Category Archives: Town Meeting

ALS

Posted on January 18, 2017 | 4 comments

ambulance

Yesterday afternoon from 6-7 PM before the regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen there was a well attended session that was billed as a working meeting of the Board of Selectmen with Chief Kingsbury and Lieutenant Bennotti of the Medfield Fire Department to discuss the possible solutions for the town to the provision of Advanced Life Support (ALS) services to town residents. The MFD currently only provides intermediate basic life support (EMT) ambulance services to residents, and only one of the current seven full time firefighters is a paramedic.

One firefighter recently resigned, and will be replaced with a paramedic, however, until the whole service is staffed with paramedics, the two paramedics will not be able to provide paramedic services.

The ALS session was not covered by Medfield.TV – I do not know why not, as I was not involved in making that decision.  Personally, I would have put it on TV.

Basically the Chief and the Lieutenant

  • expect that the MFD will have increasing problems in the future staffing a call department,
  • expect the current towns providing the ALS intercept services (Westwood, Walpole, and Norfolk) as tiring of doing so if we are not making efforts to solve our situation,
  • see no likely chance of doing a regional ALS with other towns (Dover and Sherborn are the logical ones),
  • generally see no interest in current EMT’s becoming paramedics,
  • see the cost of using a private ALS provider as similar to the cost to expand the MFD (they have been quoted $600,000 per year, plus $250 per run by private providers), and
  • therefore that the best solution is for the town to hire eight new full time firefighter/paramedics at a cost of about $650,000 per year, plus start up costs.

Whether to hire the paramedics will be a decision for residents to make at at the annual town meeting (ATM).

Below are the Chief’s cost projections:

* lIJ) RAIF'f * ALS Paramedic Budget Proposal (Estimated) Based on hiring 8 Firefighter Paramedics (Step 4) 2184 hrs (42per wk x 52) x $25.62 = $55,954 per $55,954 x 8 = $447,632 Additional annual personnel costs: Medic Stipend - $6000 x 8 = $48,000 Vacation - 96hrs x 8 x $38.50 = $29,568 Sick Time- 72hrs x 8 x $38.50 = $22,176 Holidays -11x8 x 10.5 x $26.62 = $23,673 Personal Time-31.5hrs x 8 x $38.50 = $9702 Clothing - $600 x 8 = $4800 Cleaning - $3 00 x 8 = $2400 Town share health care - $50,000 Town share Medicare - $6500 Annual Estimated costs - $644,451 One time startup costs: Protective Clothing- 8 x $3200 = $25,600 Uniforms: - 8 x $600 - $4800 Medical Equip - $60,000 Estimated startup costs - $90,400 Year one estimate - $734,851 Annual Medical Control Fee $10,000 - Revolving Acct (pay $5000 now)

I suggest that these figures do not reflect the true cost to the town of the additional employees, as these estimates do not include the present value of the future retirement benefits the town will ultimately have to pay.  Those retirement benefits (i.e. pension and health care) are called Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB).  To truly tell us the cost, the estimates should include the present value of the actuarial costs we incur each year to pay future retirement benefits to such employees.

The town was only recently required to figure out the value of its OPEB liability. Currently the unfunded actuarial cost for the town’s OPEB is over $40m. OPEB costs currently cost the town about $1.5m. per year, and the town only just recently (a couple of years ago) started to budget $400,000 a year to pay into a trust fund to partially cover the future OPEB as they come due.  Therefore the town is still adding over $1m. a year to its OPEB liability, which is basically pushing off current town costs to be paid by future residents.

OPEB benefits to retired former town employees were until relatively recently not funded at all while those retirees were working, and even now the town is not fully funding its future OPEB liability.  As we add new town employees, we may want to include the OPEB liabilities in our cost estimates.

