Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
2014 Annual Report
Saved text from 227 source pages. Transcription and OCR may contain errors; verify figures and wording against the original. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
Source page 161
7.7.2 Applicability
1. The commercial cultivation, production, processing, assembly, packaging, retail or
wholesale sale, trade, distribution or dispensing of Marijuana for Medical Use is
prohibited unless permitted as a RMD under this Section 7.7.
2. No RMD shall be established except in compliance with the provisions of this
Section 7.7.
3. Nothing in this Section 7.7 shall be construed to supersede federal and/or state
laws governing the sale and/or distribution of marijuana.
4. If any provision of this Section 7.7 or the application of any such provision to any
person or circumstance shall be held invalid, the remainder of this Section 7.7, to the
extent it can be given effect, or the application of those provisions to persons or
circumstances other than those to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected
thereby, and to this end the provisions of this Section 7.7 are severable.
7.7.3 Definitions
Registered Marijuana Dispensary shall mean a ―Medical marijuana treatment
center‖ to mean a not-for-profit entity, as defined by Massachusetts law only,
registered under the Act and Regulations, that acquires, cultivates, possesses,
processes (including development of related products such as food, tinctures,
aerosols, oils, or ointments), transfers, transports, sells, distributes, dispenses, or
administers marijuana, products containing marijuana, related supplies, or
educational materials to qualifying patients or their personal caregivers. Marijuana
for Medical Use shall mean Marijuana that is designated and restricted for use by,
and for the benefit of, Qualifying Patients in the treatment of Debilitating Medical
Conditions as set forth in the Act and Regulations.
Marijuana is the substance defined as ―marihuana‖ under Chapter 94C of the
Massachusetts General Laws.
7.7.4 Eligible Locations for Medical Marijuana Facilities.
1. Registered Marijuana Dispensaries may be allowed by Special Permit from the
Canton Zoning Board of Appeals as Special Permit Granting Authority (―SPGA‖) in
the Industrial Zoning District provided the facility meets the requirements of this
Section 7.7.
7.7.5 General Requirements and Conditions for all Registered Marijuana
Dispensaries.
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1. All RMDs shall be contained within a building or structure.
2. No RMD shall have a gross floor area of less than 2,500 square feet or in excess of
20,000 square feet.
3. An RMD shall not be located in a building that contains any medical doctors
offices or the offices of any other professional practitioner authorized to prescribe the
use of medical marijuana.
4. The hours of operation of an RMD shall be set by the Special Permit Granting
Authority, but in no event shall said RMD be open and/or operating between the
hours of 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM.
5. No RMD shall be located on a lot which abuts a residential zoning district or
within 500 feet from any residential zone or district, or residential development. No
RMD may be located 500 feet from any public or private school; house of worship;
day care center; or park, playground, playfield or recreation facility or other facility
in which children commonly congregate.
6. No smoking, burning or consumption of any product containing marijuana or
marijuana-related products shall be permitted on the premises of an RMD.
7. No RMD shall be located inside a building containing residential units, including
without limitation transient housing such as motels and dormitories, or inside a
movable or mobile structure such as a van or truck.
8. Signage for the RMD shall include the following language: ―Registration card
issued by the MA Department of Public Health required.‖ The required text shall be
a minimum of two inches in height.
9. RMDs shall provide the Canton Police Department, Fire Department, Building
Commissioner and the Special Permit Granting Authority with the names, phone
numbers and email addresses of all management staff and key holders who can be
contacted if there are operating problems associated with the establishment.
7.7.6 Special Permit Requirements
1. An RMD shall only be allowed by special permit from the Zoning Board of
Appeals as Special Permit Granting Authority in accordance with G.L. c. 40A, §9,
subject to the following requirements, conditions and limitations.
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2. A special permit for an RMD shall be limited to one or more of the following uses
that shall be prescribed by the Special Permit Granting Authority: cultivation of
Marijuana for Medical Use (horticulture) processing and packaging of Marijuana for
Medical Use, including Marijuana that is in the form of smoking materials, food
products, oils, aerosols, ointments, and other products; retail sale or distribution of
Marijuana for Medical Use to Qualifying Patients;
3. In addition to the application requirements set forth in this Section 7.7 a special
permit application for an RMD shall include the following:
1) The name and address of each owner of the RMD;
2) Copies of all required licenses and permits issued to the applicant by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and any of its agencies for the RMD;
3) Evidence of the Applicant‘s right to use the site for the RMD, such as a deed, or
lease;
4) if the Applicant is a business organization, a statement under oath disclosing all of
its owners, shareholders, partners, members, managers, directors, officers, or other
similarly-situated individuals and entities and their addresses. If any of the above are
entities rather than persons, the Applicant must disclose the identity of the owners of
such entities until the disclosure contains the names of individuals;
5) A certified list of all parties in interest entitled to notice of the hearing for the
special permit application, taken from the most recent tax list of the Town and
certified by the Town Assessor;
6) Proposed security measures for the RMD, including lighting, fencing, gates and
alarms, etc., to ensure the safety of persons and to protect the premises from theft.
4. Mandatory Findings. The Special Permit Authority shall not issue a special permit
for An RMD unless it finds that: the Facility is designed to minimize any adverse
visual or economic impacts on abutters and other parties in interest, as defined in
G.L. c. 40A, §11; the Facility demonstrates that it will meet all the permitting
requirements of all applicable agencies within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
and will be in compliance with all applicable state laws and regulations; and the
applicant has satisfied all of the conditions and requirements of this Section 7.7;
5. Annual Reporting. Each RMD permitted under this Bylaw shall as a condition of
its special permit file an annual report with the Special Permit Granting Authority
and the Town Clerk no later than January 31st, providing a copy of all current
applicable state licenses for the Facility and/or its owners and demonstrate continued
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compliance with the conditions of the Special Permit and appear before the SPGA if
requested by the SPGA..
6. A special permit granted under this Section shall have a term limited to the
duration of the applicant‘s ownership of the premises as an RMD. A special permit
may be transferred only with the approval of the Special Permit Granting Authority
in the form of an amendment to the special permit with all information required in
this Section 7.7.
7. The applicant shall post a bond before issuance of a building permit to cover costs
for the removal of the RMD in the event the Town must remove the RMD. The
value of the bond shall be based upon the ability to completely remove all the items
associated with the RMD and properly clean the facility at prevailing wages. The
value of the bond shall be developed based upon the applicant providing the SPGA
with three (3) written bids to meet the noted requirements. An incentive factor of 1.5
shall be applied to all bonds to ensure compliance and adequate funds for the Town
to remove the RMD at prevailing wages.
7.7.7 Abandonment or Discontinuance of Use
1. A Special Permit shall lapse if not exercised within one year of issuance.
2. An RMD shall be required to remove all material, plants equipment and other
paraphernalia: prior to surrendering its state issued licenses or permits; or within six
months of ceasing operations; whichever comes first.
7.7.8 Hardship Cultivation of Marijuana
1. The hardship cultivation of marijuana under a hardship registration in any
zoning district shall occur only in compliance with all of the requirements of 105
CMR 725.035.
2. Cultivation and storage of marijuana under a hardship registration shall occur
only in the primary residence of the registered qualifying patient or personal
caregiver;
3. Cultivation and storage of marijuana under a hardship registration shall not occur
in any accessory building or in the yard or other area outside the primary residence
of the registered qualifying patient or personal caregiver;
4. Cultivation and storage of marijuana under a hardship registration shall be in an
enclosed, locked, indoor area accessible only to the registered qualifying patient or
his or her personal caregiver(s).
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5. The hardship cultivation and storage of marijuana shall not be visible or otherwise
perceptible from the street or other public areas, including without limitation:
(1) visual observation;
(2) noise in excess of the maximum noise level permissible pursuant to
applicable law;
(3) smell or odor.
6. The hardship cultivation of marijuana under a hardship registration
in any zoning district shall occur only in compliance with all applicable building,
sanitary and safety codes and shall be conducted in a safe manner that does not
endanger the public health, safety or welfare or create a risk of fire or public
nuisance.
7. The hardship cultivation of marijuana under a hardship registration in any zoning
district shall not occur within the common area of any multifamily residential use.
8. The Building Inspector as Zoning Enforcement Officer may inspect the
cultivation and/or storage site of a registered qualifying patient with a hardship
cultivation registration, or the cultivation site of his or her personal caregiver(s), at
any time. Acceptance of a hardship cultivation registration by a registered qualifying
patient constitutes consent for such inspection of the cultivation and/or storage site.
9. All registered qualifying patients or their personal caregivers shall provide annual
written notice to the Building Inspector that they are engaged in the hardship
cultivation of marijuana. Such written notice shall state the address at which the
hardship cultivation or storage of marijuana is occurring and the specific enclosed,
locked area accessible only to the registered qualifying patient or his or her personal
caregiver(s) in which the hardship cultivation or storage of marijuana is occurring.
Planning Board
FINANCE COMMITTEE MOTION:
MOVED: That the Finance Committee recommends that the motion
presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Article 13 as written in
the warrant be adopted.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
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PLANNING BOARD MOTION:
MOVED: That the Zoning By-law be amended to add a new Section
7.7, Special Requirements for Registered Marijuana Dispensaries, as set forth in
the Warrant.
