BoS on 2/2

Posted on January 29, 2016 | Comments Off on BoS on 2/2

cropped-medfield-town-house1.jpg

Tuesday February 2, 2016 @7:00 PM

AGENDA (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

7:00 PM Permanent Building Committee
Status update on the construction of new safety building

7:30 PM William Comery
Discuss proposed change to Bay Circuit Trail (pending from January 5, 2016 meeting)

ACTION
Discuss pending 2016 warrant articles

PENDING ITEMS
Community Preservation Act Study Committee mission statement

Economic Development Committee mission statement

Other business that may rise

At the end of this meeting the Board of Selectmen will vote to close the
2016 Annual Town Meeting Warrant

Comments Off on BoS on 2/2

Posted in Select Board matters

Denise Garlick annual r3port

Posted on January 28, 2016 | Comments Off on Denise Garlick annual r3port

Demise Garlick is holding her annual report to the town this evening at the Town House. She is now the Chair of the Committee on Elder Affairs, so she now has a substantial staff – about six people, several of whom are here this evening. As an attorney I was glad to hear she has legal council, as well as a legislative aid.

Comments Off on Denise Garlick annual r3port

Posted in Legislature, Uncategorized

Assisted living ATM articles

Posted on January 28, 2016 | 1 comment

town meeting

I just finished a long phone conversation with Mike Sullivan and Mark Cerel about several topics, including the warrant articles I asked at the selectmen meeting this week to have added to the annual town meeting (ATM) warrant, to deal with the issue that the 2012 town meeting vote to permit assisted living in residential zones was based on data that was only available in the Town Clerk’s office.

I had originally proposed at the Board of Selectmen meeting two articles:

  1. One first to vote again on the 2012 zoning change, but this time with full information, and
  2. A second vote to undo the 2012 zoning change.

 

As we talked it through, I realized that the second article could be made to do the same thing as the first article anyway.  Town Counsel was also noting out that the former would be difficult to do at this point where the zoning change had already both passed at the town meeting and been approved by the Attorney General.

The way we left it was that Town Counsel and Mike would prepare two articles for teh upcoming annual town meeting on April 25:

  1. The first one would change the use table back to what it was before 2012 for “Public, Semi-public Institutional” uses, and
  2. The second one would do the same for “Commercial” uses.

Those two votes would effectively re-vote the 2012 town meeting vote, so those articles satisfy my goal of allowing the town residents to decide this zoning change (to permit assisted living in residential zones, upon a discretionary special permit from the ZBA) upon full information at the town meeting.

 

1 Comment

Posted in Development, Legal, Permitting, Planning, Zoning

DLS maps

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Comments Off on DLS maps

DLS

The state’s Division of Local Services (DLS) is part of the state’s Dept. of Revenue.  DLS puts out the above named newsletter, but also publishes lots of data about municipalities.  The link below is to an interactive map that documents where we stand with respect to several metrics – population, taxes, % of residents, and % of commercial uses.

http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/dls/landingmap/

Comments Off on DLS maps

Posted in State, Uncategorized

Our state aid + 1%

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Comments Off on Our state aid + 1%

State-House-smaller_1 (1)

From John Nunnari –

Although I’m sure both the MMA and the Department of Local Services has already provided previews of these numbers, I’m passing this along in case you hadn’t seen the numbers released today by the Governor.

The Governor is proposing an additional $107K over last year, which is approximately a 1% increase.

john

 

 

Municipality/Regional District 7061-0008 Chapter 70 Unrestricted General Government Aid Annual Formula Local Aide
FY ’15 Actual Appropriation $5,862,409.00 $1,289,875.00 $0.00
FY ’16 Actual Appropriation $5,925,859.00 $1,336,310.00
Governors FY ’17 Proposal $5,975,759.00 $1,393,771.00 $0.00
Medfield (House FY ’17 Proposed Numbers) $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Medfield (Senate FY 17 Proposed Numbers) $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
FY ’17 Conference Committee Report           July +/- $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

 

 

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
Executive Director, AIA MA

Comments Off on Our state aid + 1%

Posted in Budgets, Legislature, State

Zoning articles for the ATM

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Comments Off on Zoning articles for the ATM

town meeting

At the Board of Selectmen meeting last night I made a motion, that was unanimously supported by all the selectmen, that directed the Town Administrator, Mike Sullivan, to draft the two articles for the warrant for the annual town meeting (ATM) on April 25:

  1. The first article is to basically re-vote the 2012 zoning change vote that purportedly allowed assisted living facilities in residential zones, and
  2. The second article would allow the residents to undo that 2012 vote, if that purported 2012 change was in fact valid, and also further, if the residents, now with full information, decide that they do not want it.