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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Fire Department, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

Warrant articles for ATM (to date)

Posted on January 13, 2017 | Comments Off on Warrant articles for ATM (to date)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 11 12 13 14 15 DRAFT 2017 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles Town Election of Town Officers (Operating Override ?) Accept Town Reports Reimburse Stabilization Fund for Ambulance Loan ($70,000) Appropriate additional funds to FYl 7 Reserve Fund? (for current year but only if necessary) Adopt by-law to regulate Revolving Funds & Authorize Amount (G.L. Chapter 44, Section 53El/2) Fire Alarm Revolving Fund ($32,000.) Ambulance Revolving Fund ($70,000) (Amount to reimburse Stabilization Fund for loan to purchase ambulance) Advance Life Support Revolving Fund ($75,000.) (may change depending upon resolution of ALS service) Community Gardens Revolving Fund (Town Administrator) ($1,500.) Building Maintenance Income Revolving Fund (Council on Aging $30,000) Library Revolving Fund ($5,000) Respite Care Revolving Fund (Council on Aging) ($125,000) Transfer Station & recycling SW AP Area Fund ($10,000) Authorize deferral of water and/or sewer betterment assessments Adopt dog regulations (Hospital, Cemetery, Wheelock School, other sites???) Bylaw re Water Dept. access to water service and water meter (See Franklin bylaw) Authorize Board of Selectmen to lease space on Hospital water tower for Wireless Communications Facility Fix salary and compensation of Elected Officials Amend Personnel Administration Plan-Classification of Positions & Pay Schedule. Add funds for Beaver trapping and dam removal to Operating Budget?? Where? Operating Budgets (for now see tax levy sheet) $ Capital Budget ($400K from tax levy?) By-law to regulate private wells??? (water ban) DRAFT 16 Street acceptance for portions of Erik Rd & Quarry Rd (fourth time) 17 Appropriate funds for Maintenance of State Hospital Property 18 Create Revolving fund for MSH (was set up as stabilization and should be revolving) 19 Appropriate funds for State Hospital Consultants 20 Appropriate funds for Design (and Construction) of Iron/Manganese Treatment Facility (Water enterprise) (authorize bonding?) 21 Authorize the Board of Selectmen and/or Affordable Housing Trust to lease/dispose of Lot 7 for senior housing. 22 Appropriate funds to the OPEB Trust (should we put in insurance budget?) 23 Appropriate to Sewer Betterment Paid in Advance to Sewer Betterment Stabilization Fund (Town Administrator) 24 Appropriate to Sewer Betterment Paid in Advance to Sewer Betterment Stabilization Fund (Town Administrator) 25 Appropriate Funds for Phase II Parking Study (EDC/Downtown) 26 Appropriate Funds to prepare Master Plan (Master Plan Committee/Board of Selectmen) 27 Appropriate funds for Downtown Improvements (portion of local meals tax receipts) 28 Accept portion ofVinald Road from Cottage Street to Mitchell St as a right-of-way 29 Appropriate funds and authorize bonds for Park & Recreation Facility including project manager & architect 30 Vote to increase amount of tax work-off program to $1,000 (Council on Aging) (increases amount of overlay) 31 Supplement each prior vote Authorizing borrowing to pay costs of capital projects (Treasurer/Collector) 32 Amend Zoning Bylaw (Planning Board) 33 To mitigate impact oflarge single, two and multi-family dwellings (at least 11 amendments) 34 To provide for inclusionary zoning 35 Amend Code of Medfield Regulations by adding a new section establishing the Medfield Affordable Housing Trust DRAFT 36 Amend the Table of Area Regulations for Retail sales of recreational marijuana 37 Amend Code of Medfield Regulations by adding a new section regulating and/or taxing recreational marijuana 38 Vote to name the bridge crossing Mill Brook at Elm Street the "Colonel Douglas C. MacKeachie Bridge 39 Rail Trail Study Committee 40 Authorize Board of Assessors to use Free Cash to reduce tax rate20170113-ms-warrant-articles-for-town-meeting-draft_page_220170113-ms-warrant-articles-for-town-meeting-draft_page_3

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Posted in Town Meeting

Selectmen 12/20

Posted on December 16, 2016 | Comments Off on Selectmen 12/20

TOWN OF MEDFIELD MEETING NOTICE POSTED: 'd.-/fo--/0 0/Q,20161220-agenda_page_2

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Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, Fire Department, Medfield Outreach, Medfield Rail Trail, Medfield State Hospital, Select Board matters, Town Meeting, Uncategorized, Zullo Gallery

Solar PV – X3

Posted on April 22, 2016 | Comments Off on Solar PV – X3

solar PV-2

The town is jumping from having no solar PV arrays at all, to soon having two, and potentially three (if town meeting agrees on Monday).

