

[Rich, 12:27]
2004 TMM List Available

The list of 2004 TMMs is now available.

[Rich, 11:55]
FinComm Report Available

The FinComm report is now available at http://fincom.carr-jones.com/reports/TM2004/FY05_Report_to_2004_TM.pdf (warning -- it is a 1.8MB PDF).

[Rich, 01:52]
Dunn's notes are up and at http://dandunn.org/tm2004.html

[Rich, 01:45]
Thoughts

• Very slow going at first, but things did generally pick up in the second half of the session.
• In the one counted vote we had, only 158 people voted (out of 244 current TMMs -- 8 slots are open for various reasons). Sigh.
• No more than five minutes after the Moderator explains that reports should be in written form, should generally not be read aloud, and presentations of which should not be more than five minutes, the Rental Reinspection Committee reads a very long report that should have been printed, handed to us, and a 30 second comment made about the brochure being drafted and the building inspector's upcoming seminar.
• Were people just determined to fail to read Mr. Abbott's subsitute motion on Article 12? I counted at least three completely incorrect claims made about it, all of which would have been seen to have been obviously false after about 15 seconds of looking at his substitute motion.
• It would be nice to have mikes that could pick up sound from more than 4 inches away. People really should follow Mr. Abbott's example and just take the mike out of the holder and hold it up to one's mouth.

[Rich, 00:25]
Session 1 of N, where N is a large positive integer

I regret that the notes will be somewhat incomplete, because they will often refer to the contents of reports given to us. Normally you could get those reports on-line and follow along. Unfortunately, they are not yet available on-line. However, it would be too much effort to reproduce in my notes what is already in those reports. So let's just hope they get put on-line soon.