PLANNING BOARD VOTE: 3-0-0
Jeremy Comeau, Chairperson of the Planning Board, gave the following report:
―This is to certify that a public hearing concerning the subject matter of the warrant
for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting was held by the Planning Board on February
19th, 2014 at 7:10pm, and continued on March 5 th, March 19th and April 2nd, 2014 in
the Salah Meeting Room at Town Hall, in accordance with the provision of
Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, as most recently amended, to see if the
Town will vote to amend the Town‘s Zoning By-Law, by inserting or amending the
following, or take any other action in relation thereto; Section 7.7 Special
Requirements for Medical Marijuana Facilities and subsequent sections. Notice of
the subject matter for the public hearing, sufficient for identification, has been
published in the Canton Citizen, a newspaper of general circulation in the Town on
January 30th and February 6th, 2014, and on file in the office of the Planning Board,
the Town Clerk, the Board of Selectmen, at Memorial Hall, and at the reference desk
of the Canton Public Library.‖
Mr. Comeau further stated, ―On April 2 nd, 2014 the Planning Board voted, three
members in favor and zero members opposed to send a positive recommendation to
Town Meeting, therefore, the Planning moves Article 13 as printed in the warrant.‖
Mr. Comeau explained, ―This proposed by-law would provide for a special permit
process if a Medical Marijuana Facility came to Canton. Such a facility would be
subject to the state rules and regulations, however, the Town is also allowed to create
its own rules and regulations. This is a fairly standard by-law used by numerous
other towns throughout the Commonwealth. It‘s been checked over numerous times
by the Town Counsel, and the Planning Board would support this article for this
year.‖
Mr. Porter stated that he feels it is important to add that ―if we don‘t adopted this,
they could, my understanding is that they could go in anywhere, so we to make sure
to adopt something, to make sure that if they were to come in to Canton that they
come in to it appropriately‖.
Mr. Comeau added, ―This is similar to, a number of years ago the Town created the
Adult Entertainment By-Law, not that we wanted it to come to Canton, but this is,
hopefully, to provide strict rules and regulations if one came to Canton‖.
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Moderator Richard Staiti commented, ―Basically, by establishing an area, you can
regulate it, if you don‘t, then you have trouble, correct?‖
Mr. Comeau responded, ―It has to be so far away from a school, in an industrial area
as well, and so forth.‖
VOTED: That the Zoning By-law be amended to add a new Section 7.7, Special
Requirements for Registered Marijuana Dispensaries, as set forth in the Warrant.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
ARTICLE 21
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
COMMITTEE
Article 21 To see if the Town will vote to adopt and approve the recommendations
of the Community Preservation Committee for Fiscal Year 2015 and to see if the
Town will vote to implement such recommendations by appropriating a sum or sums
of money from the Community Preservation Fund established pursuant to Chapter
44B of the General Laws and by authorizing the Board of Selectmen with the
approval of the Community Preservation Committee to acquire by purchase, gift or
eminent domain such real property interests in the name of the Town, or enforceable
by the Town, including real property interests in the form of permanent affordable
housing restrictions and historical preservation restrictions that will meet the
requirements of Chapter 184 of the General Laws as may be necessary or proper to
carry out the foregoing, or to take any other action related thereto.
Board of Selectmen for the Community Preservation Committee
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 1
MOVED: That the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000) be
appropriated from the FY15 Community Preservation Fund revenues for the
administrative expenses of the Community Preservation Committee in FY15.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 1 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―The first two motions have to do with budget for the committee
and these will appear each and every year. The first motion has to do with getting
the expected revenue in the right accounting budget according to the CPA law as
well as municipal finance. According to the CPA law, each committee is permitted
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to set aside up to five percent of expected revenues for administrative expenses.
Administrative expenses are staff, time, legal fees, consulting fees, environmental
assessments, any of these kind of expenses in connection with either a planned or a
potential CPA project. And so this motion just moves that five percent of our
expected revenue, so five percent of six hundred thousand dollars is thirty thousand
dollars, it moves it into the right budgeted reserve. If we don‘t spend all of the five
percent on administrative expenses, then, at the end of the year it rolls right back to
the CPA fund that‘s available for other CPA projects.‖
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 1 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATON COMMITTEE MOTION 2
MOVED: That the following fund transfers be hereby made in FY15
as recommended by the Community Preservation Committee:
Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000) be transferred from FY15 receipts of the
Community Preservation Fund into the CPA Open Space Reserve Subaccount
in the treasury of the town;
Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000) be transferred from FY15 receipts of the
Community Preservation Fund into the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve
Subaccount in the treasury of the town;
Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000) be transferred from FY15 receipts of the
Community Preservation Fund into the CPA Community Housing
Reserve Subaccount in the treasury of the town; and
Three Hundred Ninety Thousand Dollars ($390,000) be transferred from FY15
receipts of the Community Preservation Fund into the CPA Budgeted Reserve.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 2 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―Motion 2 is another budget article that you are going to see every
year, and this puts the rest of the expected revenue into their appropriate accounting
buckets according to both the CPA law and municipal finance. According to CPA
law, we are obligated to either spend or set aside for future spending ten percent of
our expected revenues in the area of historical preservation, ten percent for recreation
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and ten percent for open space acquisition. The remaining seventy percent can be
used for any CPA project in the discretion of the committee and ultimately voted by
Town Meeting. So, again, this motion puts those money into the right accounting
buckets so that we can spend them when we come back to you for CPA projects.‖
Alan Keefe asked ―Within Motion 2, sixty thousand dollars to be transferred to the
Open Space Reserve Subaccount, later on in Motion 3 it talks about taking money
out of the Open Space and Recreation Reserve Subaccount and I wonder if it‘s not
described properly in Motion 2. Also, the previous speaker mentioned ten percent
going to open space, ten percent to recreation and ten percent to historic preservation
and didn‘t mentioned the housing. I wanted to get clarification. I thought the ten
percent was for open space and recreation as a single item.‖
Ms. Lopez responded ―I appreciate the opportunity to clarify a mistake. In fact it is
ten percent on community housing, ten percent on open space and recreation and ten
percent on historical preservation. The prior speaker is accurate. His first question, I
think, had to do with the accounting buckets and, yes, there is a subaccount for open
space and a different subaccount for Recreation and these have all been prepared in
consultation with the Finance Director.‖
James Murgia, Finance Director, stated, ―The ten percent set aside for open space is
also available for recreation. The CPA law expanded a few years ago, it used to be
just open space, but they expanded the scope of those projects to cover recreation
which is why the tennis courts is coming up later on. Recreation is an appropriate
use of that open space/recreation category.‖
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 2 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 3
MOVED: That the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars
($200,000) be appropriated to be spent by the School Committee for the purpose
of restoring the High School Tennis Courts, and to fund this appropriation One
Hundred Eight Thousand Dollars ($108,000) be transferred from the CPA
Open Space and Recreation Reserve Subaccount and Ninety Two Thousand
Dollars ($92,000) be transferred from the FY14 CPA Budgeted Reserve.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
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Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 3 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―We have six projects that our committee is recommending being
funded. The total amount to be spent on all of the projects is about three hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. We are very deliberately not recommending that all of
our available CPA funds be spent. And, in fact, as I said previously, if all of the
projects are funded tonight, we will still have approximately seven hundred thousand
dollars available in our CPA fund. I want to emphasize just how much work each
project applicant has done to propose a specific project. They gave us very detailed
project information concerning their specifications, the budget, the timeline, the very
detailed cv‘s. The professionals who are going to be involved. The project sponsors
attended an open public hearing to prepare and to present their projects and then
afterwards our committee met and deliberated, also again at a public hearing. We
did not, as a committee, agree to recommend all the projects that came before us,
and, in fact, we did not agree to recommend one hundred percent of the funding that
came before us. We felt obligated to be good stewards of these dollars and to stretch
them as far as we could recognizing that we wanted not only to use the CPA as a
magnet to attract other monies but we wanted to choose projects that were in the best
interest of the Town and perhaps be available to spend on projects that might never
get funded if they had to compete in the overall municipal budget. In each case the
project requires, as the Moderator stated, a majority vote, Town Meeting may not
change the project specification, may not change or increase the amount that we are
recommending for Town Meeting. The first project relates to the spending category
of outdoor recreation. And, it involves the complete reconstruction of the tennis
courts at the high school and we‘re recommending the two hundred thousand from
our CPA fund for this project. Though the School Committee is the sponsor and
does intend to use, in addition to the CPA funds if granted, some of its own capital. I
want to emphasize that these tennis courts which are the only tennis courts in Town
are not only used by our student athletes, they are used, in addition, by the phys ed
department, by summer campers and by the public at large. These tennis courts were
constructed over twenty-five years ago and they have been patched repeatedly since
then in a fashion that leaves them in their current state. There‘s a suggestion, in fact,
that the Hockomock League, which is the league our student athletes play in, may
not in the future permit the league to continue playing games there because there is a
potential safety issue with the athletes. And, we were persuaded by the School
Committees argument that it just doesn‘t make good economic sense to continue to
patch the courts and instead use the available funds to create a completely new set of
tennis courts with new fencing. If approved by Town Meeting the project is going to
go out to bid immediately and could begin as early as the late summer, if not the
summer then next spring and it‘s anticipated to require about two months of work. If
anybody has any technical questions on what‘s going to be done we have a member
of the School Committee, also a member of our own committee, Bob Golledge,
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available. But the construction is going to be done using the latest state of the art
technology that’s been recommended by consultants who construct these kinds of
tennis courts. And, again, we believe it’s in the best interest not only of our students
but all of the members of the public that use these courts.”