  • Waste Water Treatment Plant – The 237KW  solar array at the Waste Water Treatment Plant is already constructed and scheduled to  start electricity generation following the ribbon cutting next Thursday at 10AM.
  • Public Safety Building – The new Public Safety Building was designed for a roof mounted solar array, but installing it was not part of the original bids due to concerns over adding to the costs.  That array was previously going forward as a 63KW roof mounted solar array, funded via a change order, spending some of the construction savings, until the state recently allowed the its incentives to run out, at which time that array was put on hold.  When the state legislation recently extended the state incentives, the economies of that array became attractive again, so that array has again been put on track to proceed as a change order to the original contract, spending some of the unexpended contingency monies to do that installation.
  • DPW Garage – The DPW Garage was designed solar ready, and the Energy Committee has been looking at doing a 150KW solar array there too, but that plan was also held in abeyance by the state allowing its incentives to expire, making the return on solar PV arrays less attractive.  There is $240,000 of appropriated monies left over from the solar array at the WWTP, the cost of which came in a lot under budget, and those monies are the  subject of  the ATM article 24 – to allow the transfer of those funds to be used for a solar PV array on the Garage.  However, the estimated cost of the Garage solar array is $383,000, so the project was about $150,000 short.  Mike Sullivan and Martha Festa, the Warrant Committee chair, yesterday crafted a solution, an amendment to the operating budget at the ATM, as the mechanism to obtain those monies at this late date, which can allow the Garage solar array to proceed.

The timing of the Public Safety Building and DPW Garage solar projects is important because the state incentives are going to change at  the end of 2017, making the economics of such solar arrays less advantageous – so because of the recent legislative changes, it became a do it now or not at all proposition.

 

 

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Posted in Budgets, Energy Committee, Financial, Green, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

Stretch code at ATM

Posted on April 22, 2016 | Comments Off on Stretch code at ATM

This from the Energy Committee about the town meeting article looking to adopt the stretch code, thereby become a Green Community, and thereby get the DOER $148,000 grant for doing so –

MEC

Vote YES  on Article #34

 

Help Medfield qualify for a $148,000 Energy Savings grant.

 

Massachusetts regularly updates the State Building Code to improve quality, safety and energy efficiency of construction in the Commonwealth.  The Building Code is the “stick” to encourage improvements in construction. By adopting the Stretch Energy Code, Medfield, like 161 other Massachusetts towns, would be an early adopter of what eventually will become the next State Building Code.  The “carrot” for Medfield to be an early adopter is a grant of $148,000 which will be used to improve Town building energy efficiency.

 

Massachusetts has been recognized as the nations leader in energy efficiency for the past five years.*  As Governor Baker said “Energy efficiency is the most cost effective, accessible way for Massachusetts to meet our clean energy goals and help ratepayers manage their energy costs. “

 

The Green Communities program, run by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), encourages towns in the state to cut their energy usage and to simplify siting of renewable energy.

Substantial dollar grants are given to towns that meet 5 Green Communities criteria:

#1 Provide siting for renewable energy

#2 Enable permitting within one year for renewable energy

#3 Develop a plan for reducing municipal energy use by 20% over 5 years

#4 Enact an energy efficient vehicle policy

#5 Minimize life-cycle cost for new construction

 

The Medfield Energy Committee has been working for 4 years to qualify Medfield as a Green Community and to earn a $148,000 grant with the potential of $250,000 annual grants thereafter.