• Called to order at 20:04.
• The Menotomy Minutemen presented the colors and performed the Anthem.
• When the meeting is adjourned, it is adjourned to 20:00 on 28 April.
• Article 2 - Reports of Committees:
  • Received the reports of BoS, the ARB, and the Noise Abatement Study Committee.
  • Mr. Ferrar of the Rental Reinspection Committee read the report of the committee. Key points are that the only nearby municipalities that require apartment inspections when an apartment turns over are Boston and Chelsea, that Medford was considering it but gave up after overwhelming negative feedback at a public hearing, and would be very hard to budget for and staff due to the uncertaintly and spikiness of apartment turnovers. The committee instead decided to focus on education ("educate instead of mandate") and will be creating a brochure for tenants and landlords. The Director of Inspection Services will be giving a seminar on apartment compliance with codes.
  • Pat Thomas of the Tree Committee asked everyone to fill out and hand in the Committee's tree survey form which was in the TMMs' packets.
  • The FinComm report was received. Mr. Tosti gave a high level overview. He said the crisis continues, though there are some signs the state is pulling out of the recession. He said the Town cannot survive on its own revenues and requires a steadily increasing local aid passage to survive. He reviewed page 3 of the report which explains what the Town's increase in revenues consisted of, what the projected deficit was, and how it was closed in the proposed budget. He reviewed pages E1-E2 which discussed the use of reserves and pointed out that we are using reserves unsustainably and that there will be big problems when the reserves are drained. He also reviewed the current and proposed school-related debt service on pages D1-D2 of the report and pointed out that Stratton will require either another debt exclusion or absorbing it into the regular capital plan.
• Mr. Tosti moved that the recommended votes of the BoS, FinComm, and the ARB be before the meeting without further motion. Approved.
• Article 3 - Measurers of Wood and Bark:
  • BoS recommended that John A. Fitzmaurice be appointed to the post.
  • Town Counsel Maher said that the office is one of the last of the colonial-era offices that is still selected by the Town (as opposed to by Town officials). He said the office is still active, and if you buy a cord of wood you can have the measurer come out and tell you how much wood you really received.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 4 - Election of Assistant Moderator:
  • Mr. Moderator explained that nominations would be taken, then closed, and the article tabled. Ballots would be made up which would only be given to TMMs at checkin on Wednesday. Once the Wednesday session begins, the ballots will be collected and counted and the results announce. He said that the candidates would have the chance to address the Meeting and discuss their qualifications and why they want the position.
  • Mr. Abbott nominated Mr. Leone.
  • Mr. Greeley nominated Mr. Caccavaro.
  • Mr. Rosselli nominated Mr. McCabe.
  • Motion to close nominations - approved.
  • Motion to table - approved.
• Article 5 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Bicycle Parking:
  • The ARB recommended a vote as set forth in its report to explicitly add bicycle-related verbiage to the "Circulation" part of Article 11 Section 11.06 of the Zoning By-Law.
  • Mr. Tsoi said that the ARB is also the planning board of the Town and takes its responsibility to comment on zoning and land use articles very seriously.
  • Mr. Chaput said this was a housekeeping article to fix some flaws in last year's bicycle parking zoning change, as the requirements were not as apparent as they could have been.
  • Mr. Johnson of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee said that the purpose of the recommendation was to add a cross-reference to the bicycle parking rules to the relevant Environmental Design Review section of the Zoning By-Law. He said it would not expand or restrict the bicycle parking requirements.
  • ARB recommendation approved unanimously.
• Ms. Fiore moved to postpone Articles 6-8 to 3 May, saying that they were complex and we had not had enough time to study them properly.
• Mr. Fischer asked if the ARB could make its presentation on the articles and then have the Meeting postpone them. Mr. Moderator said that was not possible given the motion to postpone was already made.
• Motion to postpone Articles 6-8 to 3 May was approved.
• Article 9 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Off Street Parking:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Abbott offered a subsitute motion which was the text of the article. He said that current single-room occupancy developments (SROs) are one of the cheapest forms of affordable housing we have. He said they are not currently causing problems and that his substitute motion would make a state of no problems be a condition of the parking waiver special permit and would place the burden of proof of no problems on the SRO owner.
  • The Meeting recessed for the mid-session break and then returned.
  • Ms. Mann said the ARB was concerned about definitional issues -- what exactly is an SRO, what is the definition of "affordable" to be used and so on. She said she and Mr. Abbott had discussed this during the recess and that Mr. Abbott agreed to work with the ARB over the course of the year to ironing out these issues. Mr. Abbott indicated he no longer had problems with the recommended no action vote.
  • Mr. Gilligan moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Abbott substitute motion defeated.
  • ARB recommendation of no action approved unanimously.
• Article 10 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Industrial Zone:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • No discussion. Recommendation of no action approved unanimously.
• Article 11 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Affordable Housing:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Tsoi said the ARB supported the intent, but that no action was needed because the Zoning By-Law already allows what the proponents of the article were seeking.
  • ARB recommendation of no action approved unanimously.
• Article 12 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Affordable Housing II:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Abbott offered a substitute motion which was the text of the article with an additional clause making it explicit that the ARB was not obliged to accept the developer's offer.
  • Ms. Mann said this would defeat spirit of the afforable housing by-law be weakening the rule that afforable units be on-site.