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 3 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED MAJORITY VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 4
MOVED: That the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000) be
transferred from the CPA Housing Reserve Subaccount to be spent by the
Canton Housing Authority for a Community Housing Preservation project to
replace electrical boxes in Veterans’ Housing.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 5-3-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 4 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, “Our next project is in the category of community housing. Our
own Canton Housing Authority proposed this project to replace thirteen very old
electrical boxes in the veterans housing units at Pequit Street. It’s going to cost us
about thirty thousand dollars. These buildings are state owned but the residents are,
of course, Canton residents, our friends and neighbors. The current electrical boxes
are, as I said, old and in very poor working order due to age and weather exposure.
Some of the boxes have burnt out due to corrosion from water damage. Canton’s
Fire Chief Doody provided documentation to the committee that he considers this
situation to be a serious safety concern. The old boxes are what is known as
overhead gang meter sockets, I’m not sure I can explain that further. But, the new
boxes will be 100a voltage with main circuit breakers and therefore code compliant.
And John McCourt is here from the Housing Authority to answer any technical
questions you might have on this.”
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, stated, “The Finance
Committee voted five to three to support this project. The three votes in opposition
to this, while not disagreeing one bit with what the Chairwoman said, were
concerned that these are state owned buildings and if the precedent that we’re setting
by spending Canton funds to maintain state owned buildings which clearly have
been, as mentioned by the Chief, are not up to the code that our residents deserve to
be living in. We did support it five to three.”
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Tony Andreotti, Veterans Administrator, stated, ―When the men and women came
home from World War II these multi-family housings were built. Low income
housing that give them a start in life. And, they continued to be used by Korean
veterans, Vietnam veterans and today we have some Iraq veterans down there. I
know that there‘s some kind of debate as to who should pay the bill, what I believe,
right now we ought to think about safety. These are people who served in the war.
They should be safe and we can debate the rest of it later.‖
Greg Pando, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, offer his support of the
motion and asked ―Is there any recourse for the Town of Canton to seek restitution or
funds from the Commonwealth if we‘re fronting these funds for them to maintain
their property in a code compliant condition?‖
John McCourt of the Canton Housing Authority stated, ―This problem has been
ongoing. The state does give us capital funds to do repairs. We only get X amount in
a pool of money for all the housing authorities in the state. And what we do, just like
the town, everybody else does, is we try to fight for everything and our number one
priority is to and make it safe for our resident of Canton. In Canton housing,
everybody that lives there is a resident of Canton. When I went to the CPA, that‘s
how I stressed this. What the state allows us to do and we attacked this many which
ways, is go into a repair and actually band aide it. So, we get an electrician and they
replace the neutral parts or another part of that, there‘s service disconnect switches
there, that rot out all the time and it‘s not a priority in the list of many things we have
to do. Right now we‘re trying to fix the roofs at Rubin Court because they failed in
twelve years because there was another issue with the state mandate we do. This
particular thing, we had an issue last year where a toaster caught on fire because a
neutral rotted out in that box and the fire department came and would not turn the
power on to the building unless we had that immediately rectified. So, this particular
thing, with the fire department, everything, is we‘re trying to get this so we don‘t
have to deal with this, we don‘t have to worry about our residents, our community
residents, all those people that live on Pequit Street, that live on Rubin, all the
housing, are our residents, and this is one avenue we can take to try and rectify this
situation. And, it‘s a serious situation, we repair them, but it‘s a band aid. They‘ve
been up there for thirty odd years they‘re a mess. We‘d really appreciate this town
supporting, your residents. Taking care of our residents. That‘s what it‘s all about.
We have X amount of money and we try to use it as best we can but like everything
else, there‘s just so many needs, the properties are old.‖
The Moderator asked for clarification from Mr. McCourt that there is no recourse
from the state.
Mr. McCourt responded that he did not believe so.
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Nichola Gallagher inquired if this is state property and if they are not supporting it,
could it become Canton property.
Mark Roy, Director of the Canton Housing Authority, stated, ―It is state property and
even though we‘re overseen by a state agency there‘s still a lot of connection to the
Town. The board is locally elected with one state appointee. This isn‘t about the
fact that this particular project should have got money, like John had mentioned
before, it‘s about choices that the money can go to. We get some money. I put in for
these two projects with the state. The state would have probably given us some for
them but it would have meant at the expense of other projects that we have going on.
Those particular projects, I actually submitted one or two to the CPC, were not
eligible for this particular funding, so this is why we went with these two particular
jobs. You‘ve got to keep in mind that this money is set aside for one of two basic
things for community housing, preservation of current housing, which the Canton
Housing Authority stock makes up about thirty percent of your ten percent
affordable housing requirement, or development of other affordable housing, which I
know that in this community, I feel, the general sentiment is that you don‘t want to
do a lot more of that. So, there‘s a couple of places where you can spend it. That‘s
why we put in our two applications. They didn‘t get, as far as I know, any other
applications for this type of funding. Thank you.‖
Fire Chief Charles Doody stated, ―I support Mark in his efforts to upgrade the safety
of the Pequit Street properties. This is the first of two projects. It is in fact true that
these are in terrible disrepair. They are an immediate safety hazard, needs to be
rectified to the tune of, I think, thirty thousand dollars. We spend thirty-five on
fireworks for the fourth of July, I think it‘s completely understandable to spend thirty
thousand dollars to upgrade these boxes.‖
State Representative William Galvin stated, ―These CPA funds are also state funds.
The program is a program between the Commonwealth of Mass and the local
municipalities to do projects that might not get done through our regular budgets.
And, with all budgets there‘s a lot of pressure, there‘s never enough money to go to
all of the worthy projects. This particular project happens to qualify for these funds
and because of the public safety and the degree of, that they‘re in, I think it‘s prudent
for us to vote for this, and I support it and I hope that everyone else will vote along
with me. Thank you.‖
Ms. Lopez stated, ―On the issue of state owned. It‘s not strictly accurate to suggest
that all of our CPA fund is exclusively based on local surcharges. We have a fund
that is also going to be eligible for state matching funds. So, even though this is state
property and our residents live here and there‘s no better use of community
preservation funds than to preserve what we have as well as the people in them,
we‘re also going to get state matching funds which will be a substantial increment to
our overall CPA fund.‖
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VOTED: Article 21, Motion 4 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED MAJORITY VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 5
MOVED: That the sum of Sixty Three Thousand Seven Hundred
Dollars ($63,700) be appropriated to be spent by the Canton Housing Authority
for a Community Housing Preservation project to upgrade smoke detectors in
Veterans’ Housing, and to fund this appropriation Eighteen Thousand Dollars
($18,000) be transferred from the CPA Housing Reserve Subaccount and Forty
Five Thousand Seven Hundred Dollars ($45,700) be transferred from the FY14
CPA Budgeted Reserve.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 5-3-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 5 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―The next CPA project also relates to the community housing
category. And, in this case, the Canton Housing Authority also proposed spending
sixty-three thousand dollars to replace twenty-six battery operated smoke detectors.
We all know battery operated means that they may or may not be working at any
given time. And to replace them with a code compliant hard-wired fire detection
system. This is also a case where the Fire Chief weighed in and informed us that he
considers this an absolute necessity to avoid the risk of death or serious injury. And,
I want to stress that although veterans are given a preference to these units when
there is space available, we also have young families and so whether the residents are
currently or in the future may be disabled, or have young children, we are, as a
committee, and we think as a town, very concerned about units for our citizens that
have this extent of risk attached to them. Anticipating that this same issue was going
to be raised about state owned property, it is not always going to be the case that our
committee will be recommending spending part of our ten percent set aside to
preserve or rehabilitate these properties. We look forward to getting other projects
potentially for small units, for dedicated housing set aside for municipal employees,
fire, police, but we don‘t have those projects before us. These are the projects that
the Housing Authority, who is the most competent, nonpartisan group of people who
have the best interest of Canton citizens in mind, came to us requesting funding.
And, again, we are obliged to either spend this year or set aside for future spending
ten percent of our CPA fund for community housing.‖
Mark Porter stated that once again the Finance Committee supported this motion,
five members in favor and three members opposed.
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Greg Pando, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, stated, ―I rise to speak in
favor of the motion. I would also like to comment again on a previous speaker who
suggest that perhaps the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is not the best caretaker
for property in the Town of Canton. I‘ve had many discussions with my esteemed
colleague, Mr. Comeau, regarding the availability of accessible housing in the Town
of Canton, which is an extremely important need. And there is very little or none
other than at Brayton Circle. I find it personally unconscionable that the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts forces us to take a choice between having a
leaking roof or having the house burn down in an electrical fire. I don‘t think the
Commonwealth should be in the position of providing housing in the Town of
Canton. I think the Town of Canton would be in much better position, whether it‘s a
local Canton housing partnership that we could have this public housing controlled
by residents of the Town of Canton for the benefit of those in need and take care of
the property so it‘s maintained in one hundred percent excellent condition. Other
than that I rise in support of the motion. Thank you.‖
Fire Chief Charles Doody spoke in support the motion explaining that with this
project, ―These homes will have a series of interconnected electric smoke detectors,
much more reliable, and provide people a greater level of safety in their homes and
give them time to escape if there is indeed a fire, so I support the project.‖
Allan Keith asked, ―Why we‘re transferring sixty thousand dollars to the housing
account and spending thirty thousand that‘s been approved in Motion 4, when we get
to Motion 5 why we‘re only taking out eighteen thousand.‖
The Moderator stated that those sums might reflect prior sums set aside in previous
years and asked for the Chairperson of the Finance Committee to clarify.