Our progress:

  • Criteria #1 & #2 were met by the Solar Photovoltaic By-Law passed at the 2014 Town Meeting.
  • Criteria #4 was achieved when an Energy Efficient Vehicle Policy was adopted by the Select Board and School Committee in 2015.
  • Criteria #3, a plan for 20% reduction in Town energy usage, is being developed by the Town Energy Manager, Andrew Seaman.
  • Criteria #5, will be met by adopting the 9th edition of the Stretch Energy Code : Article #34

 

At the 2014 Town Meeting, a warrant article to adopt a Stretch Energy Code was voted down.

 

Now, in 2016, the situation has changed:

  1. The Massachusetts Building Code went into effect on July 1, 2014 with an updated Base Energy Code. The result is that today all new construction and renovation must meet a code that is basically the same Stretch Energy Code that was rejected at the April 2014 Town Meeting.
  2. The Stretch Energy Code does not include any new requirements for residential renovations or additions. The sole change from the Base Energy Code is the requirement for new residential construction to use a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index.  The HERS Index is the industry standard by which a home’s energy efficiency is measured.
  3. For new commercial buildings, the Stretch Energy Code requires the construction to be 10% more efficient than the Base Energy Code.
  4. 161 Massachusetts towns have adopted the Stretch Energy Code

 

 

In summary:  Building Energy Codes are a “stick” to make sure building life-cycle costs improve.  DOER’s $148,000 grant is a “carrot” rewarding early adopters of Stretch Energy Code.

 

  • Vote yes on Article #34 to get the “carrot” with the “stick”
  • Vote no on Article #34 only get the “stick”

 

Article #34 supported by

  • Board of Selectmen
  • Warrant Committee
  • Energy Committee

 Permanent Building Committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* American Council for Energy- Efficient Economy and the US Department of Energy.

 

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Posted in Energy Committee, Green, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

ATM articles status

Posted on April 15, 2016 | Comments Off on ATM articles status

town meeting

These two emails from Mike with his update on money warrant articles –

Information is coming in fast and furious as we approach town meeting. Fortunately, it’s just about all good news. The following are proposed changes to the articles and budgets that you should take into account. Some of them you will need to amend your votes.

  1. Article 29. The Council on Aging has decided to withdraw its article seeking funding plans for an addition to the CENTER at Medfield. This was for $100,000 to come from funds the COA already had on hand so it doesn’t  change the tax levy. This will be added to the Consent Calendar as a dismissal.
  2. Article 28, Park & Rec is changing the wording of Article 28 to make it a “programmatic and financial needs analysis for a Park and Recreation facility instead of for plans for a new facility. They originally were looking for $100,000, which dropped to $40,000 and then went up to $60,000. The monies will come from Park & Rec Revolving Funds so it will not affect the tax levy.
  3. Article 37, which sought $50,000 from the Sewer Enterprise Fund for complying with the federal EPA Stormwater Permit application and implementation will be added to the Consent Calendar as a dismissal. I thought it was for a discharge permit for the Wastewater Treatment Plant, but it’s for a federally mandated Stormwater Permitting process that is townwide and not just for the treatment plant. The funds will be requested next year from the General Fund. The application is due in September of 2017.
  4. We met with our Property and Casualty and Worker’s Compensation insurance carrier this week and will need to make the following changes to the Insurance Budgets

Worker’s Compensation: reduce the requested appropriation by $32,937 to $230,000. A couple of our bad claims, which stay on the books for three years from the date of filing, are coming off, which will reduce out Experience Modification Factor and, consequently, reduce our Worker’s Compensation premiums.

Liability: increase the requested appropriation by $10,000 to $208,000. Next year we will have additional premium payments for the Public Safety Building, which is scheduled to com on line in October and for the new artificial surface at the High School multi-purpose field, which is scheduled to come on line by the opening of school in September.