My motion also asked the Town Administrator to follow up with the Planning Board to ask that the Planning Board follow through on vetting the articles to the annual town meeting (ATM).

This was my attempt to correct what I see as a 2012 ATM vote that was taken without all the necessary information in front of the residents at the time, since I am told that  the actual language was not available at the ATM, and that one had to visit the Town Clerk’s office to see the actual language.  I do not feel people should be asked to vote on bylaw language changes that are not presented and/or readily available to them.

It is my understanding from what I have heard others say that the Planning Board is required to hold hearings on any zoning change, so I expect that the Planning Board would have to hold such hearing if my suggested warrant articles are to proceed to the annual town meeting (ATM).

Comments Off on Zoning articles for the ATM

Posted in Development, Permitting, Planning, Town Meeting, Zoning

MMA info #5

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Comments Off on MMA info #5

MMA-2

Last Friday and Saturday I attended the MMA’s annual meeting at the Hynes Convention Center, where I always get good insights and gather great information.  I posted some of them while I was there.

Hynes

This morning as I heard about the Governor releasing his proposed version of the state budget for FY17, I was recalling Governor Baker telling us last Friday morning that last year he saw that municipalities got 75% of the state’s revenue increases in FY16 passed along to them via increased local aid from the state, that this year he is proposing that we get 100% of the state’s revenue increases passed along.  This sounds a lot like the revenue sharing that the MMA has been asking the state to commit to for a long time – now it just needs to be institutionalized and made permanent.

The state’s consensus revenue numbers for FY17 predict a 4.3% increase in state revenue, so our local aid should be going up 4.3% in the Governor’s proposed budget.

 

Comments Off on MMA info #5

Posted in Budgets, State, Uncategorized

1 selectman candidate

Posted on January 26, 2016 | 1 comment

 

Barbara Gips told me last night that while she pulled nomination papers to run for selectman, that she does not plan on proceeding by turning them in.  She changed her mind when she learned that Mike Marcucci was running.

I want you

Pete, I did pull papers for Selectman as no one else was running. However, when I learned that Mike Marcucci also did, I called Carol to let her know that I would not be filing papers or running as Mike is a terrific candidate. So, it’s just Mike (and anyone else who wants to file) running for Richard’s seat. Not me.

1 Comment

Posted in Elections, Political, Select Board matters, Uncategorized

2 selectman candidates

Posted on January 25, 2016 | Comments Off on 2 selectman candidates

vote.2

Town Clerk, Carol Myer, reported last week that Warrant Committee members Mike Marcucci and Barbara Gips have both pulled nomination papers for selectman.

Still no one running for the empty seat on the Board of Assessor.

Comments Off on 2 selectman candidates

Posted in Elections, Select Board matters, Uncategorized

BoS agenda for 1/26

Posted on January 25, 2016 | Comments Off on BoS agenda for 1/26

cropped-medfield-town-house1.jpg
Tuesday January 26, 2016 @ 7:00 PM

AGENDA (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

7:00 PM  EPA Stormwater Permit Workshop, conducted by
Ian Cooke, Executive Director, and Sarah Bounty I Neponset River Watershed Association;  Martin  Pillsbury, MAPC

The goal of this workshop is to raise awareness of the new requirements for the MS4 permit, answer questions and concerns Medfield may have about stormwater issues

At the end of this meeting the Board of Selectmen will vote to close the 2016 Annual Town Meeting Warrant

EPA Stormwater Permit Works op for Town of Medfield
AGENDA

Goal: Raise awareness of the new MS4 permit among key board members who will be affected, but who may not deal with MS4 issues on a day to day basis. Encourage inter-board/department discussion on  key issues.

3 min             Ian Cooke: Welcome and introductions, overview of agenda

10 min           Sarah Bounty: Overview of the Stormwater Challenge in Medfield
• Stormwater basics
•  Medfield’s stormwater infrastructure
• Water quality and impaired waters in Medfield

16 min             Ian Cooke: Overview of Requirements in the New Draft MS4 Permit
• Overview
•  Six minimum control measures, TMDLs and reporting requirements
• Potential implementation costs

8 min                Martin Pillsbury: Progress to date
• Overview of work already done by Medfield and regional partners
• Review key tasks completed to date

35 min                Discussion Questions
• What will the biggest impact on your department be?
• How should various departments coordinate their efforts?
• What new resources will be needed?
• Is outside help is needed (i.e training,analysis or implementation)?
• Where could joint efforts by multiple towns help?
•  What is the best way to fund any increased costs?

5 min               Next Steps and
Evaluation/Suggestion Forms

Comments Off on BoS agenda for 1/26

Posted in Permitting, Select Board matters, Uncategorized, Water & Sewer