Mr. Porter stated, ―I believe that part of this is because the urgency of the safety
issue that the money that‘s set aside for fiscal fifteen, that sixty thousand, would not
be available for another month or so, whereas, if some of this money is used for the
general funding source the projects could be started immediately to address the
safety issue.‖
Allan Keith asked if the money transferred from the CPA reserve fund will be
reimbursed from the housing subaccount.
Mr. Porter responded, ―Because of this timing issue. Because of the desire to deal
with the safety issue before the beginning of the next fiscal year, we have drained the
housing fund for fiscal fourteen and because that fund is drained, funding the rest of
this project, forty-five thousand seven hundred dollars, from the general, which is not
one of the ten percent sleeves. I believe, Mr. Moderator, the question is, since we are
putting sixty thousand dollars into the affordable housing fund for fifteen, if that
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affordable housing fund can pay back to the general part of the community
preservation fund the forty-five thousand that was taken, therefore, leaving more
money for unencumbered projects rather than simply paying for it and then having
sixty thousand in affordable housing. That is a question I do not know the answer
to.‖
Ms. Lopez wished to clarify that there is only one CPA fund. What is being
discussed is a number of subaccounts within which money can be transferred in and
out. The Community Preservation Committee must spend at least ten percent but are
not limited to ten percent and can use other unencumbered dollars to spend on
projects as the committee sees fit. Town Meeting has the ultimate decision of which
projects will be funded.
Jim Murgia, Finance Director, stated, ―If I understand the issue here, the motion is to
spend sixty-three thousand seven hundred dollars with two basic funds, eighteen
thousand dollars coming out of the housing reserve and forty-five seven coming out
of the general. I think you understand the eighteen thousand. There was forty-eight
thousand set aside last year for housing. Thirty thousand‘s already been spent in the
previous motion, Motion 4, so now there is eighteen thousand left. The forty-five
seven that is the other piece of this funding source is from last year‘s set aside. Last
year, if you remember, we set aside forty-eight, forty-eight, forty-eight and three
sixteen for everything else. The forty-five seven that‘s being referenced is coming
out of the three sixteen from last year.‖
State Representative William Galvin stated, ―There‘s three categories of funding and
you have to spend at least ten percent but the general fund will supplement one of
those categories every year. You‘re going to be just spending a minimum of those
accounts, so this is a perfectly normal function. This year you‘re going to have to
spend more on this category from that general fund.‖
David Merrigan moved the question.
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 5 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED MAJORITY VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 6
MOVED: That the sum of Twenty Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000)
be transferred from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve Subaccount to be
spent by the Canton Historical Commission for the purpose of preserving
gravestones at the Canton Corner Cemetery.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
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Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 6 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―The next three projects are relate to the CPA category historical
preservation. As most Canton residents know, we are blessed with extraordinary
historic treasures, and one of them is the Canton Corner Cemetery which includes
gravestones which date back to the 1700‘s. Over the years there have been a whole
slew of very dedicated committed people who have worked to preserve and restore
those gravestones which are deteriorating, frankly, due to weather and age. But,
we‘re at a critical point now, and unless we call in very uniquely skilled
preservationists we may lose these historic treasures. So, we need to act before it‘s
too late. Our committee is recommending spending twenty-five thousand dollars
from the CPA fund to begin this work. We know it‘s not going to be complete in
one year, it is probably going to take several years, but each year the project sponsor,
which in this case is both the DPW as well as the Historical Commission, will need
to come back, make a full report of what it‘s accomplished to our committee and
make a new project application for funds detailing what work is expected to be done
and the amount of money to be appropriated and then we will make a
recommendation based on that status to Town Meeting.‖
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 6 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 7
MOVED: That the sum of Two Thousand Seven Hundred Five
Dollars ($2,705) be transferred from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve
Subaccount to be spent by the Canton Historical Society for the purpose of
restoring a Friendship Quilt.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 7 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―This project is proposed by the Canton Historical Society. And,
the society has among its treasures an 1840 quilt called the ―Friendship Quilt‖, which
is one of the oldest known hand quilts crafted by Canton women who were indeed
one of the first preservationists that we have in Canton, and for it to be available for
public viewing we‘re recommending spending two thousand seven hundred and five
dollars be allocated from the fund. I should note that the Historical Society is also
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contributing eight hundred dollars of its own funds that it‘s raised through private
fund raising. As you can see, this quilt, which is more than one hundred and seventy
years old, is really in remarkable condition given its age, but unless it‘s treated and
stabilized and preserved by a skilled and competent person to do so, we could lose it
forever and so we‘d like to act now to do what‘s required.‖
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 7 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MOTION 8
MOVED: That the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000) be
appropriated to be spent by the Veterans’ Agent for the purpose of restoring
the Civil War Soldier Statue and to fund this appropriation Thirty Thousand
Dollars ($30,000) be transferred from the CPA Historic Preservation Reserve
Subaccount.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Lisa Lopez, Chairperson of the Community Preservation Committee, moved Article
21, Motion 8 as printed in the warrant.
Ms. Lopez stated, ―The final project, also in the category of historic preservation
relates to Canton‘s Civil War statue. And, in this case our committee agrees with our
Veterans Agent that this really great treasure needs to be restored and returned to its
original place of viewing and we recommend spending thirty thousand dollars from
our CPA fund. As you can see, there‘s currently a plant stand in front of Memorial
Hall. What stood there for many, many years, until the 1960‘s was the Civil War
statue. In the 1960‘s is was vandalized and some rudimentary repairs were made to
some of the statue and it was moved to the basement of Town Hall, largely out of
Town view, where it‘s been for decades since. And, our committee agrees that this
really remarkable statue, there were thousands of them that were erected in the years
immediately after the Civil War, and so many of them have been lost due to age and
weather and vandalism. We believe that it should be returned for public viewing.
But, to do so safely the statue needs to be properly repaired. What you can‘t tell
from the photo is what is missing. Numerous parts that were destroyed by vandals
need to be recast and properly applied and then readied for outdoor display, once
again in front of Town Hall. What a fitting tribute it would be to be able to do this
work by 2015. It will be the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the end of the
Civil War.‖
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Tony Andreotti, Veterans Administrator, stated, ―Every community has assets and
they have treasures. The assets have an expiration date. They‘re used for a period of
time, they have a certain life and then they can get used for different things. But
treasures have to be moved from one generation to another. There‘s a responsibility
from one generation to move it to the next, so I feel I‘m here speaking on behalf of
our generation to move this treasure to the next generation and to make it as good as
we can. So I want your backing. That statue was put up there in 1890. I don‘t think
that anybody of the group that put it there at that time would ever think that if it
every got broken or fell down that we wouldn‘t put it back. I have a vested interest
in it. I have put seventy-seven memorial fallen heroes signs up on our streets. I
expect a future generation to continue those. The veterans memorial park, all the
monuments have been placed in one place and a very safe place, I expect the next
generation to continue that. So I believe the passage of this article is the passage of
our responsibility to the next generation.‖
VOTED: Article 21, Motion 8 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
ARTICLE 15
AMEND ZONING BY-LAW SECTION 4.1.6 BY INSERTING NEW
PARAGRAPH “LOT SHAPE”
Article 15 To see if the Town will vote to amend Section 4.1.6 of the Zoning By-
Law as most recently amended by inserting the following as a new paragraph, or to
take any other action related thereto:
3. Lot Shape. Required frontage in all zones shall be not less than the ―Min. Width
Through Building (ft.)‖ listed in Section 4.1.4 of this Zoning By-Law. Said frontage
and width shall be maintained throughout said lot to the rear set back.
No part of a structure shall be closer than 10 feet to any lot line not defined in this
Zoning By-law.
Planning Board
FINANCE COMMITTEE MOTION:
MOVED: That the Finance Committee recommends that the motion
presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Article 15 as written in
the warrant be adopted.
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FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 7-0-0
PLANNING BOARD MOTION:
MOVED: That Section 4.1.6 of the Zoning By-law be amended by
inserting a new third paragraph as follows:
3. In Residence Districts, the boundary of each lot shall be capable of
containing a rectangle whose shortest side is no less than the required minimum
lot frontage in the applicable District and whose area is no less than 80 per cent
of the required minimum lot area in the applicable District.
PLANNING BOARD VOTE: 4-0-0
Jeremy Comeau, Chairperson of the Planning Board, read the report of Planning
Board ,―This is to certify that a public hearing concerning the subject matter of the
warrant for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting was held by the Planning Board on
February 19, 2014 at 7:15pm and continued on March 5 th and March 19th, 2014 in the
Salah Meeting Room, Town Hall, in accordance with the provision of the
Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, as most recently amended, to see if the
Town will vote to amend Section 4.1.6 of the Zoning By-Law as most recently
amended by inserting the following as a new paragraph, or to take any other action in
relation thereto: ―3. Lot Shape. Required frontage in all zones shall be not be less
than the minimum width through building (ft.)‖ listed in Section 4.14 of this Zoning
By-Law. Said frontage and width shall be maintained throughout said lot to the rear
set back. No part of a structure shall be closer than ten feet to any lot line not defined
in this Zoning By-Law and contained, in entirety, in a document available for public
review. Notice of the subject matter for the public hearing, sufficient for
identification, has been published in the Canton Citizen, a newspaper of general
circulation in the Town on January 30th and February 6th, 2014 and on file at the
office of the Planning Board, the Town Clerk, the Board of Selectmen, at Memorial
Hall and at the reference desk of the Canton Public Library. On March 19 th, 2014
the Planning Board, be a vote of three members voted 3-0 to send a positive
recommendation to Town Meeting.‖
Mr. Comeau then moved the Planning Board motion.