  1. The House of Representative budget, which passed this week raised the minimum per student Chapter 70 Education Aid from the $20/student that the Governor included in his budget request, to $55/student. This, if it’s the final figure, would result in an increase of about $87,000. However, the Senate will not pass it’s budget until May and then a conference committee will be appointed to work out the differences. To be conservative, I’m sticking with the Governor’s lower figure for Chapter 70 Education Aid. If the figure comes in higher we can adjust the local aid amounts prior to setting the tax fy17 tax rate.
  2. Joy pointed out that we are raising $7,154 in the Water Enterprise Fund and $33,400 in the Sewer Enterprise Fund or a total of $40,554. to cover the Water and Sewer OPEB liabilities. This allows us to reduce the amount be taken from General Fund free cash to fund the OPEB liability to $121,947 from the original amount of $162,947 and still appropriate $400,000 to the OPEB Trust.
  3. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that we will have no more snow this season, so we can remove the $50,000 we are still carrying for a snow deficit expense.
  4. That’s all for now, but don’t be surprised if there are more changes next week. On Tuesday the bids for the School field will be opened so that may result in some additional changes. I’m attaching an update on the tax levy calculation based on the above. The net result is a decrease of $172,000 in the additional free cash we will need to use to balance the budget.  If the House Chapter 70 Education vote stands, this would reduce this to just over $100,000. Enjoy the weekend weather and let’s hope there’s more good news. Please let me know if you concur with the above recommendations..

Mike

Things are changing faster than I thought. Two minutes after I sent you my email on the budgets, I got an email from our insurance carrier that we would be receiving a participation credit on our Liability Insurance coverages, As a result we can leave that requested appropriation at $198,000 rather than increasing it to $208,000. Mike S.

 

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Posted in Budgets, Financial, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

PB agenda from last night

Posted on March 8, 2016 | Comments Off on PB agenda from last night

20160307-planning board-agenda_Page_120160307-planning board-agenda_Page_220160307-planning board-agenda_Page_3

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Posted in Downtown, Planning, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

Planning Board on assisted living bylaw change

Posted on March 8, 2016 | 1 comment

planning

At the planning board last night there was a hearing held on the annual town meeting (ATM) warrant article that I suggested and wrote, which had been approved by the full board of selectmen, that effectively undid the 2012 annual town meeting vote that changed our zoning bylaws to permit assisted living facilities in the RS district (residential with 20,000 sq. ft. lots) by special permit. My proposed warrant article was an inelegant, mechanical rollback to the prior dated zoning language.  In an impressive bit of drafting and leadership in front of a room full of 50 intensely interested citizens, Wright Dickinson, skillfully revised the language of the proposed warrant article on the fly in a way that both dramatically improved it as a zoning article, and satisfied those who had come to the hearing.

The zoning article in question was a change at the 2012 annual town meeting that made assisted living facilities permitted in the RS zoning district by a special permit issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals, and which LCB is currently using to site its proposed facility. The procedural problem at the 2012 ATM was that the description of the zoning article that was published in the ATM booklet mailed out to residents prior to the town meeting did not clearly describe that particular change. To actually understand the full import of the zoning change, one had to consult documents only available in the town clerk’s office.

Since I believed that the 2012 ATM process had failed the residents by not being either explained or transparent enough, I suggested and tried to craft a zoning article for the upcoming annual town meeting that would allow the residents to indicate anew whether they are in favor of the 2012 zoning change or not. Town counsel told me that we could not undo, ab initio, the vote from 2012 so I thought the next best thing was to give people the opportunity to vote to change the zoning back to what it had been prior to 2012. However, much of the 2012 zoning change was an attempt to improve and modernize the old fashioned language in the zoning bylaw, and that was where Wright Dickinson was so successful in getting agreement from those gathered to the modernization language and only retaining the proposed warrant article’s reversion to assisted living in a RS the district as a “NO” instead of as a “SP” (special permit).  He also got agreement to assisted living being permitted in the B and IE districts where it had previously been prohibited.

The ultimate result of the hearing was a much improved warrant article for the town meeting, and, equally importantly, a group of residents in attendance who were mostly duly impressed with the forthrightness, diligence, and intelligent response of their volunteer planning board members to their concerns.  there will be follow up on whether to prohibit assisted living in the RU district, and several more details relating to the zoning issues.

Interestingly, after the hearing on the proposed warrant article, the bulk of those in the room went home, leaving just a half dozen of us to listen to the planning board discuss possible solutions to the issue of the excessively dense development in the downtown RU district, where many of the older homes have been turned into much larger 2-family houses or houses behind houses 2-family homes on the deep lots.