  • Mr. Lyons said there is nothing more important in this country today than preventing segregation. He said to not let developers buy their way out of the by-law.
  • Mr. Gilligan said he opposed the substitute motion. He said that in addition to what people already said, the motion was not specific enough on definitions or on criteria for the ARB to follow.
  • [missed name, sorry] said he likes the existing by-law and that other towns are considering it as a model. He said he was worried that state law does not explicitly allow such by-laws and so would not want to complicate our existing one and risk drawing a challenge.
  • Mr. Ellis pointed out that some of the prior criticisms of the substitute motion are invalid, as the substitute does not give developers the ability to buy out of the rules (in fact, the existing by-law already allows for that). He said he liked that it would allow even more affordable units to be created. He noted that his neighborhood used to be affordable and is rapidly ceasing to be so. He noted that the ARB would still have the power to turn down an offer and that the substitute motion would carry out a worthy goal.
  • Mr. Abbott reread his substitute motion and pointed out it does not allow for buyouts. He said he had confidence in the ARB to do the right thing.
  • Mr. Tully said he was bothered that the ARB is not willing to accept the authority being offered to it. He asked Mr. Maher if other town's have a similar by-law and what their experiences have been and if such a by-law would cause legal problems. Mr. Maher said that the by-law did not seem on its face to cause problems but that he really could not speak to the question because there is no good way to know how problematic such a change would prove to be. He also said that no other town had such a by-law.
  • Ms. Harrington said she could not believe Mr. Abbott would be bringing up anything that would ghettoize people. She moved to postpone the article to Wednesday so the ARB, Mr. Abbott, and other parties could continue to discuss it. Her motion to postpone was defeated, 53-105.
  • Mr. Leone said the Zoning By-Law Review Committee unanimously voted no action on the article and that it felt the substitute would complicate the legal situation and was against the spirit of the affordable housing by-law.
  • Mr. Taber said he opposed the subtitute motion. He said he was worried it would lead to increasing concentrations of high-end and low-end housing.
  • Mr. Bernardin moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Abbot substitute motion defeated.
  • ARB recommendation of no action approved.
• Article 13 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Temporary Signs:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Ms. Mayer offered a substitute motion to allow for temporary signs to be put on fields by non-profits and sports leagues. She noted that under this article she was only proposing the enabling zoning changes. She said the BoS recommended vote under Article 15 would set the actual rules for which fields would have signs and so forth. She said the approach is conservative, balanced, and respectful, and would only be at a few designated fields, and that input was solicited from many groups. She said that school sports teams are already doing fundraiser after fundraiser to try to keep fees manageable and it is still not enough. Mr. Moderator broke in and pointed out a major flaw in the substitute motion -- it would incorporate by reference into the Zoning By-Law whatever the current Parks and Recreation Commission regulations on temporary sign use were -- and that would be an illegal delegation of zoning power to the Commission.
  • After some discussion about when the next Parks and Rec Commission meeting was, Mr. Gilligan moved to table the article, which was approved.
• Article 14 - Zoning Bylaw Amendment/Off Street Parking:
  • ARB recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Mr. Faulkner reiterated the ARB's comments in its report that what the article proposed would make inconsistent parking space rules between houses and apartments and would make housing less available and less affordable.
  • Mr. McKinney complained about the number of cars belonging to the tenants in a rental property neighboring his and said that there should be a way to either require landlords to provide parking for all their tenants or else limit the number of cars the tenants could have.
  • ARB recommendation of no action approved unanimously.
• Article 15 - Bylaw Amendment/Temporary Signs II: Tabled (see discussion on Article 13).
• Article 16 - Abandonment of Exterior Lines:
  • BoS recommended abandoning exterior lines at 874-880 and at 980 Massachusetts Avenue. ARB endorsed the BoS recommendation.
  • Ms. Mahon presenting the BoS recommendation and noted that a lawyer for the developers was in the room if people had questions.
  • Mr. Streitfeld asked if an "exterior line" means a line on a map beyond which fixed structures cannot be build. Mr. Maher said yes.
  • Mr. Reedy asked which other properties would be candidates for this. Mr. Maher said that no one knows and referred to the ARB report which discusses that in more detail. He said that lots of structures on Massachusetts Ave are likely in violation of the exterior lines.
  • Mr. Jamieson asked if any transfers of property were involved. Mr. Maher said no.
  • Ms. Fiore asked if this would affect the width of sidewalks. Mr. Maher said no.
  • Mr. Fischer asked what the point of doing this was. Ms. Mahon replied that it would allow buildings to be build closer to the street, providing more of a buffer to abutting residences.
  • Mr. Curro asked if (given that the exterior lines were established by Town purchases) we could could get any money for abandoning them. Mr. O'Brien said that the lines are outdated, are a nuisance, run contrary to the desire of the Zoning By-laws to have commercial developments be closer to the street, limit the creativity of architects, and in fact would be something the Town would be willing to pay to get rid of. In light of all that the Town is not going to try to get compensated for the abandonment.
  • Mr. Fiore asked if the exterior lines easement allow the Town to widen sidewalks. Mr. O'Brien said no, since sidewalks are on the public right of way but the exterior lines are on private property. He said the lines do not give the Town any rights but only prevent buildings past the lines. Mr. Fiore asked for Mr. Maher to speak to his question. Mr. Maher said that the exterior lines are not easements as they are normally thought of. He also said that they only prevent development past a line and do not allow the Town to put sidewalks in mandated space. He said the Town could only do that via negotiation or eminent domain proceedings.
  • Mr. Starr moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Meeting adjourned at 23:03 to 20:00 on 28 April.