Mr. Comeau stated, ―Unfortunately there are times that the Planning Board and other
town officials have to be reactionary in creating our zoning and this is one of those
times. We‘ve had numerous citizens come to Planning Board meetings fed up with,
what we would call, pork chop lots. Years ago we tried to fix it with what is known
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as the build factor, that‘s actually an article that we will discuss after this. The build
factor just has not worked and it‘s been waived numerous times by the Zoning Board
of Appeals. So, what you have in front of you this evening, which is under the
motion, section, in residential districts the boundary of each lot shall be capable of
containing a rectangle whose shortest side is no less than the required minimum lot
frontage in the applicable district and whose area is no less than eighty percent of the
required minimum lot area in the applicable district. So, this, the Planning Board
believes, will help alleviate the issues many neighbors and residents in this Town
have been having with what we call pork chop lots. Sure, it will create
nonconforming lots in the Town but that‘s the easier issue to deal with. The more
difficult issue is all these pork chop lots that keep popping up in different
neighborhoods when they just don‘t belong there, they don‘t belong in some of these
neighborhoods. They sprout up homes that are, just, either not in character or in a
wrong positioning between the street and the rest of their lot. So, it is my hope that
Town Meeting passes this and helps each other out, helps the neighbors out that have
had issues in the past and create less issues in the future.
Marilyn Gibson Panciocco stated, ―I rise in opposition to this article, which I feel is
absolutely too restrictive. We‘ve had by-laws for years which have been fine. Some
of us, contrary to some people, we don‘t mind living on irregular shaped lots. I think
4.22 has already adequately addressed these in the past. We live in cul-de-sacs, we
live on curves in the road and, shocking to some, we feel a free form neighborhood is
more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than cookie cutter lots all lined up in a row. If
some citizens have a lot shape preference, that is fine but I don‘t think their wished
should be imposed on all of us property owners. We have paid big buck for our real
estate, we have paid big buck in property taxes to support our wonderful town that
we love. In return all that we ask is that no more of our personal freedoms be taken
from us regarding what we want to do with our private property. Canton is not a
commune. The zoning by-laws have been more than sufficient for quite a while now
and it‘s time to stop tweaking them for tweaking‘s sake. Enough is enough.
Addressing Article 15 exactly, an acre lot would now have to have two hundred feet
of frontage, that‘s two thirds of a football field and would have to contain a two
hundred foot rectangle that makes up at least eighty percent of the entire lot. I don‘t
know about you guys but to me an acre lot is pretty huge. There‘s plenty of room to
build a lovely home without these absurd decrees. Additionally, if a property owner
wishes to subdivide his lot, with his home on it, and it creates a site line change by
his home, and he doesn‘t care, why should any of us be interfering with his rights
regarding his personal property in which he has invested hundred of thousands of
dollars of his money over the years. I believe that we should stop get into the
minutiae of other citizens personal affairs and respect our rights to self-determine
what we want to do with our property. There‘s a lot of us that are not complaining,
and as I said I think these Zoning By-Laws have been fine for years and years. I
think it‘s time to stop continually tweaking them. I‘d like to think that my land is my
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land and I can do what I want with it. It don‘t interfere with anyone else‘s here. I
think we are individual citizens here and we have rights and freedoms that need to be
reserved. Especially right here in Canton, where the Revolutionary War took place,
so we can have some freedoms and we can have some private property. We do not
need ―big brother‖ anymore. I don‘t think the Zoning Board should be responding to
every little complaint that someone goes down there with because that person can‘t
mind his or her own business. I have a lot invested in my land. We have children
who might want to live in this Town. I want there to be some lots for them. With
this article you couldn‘t even have a cul-de-sac. You couldn‘t be building on a curve
that went into the land. I think this is ridiculous to have four hundred foot frontage,
two-thirds of a football field for a home. I feel I have some rights. I feel they‘re
being taken away from me constantly. I say stop, the zoning laws are fine. Let‘s
move on to something that‘s more important for our Town here. Thank you very
much.‖
Attorney Paul Schneiders stated, ―I want to make it clear that for the last forty years
I‘ve often appeared before the Town Meeting representing clients and I‘ve identified
them. Tonight I‘m not representing any client. I‘m only opposing this article, and
strongly opposing this article because of the chaos I think it is going to create. So
I‘m speaking simply as a resident but someone who has been doing zoning in this
town for forty years. I truly hate to disagree with my good friend, Mr. Comeau, who
I think does an excellent job as Chairman of the Planning Board and is sincerely
trying to respond to a serious issue, that is the pork chop issue. I am not in favor of
pork chops. And, I do think there should be a by-law that somehow gets rid of pork
chops. We tried one out for the last ten years and it hasn‘t worked very well, that‘s
the reason this is on the warrant tonight, to be repealed. Because it hasn‘t worked,
it‘s caused a lot of problems for a lot of individual home owners and a lot of
problems for the Board of Appeals because time and time again, myself, the
Moderator, and other zoning attorneys have had to go to the Zoning Board because is
just was a bad by-law. This, I think, would probably be a bad by-law. I don‘t want
to say that because I‘m not one hundred percent sure, and that‘s the nub of the
problem. This has not been studied at all. We‘re talking about getting a Town
Planner. We need a Town Planner and this is what you need a Town Planner for, to
study this. Nobody knows how many lots are going to be affected. I truly believe
that it will be thousands and thousands of lots in the Town of Canton who will be
affected by this by-law. All of us sitting here tonight haven‘t the foggiest idea,
including myself, how it would affect our particular lot, anything we want to do in
the future on our lot, any additions we want to make, when we want to sell, when we
want to refinance. This hasn‘t been studied at all. A lot of lots would become
nonconforming and the Chairman says, ―well, that‘s not a big problem‖, that is a big
problem, it‘s a big problem for the Zoning Board, it‘s a big problem for any kind of
border in the Town of Canton, it‘s a big problem for the future use of your property.
So, to suddenly make thousands and thousands of the lots nonconforming because
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this arbitrary article that you‘re going to superimpose on your lot and hope it works.
And, as I say, nobody has any idea whether it will work on any of our lots. So, that‘s
what the biggest problem is. It needs to be studied. I think we need the Town
Planner to study it and I think we, truly, should not pass this one hastily like we did
the other one years ago, that led to a lot of problems for the last ten years. The
Planning Board is now saying ―well, that wasn‘t a good idea‖, let‘s throw that out
and let‘s rush into a new one. Let‘s not rush into it again. Thank you.‖
Mr. Comeau responded, ―The amount of frontage that you would need on any lot in
this Town, it actually remains the same, there is no change in the required frontage.
Whatever you have on this Use of Regulations Table, that‘s what you‘re stuck with,
unless we change it at future Town Meetings the frontage stays the same. In regards
to my good friend, the previous speaker, this has actually been studied, in fact, by
other cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth. This is one of three options
that cities and towns have constantly used to take care of pork chop lots. We chose
this one. It was one that was actually recommended to us by our consultant who says
he‘s seen it used in numerous other towns and it‘s been successful in those towns. I
agree, it might not always be successful, but, the problem is, right now, the Build
Factor by-law is never successful. There‘s always ways around this Build Factor by-
law and this needs to replace it because it‘s a greater chance of success with this
article than what we have currently on the books.‖
Greg Pando, Vice Chairperson of the Zoning Board of Appeals stated, ―I rise to
speak in opposition to this article. Very rarely the Board of Appeals takes a position
or members speak on articles since they do come before us for our judicial reading of
the Zoning By-Laws. But, I had to rise on this article because I find that the first
words out of the Chairman of the Planning Boards mouth were that sometimes we
have to create reactive zoning articles and he stated that this was a reactive article. I
urge you that this article should be defeated. Currently the Board of Appeals, the
Planning Board and Board of Selectmen are working towards hiring a Town Planner,
developing a position for Town Planner that has been vacant for many, many years
in the Town of Canton. Once this position is created and we have a professional
Planner, this is a perfect type of article for him to evaluate and to make
recommendations on. Currently, the way this article is formulated, a previous
speaker had mentioned that thousands of existing home owners would be placed in
negative positions by becoming pre-existing nonconforming lots and that is in fact
true. This would add extra burden to home owners having to come to the Board of
Appeals to seek relief for additions and other modifications to their property, in the
past where they would have had this as a right. We were told ten years ago that the
solution to pork chop lots or congested zoning was the Build Factor and that the
Build Factor was used in many, many towns. It was one of three or four major uses
to control pork chop lots and bad zoning. Well, we‘re finding out tonight that, in
fact, over the past ten years that has not worked. It is being recommended for repeal
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tonight. We‘re faced with another zoning article that we‘re told this is the solution,
based on that it‘s one of available, by many communities. I suggest that we really
need to take our time. Let‘s wait for a Town Planner to be hired, for the position to
be formulated, and let‘s not rush into something that‘s going to cause a lot of disaster
for many, many residents in the Town. Thank you.‖
Other citizens spoke, most were opposed to the article.
Nicole Gallagher asked if it there were situation that on a particular parcel a pork
chop lot would make sense, would it be possible to get it approved under this
proposed by-law.