The planning board agreed to continue to look into several possible solutions, including:

•    Restricting the district to single-family homes
•    reconsidering anew the floor area ratio in the district
•    having a greater floor area ratio for two-family homes in the district
•    changing setbacks
•    crafting a definition of a 2-family house
•    considering implementation of design review
•    considering creation of a historic district

It was a truly successful evening for the planning board, who got to finally go home at about 10:30 PM.

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Posted in Downtown, Planning, Town Meeting, Uncategorized, Zoning

Medfield is planning

Posted on February 29, 2016 | Comments Off on Medfield is planning

planning

The following memo, about the various planning efforts that are underway and will get addressed in various ways at the annual town meeting on April 25, was circulated this afternoon by Kristine Trierweiler.  After a 50+ year hiatus we are initiating lots of planning –

20160229-KT&SR-Proposed Studies for ATM2016_Page_1MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN Town Administrator TOWN OF MEDFIELD Office of BOARD OF SELECTMEN TOWN HOUSE, 459 MAIN STREET MEDFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS 02052-0315 (508) 359-8505 To: Board of Selectmen Michael Sullivan, Town Administrator From: Kristine Trierweiler, Assistant Town Administrator Sarah Raposa, Town Planner Re: Plans and Studies for the ATM2016 Capital Improvement Plan A Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) allows for a systemic evaluation of all existing municipal buildings. Planned infrastructure investment can reduce operating costs and help avoid future high replacement costs or unexpected crisis in the future. This twenty year plan will inventory existing building infrastructure, identify building maintenance projects that need to be undertaken, indicate a method to finance those improvements, and ultimately establish project priority. The MA DOR states that a full CIP can have the following benefits:  Facilitates coordination between capital needs and the operating budgets.  Enhances the community's credit rating, control of its tax rate, and avoids sudden changes in its debt service requirements.  Identifies the most economical means of financing capital projects.  Increases opportunities for obtaining federal and state aid. ·  Focuses attention on community objectives and fiscal capacity  Keeps the public informed about future needs and projects.  Coordinates the activities of neighboring and overlapping units of local government to reduce duplication.  Encourages careful project planning and design to avoid costly mistakes and help a community reach desired goals. The Capital Budget Committee has received bids for the project and anticipates a cost of $80,000 to complete the CIP. The Town received a Commonwealth Community Compact Grant for $30,000 to defray the overall cost of the plan. The request for the CIP at the 2016 ATM is $50,000. Capital Budget Capital Budget is the authorization for spending for the upcoming fiscal year as part of the annual operating budget. This is the main method of implementing the Capital Improvement Plan. The Capital Budget considers projects identified in the Capital Improvement Plan as well as vehicle fleet needs and other departmental needs. An item must be at least $5,000 and a useful life of five years to be considered for inclusion in the capital budget. Municipal Building Needs/Feasibility Study A feasibility study of municipal buildings is the first step in identifying a long term solution for future municipal building infrastructure needs. The feasibility study provides a physical needs assessment, programmatic needs assessment, and development options. The development options will analyze cost and timing of the projects, ranking each municipal building. The most recent feasibility study completed in December 2012 was an examination of a new Police/Fire Station and a planning study for Dale Street Campus, which was completed under the direction of the Permanent Planning and Building Committee. Town Wide Master Plan Master plans are considered "blueprints for the future" and are long-range planning and policy guidance. A careful, thoughtful planning process better directs a town’s future actions than sequential "adhockery." Master plans are promulgated under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 41Section 81D and contain the following required elements: Land Use, Housing, Economic Development, Natural and Cultural Resources, Open Space and Recreation, Services and Facilities, Circulation (Transportation). The last master plan was prepared in 1964 with a brief update in 1997 (a Master Plan is considered current for 10-15 years). The rational planning process enables us to steer growth and redevelopment where it is more easily absorbed, and identify resources and partners to sustain open spaces, habitats, and historic assets that need protection. Master plans are important because the process of creating a local master plan increases citizens’ involvement in their self- governance, and helps town officials and volunteer boards and committees coordinate their work. Furthermore, if land use regulations are challenged, a consistent master plan can help in court. Master plans ensure eligibility for state grants and also allow for better bond ratings. Medfield State Hospital Master Plan The Medfield State Hospital Master Plan Committee (MSHMPC) is currently engaged in a planning process for a strategic reuse plan for the Medfield State Hospital property. The MSHMPC is working with a consultant to facilitate the creation of a conceptual use scenario(s) for the MSH property as well as adjacent properties. The strategic reuse plan will include identification of best uses relative to the Town’s objectives, economic analysis, implementation plans, design and zoning guidance, as well as assistance with disposition for redevelopment if necessary. The MSHMPC is currently in Phase I of a proposed three phase plan:  Phase I - Create Conceptual Plans & Economic Analysis for the Land Reuse  Phase II - Develop Zoning Modifications and Design Guidelines  Phase III - Disposition Plan20160229-KT&SR-Proposed Studies for ATM2016_Page_3