[Rich, 00:09]
The FinComm report has been released. I am told that it will be available on the FinComm website "soon". I will have a link when it becomes available.

[Rich, 12:26]
The Smell of the Greasepaint, the Roar of the Crowd

The 2004 Annual Town Meeting begins tonight at 20:00. So far the BoS and the ARB have released their reports, but as far as I know they are not yet available on-line. Once they are, I will have links to them.

[Rich, 12:24]
State of the Town

The State of the Town address is being delivered by new BoS Chair Diane Mahon tonight at 19:00, most likely in the Town Hall auditorium.

[Rich, 12:20]
Warrant Review Tonight

The Warrant Review sponsored by Arlington Vision 2020 and the Arlington League of Women Voters is tonight. Regrettably, I will be unable to attend due to illness.

[Rich, 12:19]
Special Town Meeting Warrant Opens, Closes 20 April

The Board of Selectmen have voted to open a warrant for a Special Town Meeting. The warrant will open at 8:00am on Tuesday, 20 April, and close at 4:00pm on the same day.

In contrast to the mere 10 registered voter signatures that are required to insert an article into the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting, the signatures of 100 registered voters are needed to put an article in a Special Town Meeting warrant.

UPDATE:
According to Michael Quinn and Ray Bloom, the STM will be about the Dallin and Hardy schools and will be scheduled for 19 May. Also, there will be another STM called later in the year about the Symmes development (no doubt to do the necessary rezoning to enable the project to proceed).

[Rich, 20:12]
Live, From Arlington...

Check out the Live From Arlington website. They've done a really nice job.

[Rich, 00:09]
Official Unofficial Results

If you want to see election results that (a) are formatted much more nicely than my simplistic HTML forays, and (b) are as official as we can get until the official results are out, then see this page on the Town Website (it'll still be a couple of days before the write-in results will be known).

[Rich, 22:40]
The Town Meeting Member is dead. Long live the Town Meeting Member!

Here is the list of defeated incumbents and new TMMs. "New" means elected as a non-incumbent (not necessarily a TMM rookie). "Defeated incumbents" does not include incumbents who chose not to run for re-election.

PRECINCT 1
Defeated Incumbents
   Barry-Smith
   Paul
New TMMs
   Steinhilber
   King
   Hatfield (technically lost her race, but presumably Steinhilber and King,
             who both won 3yr and 2yr slots will take the 3yr slots, leaving
             Hatfield to take a 2yr slot)

PRECINCT 2
Defeated Incumbents
   S. Cella
New TMMs
   Meister

PRECINCT 3:
Defeated Incumbents
   Boschi
New TMMs
   Allison

PRECINCT 4 - none of either

PRECINCT 5
New TMMs
   Lovelace
   Malin

PRECINCT 6
New TMMs
   Logan
   Kazarian
   Spitzkoff

PRECINCT 7:
New TMMs
   Lehrich
   Loreti

PRECINCT 8 - none of either

PRECINCT 9
New TMMs
   Coletta

PRECINCT 10
New TMMs
   Grealish-Kelly
   Lee

PRECINCT 11
Defeated Incumbents
   W Maytum
New TMMs
   Schoenthaler

PRECINCT 12
Defeated Incumbents
   Thomas
   Nicholas
New TMMs
   Dunn
   Jamieson

PRECINCT 13
New TMMs
   Brandt

PRECINCT 14
New TMMs
   Stetson

PRECINCT 15
Defeated Incumbents
   Lavalle
New TMMs
   Kirby

PRECINCT 16
Defeated Incumbents
   Franzen
New TMMs
   Koch

PRECINCT 17 - none of either

PRECINCT 18 - none of either

PRECINCT 19
New TMMs
   Sweeney

PRECINCT 20
Defeated Incumbents
   Coffey
New TMMs
   Putnam

PRECINCT 21
New TMMs
   Abbott

[Rich, 21:37]
Complete Unofficial Town Meeting Member Election Results

Here are the complete, unofficial results of TMM races:

(*) = winner
(I)  = incumbent

Precinct 1
Three Years
(*)(I) Boltz	73
(*)(I) Cleinman	66
(*) King	63
(*) Steinhilber	54
(I) Paul	47
(I) Barry-Smith	46
Two Years (2)
(*) Steinhilber	69
(*) King	66
Hatfield	49
Precinct 2
(*)(I) Carey	106
(*)(I) DeCourcey	100
(*) Meister	89
(*)(I) A Cella	87
(I) S Cella	84
Precinct 3
(*) Allison	90
(*)(I) Haussman	79
(*)(I) Hayward	72
(*) Flaherty	69
(I) Boschi	56
Precinct 4
(*)(I) Scoppettuolo	52
(*)(I) Marshall	51
(*)(I) Logue	48
(*)(I) Piandes	47
Precinct 5
Three Years
(*)Lovelace	70
(*)(I) DuBois	69
(*)Smith	68
One Year (2)
(*) Malin	73
Precinct 6
Three Years
(*)(I) Fischer	70
(*) Logan	60
(*) Kazarian	59
(*)(I) Reale	56
Two Years (1)
(*) Spitzkoff	27
Logan	26
Kazarian	23
Precinct 7
(*)(I) Connors	67
(*)(I) Sharpe	64
(*) Lehrich	64
(*) Loreti	64
Precinct 8
(*)(I) Friedman	166
(*)(I) Foskett	154
(*)(I) Rehrig	143
(*)(I) J Worden	134
Boehm	90
Precinct 9
(*)(I) Hallee	133
(*) West	131
(*) Coletta	119
(*)(I) Judd	113
Precinct 10
(*) Grealish-Kelly	114
(*) Lee	98
(*)(I) Kenney	94
(*)(I) Quinn	91
Marullo	88
Precinct 11
(*) Schoenthaler	123
(*)(I) Faulkner	118
(*)(I) Sheehan	108
(*)(I) C Maytum	106
(I) W Maytum	96
Schwartz	87
Precinct 12
(*) Dunn	217
(*)(I) Chaput	202
(*) Jamieson	179
(*)(I) Thrope	172
(I) Thomas	160
Gera	85
(I) Nicholas	51
Precinct 13
Three Years
(*)(I) J Deyst	174
(*)(I) M Deyst	173
(*)(I) Doherty	155
(*)(I) Anderson	133
Bayer	124
Two Years (1)
(*) Brandt	108
Bayer	101
Precinct 14
(*)(I) Wyly	86
(*) Stetson	85
(*)(I) McCarthy	83
(*)(I) Canaday	76
Budding	53
Precinct 15
(*)(I) LaCourt	146
(*)(I) Spangler	146
(*) Kirby	132
(*)(I) Ciano	127
Mahoney	89
(I) Lavalle	76
Precinct 16
(*)(I) Phelps	105
(*) Koch	96
(*)(I) Sandrelli	92
(*)(I) Dingee	88
Czapski	84
(I) Franzen	72
Precinct 17
(*)(I) Olzewski	72
(*)(I) Gibbons	67
(*)(I) LeRoyer	66
(*)(I) Berzins	61
Precinct 18
(*)(I) Ford	106
(*)(I) Parsons	102
(*)(I) Hadley	98
(*)(I) White	89
Precinct 19
(*)(I) Doherty	92
(*) Sweeney	88
(*)(I) O'Conor	84
(*)(I) Trembly	79
McElhoe	72
Precinct 20
(*)(I) Mann	103
(*) Putnam	97
(*)(I) Phillips	92
(*)(I) Daly	82
(I) Coffey	58
Precinct 21
(*)(I) Mayer	76
(*)(I) Malone	71
(*) Abbott	66

[Rich, 22:20]
Annual Town Election tomorrow (Saturday) from 8am to 8pm!

Remember to get out there and vote, everyone! Even though there's only one contested town-wide race, there are plenty of contested Town Meeting Member races. And remember that both RCN and Comcast will be carrying the post-poll-closing TV show from Town Hall (channels 8 and 3 respectively).l

[Rich, 19:50]
War is peace, freedom is slavery, we don't want to deny you your property rights, we just want to tell you what you can do with your property.

From today's Advocate:

According to Historical Commission member Michael Ruderman, the zoning isn't used to deny property rights. Instead, it allows the community to have input in changes near beloved resources.

and

Ruderman said that only work that requires a town permit to change more than 25% of a structure's exterior elevation would be tagged for review.

and this direct quote from Ruderman

More commonly, this would affect someone who buys a house by the mill and wants to build a McMansion.

In Town Meeting, please vote against the designation of Schwamb Mill as a "special place" and vote for the complete repeal of the "special places" by-law.