Mr. Comeau responded, yes, it could be approved but it would be necessary to get
approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mr. Pando stated that he wished to ―correct misinformation from the previous
speaker in answer to a previous speakers question‖ stating ―The answer is, no, you
may not create pork chop lot under the subdivision control by-laws. The previous
speaker said that of course you can go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for approval.
Well, to come to the Board of Appeals you would have to get a variance which is a
very difficult thing to achieve in the Board of Appeals. It is not a matter of right,
you have to show specific issues of topography, of shape of lot, of hardship of many
statutory elements, so saying that you can go to the Board of Appeals and get a pork
chop lot, it‘s not as simple as that. So, I would say they answer to your question
would be no.‖
VOTED: Planning Board motion.
DEFEATED SHOW OF HANDS, NOT MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS
ARTICLE 14
AMEND ZONING BY-LAW BY DELETING SECTION 4.2.1 – BUILD FACTOR
Article 14 To see if the Town will vote to delete Section 4.2.1 of the Zoning By-
Law as most recently amended and to amend the remaining subsection numbers in
Section 4.2 accordingly, or to take any other action related thereto.
Planning Board
FINANCE COMMITTEE MOTION:
MOVED: That the Finance Committee recommends that the motion
presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Article 14 as written in
the warrant be adopted.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 7-0-0
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PLANNING BOARD MOTION:
MOVED: That the Zoning By-Law be amended by deleting Section
4.2.1, Build Factor and by amending the remaining subsection numbers in
Section 4.2 accordingly.
PLANNING BOARD VOTE: 3-0-0
Jeremy Comeau, Chairperson of the Planning Board, read the report of the Planning
Board, ―This is to certify that a public hearing concerning the subject matter of the
warrant for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting was held by the Planning Board on
February 19, 2014 at 7:10pm and continued on March 5 th, 2014 in the Salah Meeting
Room, Town Hall, in accordance with the provision of the Massachusetts General
Laws, Chapter 40A, as most recently amended, to see if the Town will vote to amend
the Town‘s Zoning By-Law by deleting Section 4.2.1 Build Factor of the Zoning By-
Law as most recently amended and to amend the remaining subsection numbers in
Section 4.2 accordingly, or to take any other action in relation thereto, and contained,
in entirety, in a document available for public review. Notice of the subject matter
for the public hearing, sufficient for identification, has been published in the Canton
Citizen, a newspaper of general circulation in the Town on January 30 th and February
6th, 2014, and on file in the office of the Planning Board, the Town Clerk, the Board
of Selectmen, at Memorial Hall, and at the reference desk of the Canton Public
Library. One March 5th, 2014 the Planning Board by a vote of three members voted
3-0 to send a positive recommendation to Town Meeting. However, because the
previous article was not passed, the Planning Board allowed me to make a different
motion to keep this in the by-laws so we would make a motion to postpone this
article indefinitely.‖
VOTED: POSTPONED INDEFINITELY UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
ARTICLE 17
DESIGNATION OF HEMENWAY DRIVE AS A SCENIC ROAD PURSUANT
TO M.G.L. c. 40, SECTION 15C
Article 17 To see if the Town will vote to designate Hemenway Drive as a scenic
road pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40, Section 15C as
recommended by the Planning Board, or to take any other action related thereto.
Planning Board
FINANCE COMMITTEE MOTION:
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MOVED: That the Finance Committee recommends that the motion
presented by the Planning Board to Town Meeting for Article 17 as written in
the warrant be adopted.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 6-1-0
PLANNING BOARD MOTION:
MOVED: That Hemenway Drive be designated as a scenic road
pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40, Section 15C.
PLANNING BOARD VOTE: 3-0-0
Jeremy Comeau, Chairperson of the Planning Board, read the report of the Planning
Board, ―This is to certify that a public hearing concerning the subject matter of the
warrant for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting was held by the Planning Board on
February 19th, 2014 at 7:05pm in the Salah Meeting Room, Town Hall, in
accordance with the provision of the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, as
most recently amended, to see if the Town will vote to designate Hemenway Drive
as a scenic road pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40, Section 15C,
or take any other action in relation thereto, and contained, in entirety, in a document
available for public review. Notice of the subject matter for the public hearing,
sufficient for identification, has been published in the Canton Citizen, a newspaper
of general circulation in the Town on January 30 th and February 6th, 2014 and on file
in the office of the Planning Board, the Town Clerk, the Board of Selectmen, at
Memorial Hall and at the reference desk of the Canton Public Library. On February
19th, 2014 the Planning Board, by a vote of three members voted 3-0 to send a
positive recommendation on this article to Town Meeting. So, the Planning Board
moves adoption of Article 17.‖
Mr. Comeau stated, ―This article was brought to our attention by some neighbors up
on Hemenway Drive. It‘s our duty to support the citizens of this Town, the
neighbors on Hemenway Drive. If you‘ve ever driven down this road, which I
would encourage people to do so, because it is a very scenic road. And, it has
beautiful homes, beautiful shade trees down the road, stone walls, and this is what
we need to preserve in the Town. And, the neighbors felt that there is a possibility
that this road could be in danger. And, I felt, and I know the other Planning Board
members felt, it was our duty to give these neighbors the tools necessary, if possible,
to preserve the street that they live on. These are neighbors helping neighbors and as
any good citizen in this room, I would hope that you would support the neighbors on
Hemenway Drive.‖
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David Merrigan asked if there was any precedent for making a private way a scenic
way.
Mr. Comeau responded that, through Town Counsel, he has been told that
Masschusetts General Law does not specify between public and private roads when
discussing scenic roads. According to information he received from Town Counsel
there is no issue in designating a private road as a scenic way.
Mr. Merrigan also asked about the statement in the Finance Committee‘s minority
discussion printed in the warrant which reads ―There was no information from the 12
residents of this private way presented to the Finance Committee.‖
Mr. Comeau responded that although he cannot speak for the Finance Committee, he
can confirm that several residents of Hemenway Drive did appear before the
Planning Board.
VOTED: That Hemenway Drive be designated as a scenic road pursuant to
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40, Section 15C.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
ARTICLE 11
“OMNIBUS” CAPITAL OUTLAY PROGRAM
Article 11 To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate, or to transfer from
available funds, or to authorize the Town Treasurer with the approval of the Board of
Selectmen, to borrow (and to issue bonds or notes therefore) any sum or sums of
money, or by any combination of these methods of financing as may be necessary or
desirable, make available funds for the purpose of purchasing, leasing, re-
conditioning, improving or replacing any motor vehicles or other items of equipment
or machinery or other items of personal property for any town agency, or for the
purpose of contracting for any service, or for the design, repair, acquisition,
construction, replacement or relocation or improvement to any town building or
other structure, public works facility (including highway needs and traffic safety
items), any other town owned facility or real property, or for any other purposes for
which borrowing may be authorized, to purchase, or to take by eminent domain, any
land or easements necessary for any such purposes and, where applicable, to
authorize the trade-in of any presently owned motor vehicles, equipment or
machinery to reduce the purchase or acquisition cost of any item to be acquired, or
to take any other action related thereto.
Board of Selectmen for Capital Planning Committee
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MOTION 1
MOVED: (a) The acquisition of all vehicles and other motorized
equipment that is authorized to be purchased or otherwise acquired by any
motion made under this warrant article shall be under the responsibility of the
Finance Director/Chief Procurement Officer. In addition to the procurement,
the “trade-in” or other disposition of all vehicles and other motorized
equipment being replaced is also authorized and shall be under the
responsibility of the Finance Director/Chief Procurement Officer. In all cases
where by a motion made under this warrant article, a vehicle or other piece of
motorized equipment is to be acquired by a town agency such purchase or
acquisition shall be subject to and bound by the detailed specifications
regarding such purchase or acquisition on file in the office of the Town Clerk;
provided, however, the Finance Director/Chief Procurement Officer, may, in
appropriate circumstances, waive or modify the said detailed specifications,
subject to a vote of the Finance Committee, taken within 30 (thirty) days
following a decision to waive or to modify the foregoing provision requiring full
compliance with the specifications on file.
(b) All building related projects which are approved and or funded by
any motion made under this article shall be under the responsibility of the
Building Renovations Committee appointed pursuant to Canton By-law, Article
X, section 4, except as may be provided by any specific motion made pursuant
to this article.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 1 as
printed in the warrant.
Mr. Porter thanked the Capital Planning Committee for their input to the Finance
Committee and stated this motion authorizes the Finance Director to supervise the
acquisition, trade-ins, or other disposition of vehicles and other motorized
equipment. This motion also authorizes the Building Renovations Committee to
oversee all building/land projects.