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Posted in Buildings, Medfield State Hospital, Planning, Town Meeting, Uncategorized

Assisted living zoning article

Posted on January 30, 2016 | 2 comments
2014 -town meeting

2014 -town meeting

When I discovered that our 2012 annual town meeting (ATM) passed a zoning change based on written materials that were not in the booklet mailed to residents, that were only knowable by reviewing the materials in the Town Clerk’s office, and hence were unknowable to we residents at the town meeting who voted that evening, I thought that was not the right way for the town to pass bylaws.  Therefore, I have worked to change what and how that happened.

I first learned about the issue months ago when neighbors of the proposed LCB assisted living facility alerted me to what had happened.  As a result, I spend time educating myself as to what transpired, and analyzing the results.  I personally concluded that:

  • the 2012 process was flawed in my mind because of the lack of information; and
  • even under the zoning changes purportedly made in 2012, that the LCB petition has no basis under existing zoning, because LCB should be applying under the part of the bylaw that covers “commercial,” not “institutional, non-profit” uses – both LCB’s attorney and Town Counsel disagree with me on this.

To follow through on what I see as correcting the 2102 ATM vote because of the insufficient material, I last Tuesday had my fellow selectmen vote to put warrant articles forward at the upcoming ATM to undo what was voted in 2012, if the residents so chose.

It turned out that drafting those warrant articles fell to me, and so yesterday I did so.  Below are those drafts as I shared them with the town administration and my selectmen colleagues.

The votes would just revert those zoning bylaws to the wording that existed before the 2012 ATM.

 

From: Osler Peterson
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 2:03 PM
To: ‘Mark Fisher’; ‘Richard DeSorgher’
Cc: Sarah Raposa; Michael Sullivan; Mark Cerel; Kristine Trierweiler
Subject: zoning articles

Richard and Mark,

FYI –

Mark Cerel asked me to draft what I am suggesting with respect to the annual town meeting (ATM) zoning warrant articles, and this is what I came up with – it reverts from what we have now back to what we had before 2012.

5.4.2.8             Strike “Hospital, convalescent, nursing home, Hospice, continuing care, or assisted living facility” and replace it with “Hospital, sanitarium or sanatorium” and strike “SP” and replace it with “NO” in the B, B-I, and I-E districts.

5.4.4.10         Strike “Hospice or nursing homes, convalescent and assisted living facilities and medical and dental office” and replace it with “Convalescent or nursing homes and medical and dental office” and strike “SP” and replace it with “NO” in the R-S and I-E districts.

Best,

Pete

 

As the final irony of this whole process, if afforded the opportunity to vote on the above warrant articles at our upcoming ATM, I will vote against them.  While I believe the 2012 process was flawed, I agree with the result, which gives our Zoning Board of Appeals the discretion to decide for the town whether any particular proposal makes sense.

Having seen the operation of the ZBA from my years serving as a member, I trust the ZBA to do what is in the best interest of the town, and also I want the town to have the flexibility to locate assisted living facilities in appropriate areas, including residential zones when it makes sense.

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Posted in Planning, Select Board matters, Town Meeting, Zoning