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 1 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
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MOTION 2
MOVED: That Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) be
appropriated from the Fiscal Year 2015 tax levy and other general revenues of
the Town to be spent by the Finance Director (in his capacity as Chief
Procurement Officer) with the approval of various Municipal Departments
designated below and with the approval of the Board of Selectmen for the
purposes set forth below as follows:
FINCOM FINCOM
RECOMMENDATIONS AMOUNT VOTE
Police Department
Police Cruiser Replacement $113,000 8-0-0
Bullet Resistant Vests 13,000 8-0-0
Fire Department
Thermal Imaging Cameras 48,000 8-0-0
Fire Prevention Vehicle Replacement 38,000 8-0-0
DPW
Replace 2003 Ford F250 Truck #5 56,000 8-0-0
Purchase & Install Fleet Electronic Interface Devices 19,000 8-0-0
Replace Mobile Radios 32,000 8-0-0
Replace Tire Changing Equipment 13,400 8-0-0
Replace Tire Balancing Equipment 13,400 8-0-0
Purchase Brush Chipper Attachment 8,000 8-0-0
Finance
Computer Upgrades 31,000 8-0-0
Dispatch Server Replacement 20,000 8-0-0
Firewall/VPN Equipment Replacement 7,800 8-0-0
Purchase Desktop Server 9,700 8-0-0
Replace Network Switches 6,700 8-0-0
Recreation
Purchase new Ford F-350 Truck with Plow 41,000 8-0-0
Sod Replacement & Playing Surface Rehabilitation 10,000 8-0-0
Library
Computers & Operating Systems Upgrades 10,000 8-0-0
Interior Painting 10,000 8-0-0
_________
GRAND TOTAL $500,000
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The amounts listed above for particular acquisitions are not to be construed as
individual appropriations. The sums shown are intended to be estimates of
individual items but the amount appropriated is one line item in the total sum of
Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000). The Finance Director and Town
Administrator, acting jointly, are hereby authorized to distribute such funds in
such a manner as may be needed to accomplish the forgoing list of purchases;
provided, however, that each item contained in the list is procured and that the
excess funds are available because one or more items cost less than estimated
and not because an item intended to be procured is not so procured.
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 2 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―This is
municipal cash capital…$500,000. The first item here is the Police Department, for
police cruiser replacement, $113,000 in cash capital.‖ Mr. Manning continued,
―$113,000 in cruiser replacement; bullet resistant vests, $13,000. The Fire
Department, the thermal imaging cameras, $48,000; fire prevention vehicle
replacement, $38,000. DPW, replace a 2003 Ford F250 truck #5, $56,000; replace
and install Fleet electronic interface devices, $19,000; replace mobile radios,
$32,000; replace tire changing equipment, $13,400; replace tire balancing
equipment, $13,400; and purchase brush chipper equipment, $8,000. The Finance
Department in cash capital, computer upgrades, $31,000; dispatch server
replacement, $20,000; firewall/VPN equipment replacement, $7,800; purchase
desktop server, $9,700; replace network switches, $6,700. For the Recreation
Department purchase a new Ford F-350 truck with plow, $41,000; sod replacement
and playing surface rehab, I believe this would be at the Kennedy School area,
$10,000. And, for the Library, computers and operating systems upgrades, $10,000;
interior painting of the library, $10,000. The grand total, Mr. Moderator, is $500,000
is municipal cash capital.
Kate Merrigan stated that she has observed new police vehicles in other communities
that have dark windows, making it very difficult to see who is driving. She asked if
the new police cruisers would have tinted windows.
Deputy Police Chief Helena Findlen responded that the Police Chief was currently
out of state and she was not aware if the windows in the new vehicles would be
tinted but she would bring it to his attention when he returns.
John Connolly, a member of the Board of Selectmen and also the Police Department
liaison for the Board of Selectmen, stated that he had a discussion with the Police
Chief about tinted windows. The Police Chief told him that the window were legal
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but Mr. Connolly state that he too expressed his preference to not have the windows
tinted. He stated that he would mention it to the Chief again when he speaks to him.
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 2 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 3
MOVED: That Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) be
appropriated from the Fiscal Year 2015 tax levy and other general revenues of
the Town, for the Canton School Committee to expend for the purpose of
purchasing certain items of property set forth below for the School Department
as follows:
FINCOM FINCOM
AMOUNT VOTE
Building Repairs/Improvements
Exhaust Fans – Hansen $ 27,975 8-0-0
Energy Management Upgrade – GMS 15,653 8-0-0
Security Upgrade – GMS 12,290 8-0-0
Security Upgrade – High School 36,276 8-0-0
Elementary Security Upgrades – Systemwide 16,926 8-0-0
HVAC – Systemwide 99,000 8-0-0
Technology
Infrastructure Upgrade – Systemwide 140,614 8-0-0
Wireless Build – JFK & Luce 33,264 8-0-0
Program Improvements
Textbooks – World Language, Mandarin – High School 7,036 7-1-0
Robotics Course Startup – Science – High School 4,596 8-0-0
Four Visualizers,Camera,projector,cables & carts,GMS 5,748 8-0-0
Textbooks Year two of enVisionMath Systemwide 100,622 7-1-0
_______
GRAND TOTAL $500,000
The amounts listed above for particular acquisitions are not to be construed as
individual appropriations. The sums shown are intended to be estimates of
individual items but the amount appropriated is one line item in the total sum of
Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000). The Finance Director and the
Business Manager of the School Department, acting jointly, are hereby
authorized to distribute such funds in such a manner as may be needed to
accomplish the forgoing list of purchases; provided, however, that each item
contained in the list is procured and that the excess funds are available because
one or more items cost less than estimated and not because an item intended to
be procured is not so procured.
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189Source page 192
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 3 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―The School
Department submitted to us $500,000 in cash capital expenditures. I will just review
those before Town Meeting. The first area is building repairs and improvements,
exhaust fans at the Hansen $27,975; energy management upgrade at the Galvin
Middle School, $15,653; security upgrade at the Galvin Middle School, $12,290 and
that is new cameras at the Galvin, replacing older equipment; security upgrade at the
High School, again this is moving to an IP camera network, $36,276; elementary
security upgrade system wide, $16,926; and HVAC system wide update, $99,000.
Technology infrastructure upgrade system wide, $140,614; wireless build at the JFK
and Luce, we had it at the Galvin and High School last year, $33,264. Program
improvements, textbooks, world language, Mandarin at the High School, $7,036;
robotics course startup at the High School, $4,596; four visualizers at the Galvin
Middle School, $5,748; and textbooks, year two of enVisionMath, $100,622 for a
total of $500,000 in cash capital.‖
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 3 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 4
MOVED: That Five Hundred Eighty Six Thousand Dollars ($586,000)
be appropriated to be spent by the Finance Director (in his capacity as Chief
Procurement Officer) with the approval of the Department of Public Works
Superintendent, Fire Chief and Board of Selectmen to pay costs of various
capital projects and equipment as set forth below and to meet said
appropriation the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of
Selectmen, be authorized to borrow, pursuant to any applicable statute or any
other enabling authority as may be, the sum of Five Hundred Eight Six
Thousand Dollars ($586,000).
FINCOM FINCOM
RECOMMENDATIONS AMOUNT VOTE
Fire Station 2 Repairs $139,000 7-1-0
Fire Engine 6 Refurbishment 150,000 8-0-0
Radio Master Box Replacements/Fire Alarm Upgrades 92,000 8-0-0
DPW – Replace 1991 L-8000 Sterling Truck #23 205,000 8-0-0
________
TOTAL $586,000
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The sums listed above are intended to be estimates of individual items but the
amount to be appropriated is one line item in the total amount of Five Hundred
Eighty Six Thousand Dollars ($586,000). The Finance Director and the Town
Administrator, acting jointly, are hereby authorized to distribute such funds in
such manner as may be needed to accomplish the foregoing list of projects;
provided, however, that each project contained in the list set forth above is
undertaken and that any excess funds are available because one or more of the
listed projects cost less than was estimated and not because a project intended
to be undertaken is not so undertaken.
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 4 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated that these are
municipal debt items totaling $586,000 in debt capital.
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 4 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 5
MOVED: That Two Hundred Forty Three Thousand Two Hundred
Dollars ($243,200) be appropriated to be spent by the School Committee to pay
costs of various capital projects and equipment as set forth below and to meet
said appropriation the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of
Selectmen, be authorized to borrow, pursuant to any applicable statute or any
other enabling authority as may be, the sum of Two Hundred Forty Three
Thousand Two Hundred Dollars ($243,200).
FINCOM FINCOM
RECOMMENDATIONS AMOUNT VOTE
Tennis Courts $ 85,000 8-0-0
Galvin Middle School Gym Floor 158,200 8-0-0
________
TOTAL $243,200
The sums listed above are intended to be estimates of individual items but the
amount to be appropriated is one line item in the total amount of Two Hundred
Forty Three Thousand Two Hundred Dollars ($243,200). The Finance Director
and the Business Manager of the School Department, acting jointly, are hereby
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authorized to distribute such funds in such manner as may be needed to
accomplish the foregoing list of projects; provided, however, that each project
contained in the list set forth above is undertaken and that any excess funds are
available because one or more of the listed projects cost less than was estimated
and not because a project intended to be undertaken is not so undertaken.
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 5 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated that these are
additional debt capital items for a total of $243,200 in debt capital.
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 5 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 6
MOVED: That One Hundred Sixty Thousand Dollars ($160,000) be
appropriated to be spent by the School Committee for the purpose of replacing
the High School boiler and other school HVAC projects and to meet said
appropriation the following amounts be transferred from prior Town Meeting
authorizations:
TRANSFER FROM ORIGINAL PURPOSE AMOUNT
ATM 2011 #13-10 Rodman School Heating System $105,349.41
ATM 2012 #13-8 School Systemwide HVAC $28,328.82
ATM 2011 #25 High School Roof Repairs $12,556.50
ATM 2011 #26 Rodman School Roof Repairs $9,519.50
ATM 2011 #13-6 School Systemwide HVAC $4,245.77
$160,000.00
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 7-1-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 6 as
printed in the warrant.
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192Source page 195
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―This
particular heating system has been a problem at the High School for a while. The
School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools did approach us. This boiler
was unfortunately one of three that were originally installed as part of the High
School renovation that was done a few years ago. It‘s not up to spec. It was not
industrial capacity. It does need to be replaced. The schools made good effort to try
to follow up with the manufacturer and the installation company and it‘s out of
warranty and we need to move ahead and replace this to keep the school going
throughout the school year, to keep the school properly heated. So this is $160,000.
Town Meeting can see there‘s different funding sources on this. The total amount
does equal the one sixty which will cover the cost on that and we are recommending
full financing on that Mr. Moderator.‖
David Merrigan asked if the Town attempted to seek remediation.
Mr. Manning stated that two of the three boilers did fail and there was some
remediation made to the Town. The School Committee is doing all they can to
recoup any money if they can and they have assured the Capital Planning Committee
that if they do, it will be put back into capital, however, at this point it is very
unlikely that the Town will receive any money. The concern is the potential impact
if the unit should fail. It cannot wait, it needs to be replaced now.
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 6 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 7
MOVED: That Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000) be
appropriated to be spent by the School Committee for the purpose of
architectural/engineering services for the Hansen School addition and to meet
said appropriation Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000) be
transferred from Free Cash in the Treasury of the Town.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 7 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―This got
moved to capital. The money is being taken from free cash and I think, as Mr.
Bonnanzio spoke about earlier. The School Committee did a nice job at looking at
the physical plans of all the schools. The three elementary schools, the Galvin and
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the High School. This particular project was something that where temporary
classrooms were installed at the Hansen that have outlived their life, that structurally
need to be replaced. There‘s some concerns with the building over there. And,
they‘re just at the end of their lifespan. They need to be properly connected to the
Hansen school. So, this particular money is coming from free cash to fund an
architectural study to look at what it will cost Town Meeting. This will be funded in
future years. I think the thought here is that it will be similar to a Kennedy School
type project.‖
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 7 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 8
MOVED: That Six Hundred Thirty Two Thousand Dollars ($632,000)
be appropriated to be spent by the Finance Director (in his capacity as Chief
Procurement Officer) with the approval of the Department of Public Works
Superintendent and the Board of Selectmen to pay costs of various capital
projects and equipment as set forth below and to meet said appropriation Six
Hundred Thirty Two Thousand Dollars ($632,000) be transferred from the
water enterprise surplus (retained earnings).
FINCOM FINCOM
RECOMMENDATIONS AMOUNT VOTE
Water Meter Replacement Program $500,000 8-0-0
Water SCADA Upgrade 125,000 8-0-0
Purchase Water Valve Mechanical Exercisers 7,000 8-0-0
________
TOTAL $632,000
The sums shown are intended to be estimates of individual items but the amount
to be appropriated is one line item in the total amount of Six Hundred Thirty
Two Thousand Dollars ($632,000). The Finance Director and the Town
Administrator, acting jointly, are hereby authorized to distribute such funds in
such manner as may be needed to accomplish the foregoing list of projects;
provided, however, that each project contained in the list set forth above is
undertaken and that any excess funds are available because one or more of the
listed projects cost less than was estimated and not because a project intended
to be undertaken is not so undertaken.
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Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 8 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―This is an
ongoing upgrade of the water meter system in the Town. The water meter
replacement program allows automatic readings of the water meter system. A
upgrade allows a remote reading so that, hopefully, the water department doesn‘t
have to bother the residents. It‘s all done automated by a truck that goes around and
takes the readings. Town Meeting has funded this in the past. This $632,000 will
provide additional funding in continuation of that program. This is funded from the
Water Enterprise account. It‘s a self funding project but we do ask for Town
Meetings approval.‖
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 8 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
MOTION 9
MOVED: That Forty Six Thousand Dollars ($46,000) be appropriated
to be spent by the Finance Director (in his capacity as Chief Procurement
Officer) with the approval of the Department of Public Works Superintendent
and the Board of Selectmen to pay costs for the purpose of purchasing an
excavator and to meet said appropriation Forty Six Thousand Dollars ($46,000)
be transferred from the sewer enterprise surplus (retained earnings).
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 11, Motion 9 as
printed in the warrant.
Gene Manning, Chairperson of the Capital Planning Committee, stated ―This is a
Sewer Enterprise account. This is a sewer excavator. When we have a broken water
pipe or pipes needs to be repaired in Town, this particular piece of equipment will be
deployed to that spot. It will enable them to move quickly around the Town to take
care of any problems that arise. Again, this is being funded out of the sewer account
but it does need approval by Town Meeting.‖
VOTED: Article 11, Motion 9 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
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ARTICLE 24
TRANSFER OF A PORTION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION STABILIZATION
FUND TO SUPPLEMENT SPECIAL EDUCATION BUDGET DEFICIT
Article 24 To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate, transfer from
available funds such as the School Special Education Stabilization Fund, or borrow
pursuant to any applicable statute a sum of money for use by the School Committee
to partially offset the special education deficit in the school department FY 14
operating budget, or to take any other action related thereto.
Board of Selectmen for the School Committee
MOVED: That Seventy Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) be
transferred from the School Special Education Stabilization Fund for use by the
School Committee to offset the special education deficit in the school
department FY14 operating budget.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 8-0-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 24 as printed in
the warrant.
Mr. Porter stated, ―Special education puts a significant strain on the school‘s budget.
More importantly when we go to put together the budget at the beginning of the year
they have an estimate as to how many students will be in the system and the types of
services those students will need. If additional students move in or the types of
services that those students need change we are still on the hook for that, and that can
mean several hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs that the schools have to pay
in that fiscal year. With that in mind, last year we adopted a Special Education
Stabilization Fund. The purpose of this fund would be to put money in, in the years
that we have a little bit of extra money so in years when the schools are hit with
these inevitable additional costs that would need to be paid, should be paid, but there
is already a little money set aside for that.‖ Mr. Porter further stated ―The purpose of
this article is to remove $75,000 from that fund in order to supplement their budget
for fiscal year 14.‖
VOTED: Article 24 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
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ARTICLE 31
VOTE TO RESCIND UNUSED BORROWING AUTHORIZATIONS
Article 31 To see if the town will vote to rescind unused borrowing authorizations
previously voted by the Town, or to take any other action related thereto.
Board of Selectmen
MOVED: That the following unused borrowing authorizations
previously voted by the Town be hereby rescinded:
AUTHORIZED AUTHORIZED AMOUNT TO BE
DATE ARTICLE PURPOSE AMOUNT RESCINDED
4/25/11 25 High School Roof Repairs $294,000 $65,086
4/25/11 26 Rodman School Roof Repairs $347,000 $195,909
4/28/08 13 Mot 9 Sewer SCADA upgrade $275,000 $125,000
FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTE: 6-1-0
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 31 as printed in
the warrant.
Mr. Porter explained that this is a housekeeping article that is voted annually.
Sometimes when projects are completed there is money that is not spent, money that
was authorized to be borrowed that was never actually borrowed. With regards to
the SCADA project, authorization to borrow for the Sewer SCADA is being
rescinded and will be funded with Water Cash Capital (Article 11, Motion 8). This
article is therefore a bookkeeping transaction.
David Merrigan asked that if this is a bookkeeping transaction why was there one
dissenting vote.
Mr. Porter stated that he has no information concerning the dissenting vote but he
believes it was based on the school roof repairs and not the SCADA.
VOTED: Article 31 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
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ARTICLE 7
ADJUST FISCAL „14 ACCOUNTS
Article 7 To see if the town will vote to increase or decrease or otherwise adjust the
appropriations heretofore made for the Fiscal Year 2014 beginning on July 1, 2013
and ending on June 30, 2014 and the revenues sources to meet those appropriations,
as voted pursuant to Article 41 of the warrant for the 2013 Annual Town Meeting,
and to raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds or borrow pursuant to any
applicable statute to meet any such increases or adjustments, or to take any other
action related thereto.
Board of Selectmen
MOVED: That the appropriations voted for the fiscal year beginning
on July 1, 2013 and ending on June 30, 2014 pursuant to Article 41 of the
warrant for the 2013 Annual Town Meeting be supplemented as follows:
BUDGET TO BE
MOTION SUPPLEMENTED ACCOUNT # AMOUNT SOURCE OF FUNDS
1 SNOW & ICE 14232-5530C $485,594 FREE CASH
2 TRASH COLLECTION 14332-52901 $35,672 FREE CASH
3 DEBT SERVICE 17512-59182 $92,284 FREE CASH
4 VETERANS' SERVICES 15432-57700 $22,326 FREE CASH
5 FIRE DEPARTMENT 12201-51300 $153,476 AMBULANCE FUND
Mark Porter, Chairperson of the Finance Committee, moved Article 7 as printed in
the warrant.
Mr. Porter stated ―Departmental budgets can run over from time to time. There are a
number of different ways the Town can choose to address those budget overruns.
One is the Finance Committee Reserve Fund, to which is allocated $500,000 per
year. Another is, if we know that these budgets are going to be overspent we‘ll
address them at Town Meeting. That is what this article seeks to do. It‘s been a
tough winter. Snow and ice, as always, tends to be overspent, so this will just fill
that gap and the Finance Committee is continuing to commit to increasing the
amount that we allocate to Snow and Ice in future years to mitigate this overage.‖
VOTED: Article 7 adopted as printed.
ADOPTED UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE
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