Hello, Hive!

I hope you’re having a good week and enjoying what looks to be a gradual—if rainy!— warmup through the end of the month. (Okay, I know it’s sunny and chilly today, but it was raining yesterday and the rest of the week looks to be on a warming trend!)

I’m here with a quick roundup of all we’ve talked about in the Buzz over the last few weeks.  We do this after each cycle of Select Board - School Committee - Planning Board meetings, in case you were wondering, so every two to four weeks depending on when the meetings fall.

February has been a month of celebrations, from Black History Month and Lunar New year to Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent, to Presidents’ Day and school vacation week. Many readers contributed their stories of celebrating Lunar New Year to our Community Celebrations feature, and we are looking for more! If you want to share how you and your family/community observe one of the holidays already past or an upcoming one like Holi, Purim, Ramadan, or Palm Sunday, reach out!

In case you missed them, a few Hive happenings came and went:

• Bill Boivin’s heartwarming second column, The Greek Goddess
• The Buzz In-Depth feature on the past, present, and future of the Mall Road corridor (including an aerial photo from 1938!)
• Hive Cocktail Hour—and while I can’t rewind and share the tasty apps and drinks, it was definitely fun and we’ll definitely do it again.

Speaking of Hive happenings, Coffee Hour will need to move again this month, due to a journalism conference Hive staff will be attending. Read to the end to find out when the March Coffee Hour will be!

We also celebrated our second birthday, and many readers contributed generously to our birthday campaign, giving us enough capital to feel confident signing a contract with our website provider through 2024. We’ve been analyzing survey data, as well, and we’ve got great confirmation of some of the things we already do and ideas for how to improve the Buzz for the future. Here are some highlights from the survey:

• Ninety-eight percent of Hive members said they were very satisfied with their membership.
• More than 90% of readers (both free and paid) say they are more aware of town happenings after reading the Buzz.
• More than 30% of readers (free + paid) say they are more involved in the town after reading the Buzz.

Thank you for trusting us to be your news source, connector, and knower-of-things for the last two years, and for supporting our growth for the next year and beyond!

In this Hive Roundup:

• TownVote Issue of the Week

• A Steady Flow of New Businesses Opening in Burlington

• Town Planning: Mall Road, MBTA Communities, and Winn View Heights

• Local Election and Presidential Primary Updates

• Arts in Burlington

• Sports Update

• Give Help or or Get What You Need in Burlington

TownVote Issue of the Week

This week, we need your help framing the Issues we’ll be talking about during election season. Please take a moment to head over to VoteLight and vote for what you believe is the top issue that should be discussed in the leadup to the town election in April. As you vote, you can also click the link to “Share your opinion” and elaborate or add your own Issue. Your response can be private, so just the Buzz can see it, or public so your neighbors can see it and join into the conversation.

There will be a separate Issue for each contested town-wide race; here are the first two:

Select Board | School Committee

Thanks for your participation in this TownVote. Knowing what is important to you will help inform our election coverage!

What is VoteLight? If you came on board after we started our partnership, or if you just need a refresh, read our original announcement. We are still working with VoteLight to address any issues on the platform, so do let us know if you run into any.

A Steady Flow of New Businesses Opening in Burlington

It seems like there’s a new business opening every day in Burlington. Goodnight Johnny’s and Prestige Car Wash had their grand openings last month, and this month saw H&M and Yas Chicken open on the same day. Other businesses will be opening soon, including Eggholic Indian Street Food (look out for an official announcement in a few weeks!) on Wall Street and several stores in the mall including SweatHouz (which features infrared saunas, cold plunges, and more), MiniSo variety store, Mochi Dough Premium Japanese Donuts, Queenia clothing boutique, and more.

Burlington’s strong business community allows for Burlington to have a lower residential tax rate than just about any neighboring town (Woburn is the only exception!), and it’s great to see so many innovative stores going in to the mall.

The restaurant scene in Burlington, however, is a tough one, and Rosa Mexicano, which was a staple at many events around town this summer, shut its doors for good on February 1.

Town Planning: Mall Road, MBTA Communities, and Winn View Heights

Town planning has been at the forefront this month as the deadline for compliance with the so-called MBTA Communities Law looms ever closer, and the town needs to get a zoning overlay in front of Town Meeting with enough time to tweak it as the state deems necessary.

There has been a lot of talk about this law, what it would mean not to comply, and why the town would choose not to comply in the first place, given that it is currently a state law and that it wouldn’t take too much effort to comply, assuming the state accepts the proposed plan (see that plan here in its draft state).

The Planning Board discussed this in depth at their meeting on February 15, reviewing the first two meetings of the MBTA Communities working group, which was assembled by Planning Director, Liz Bonventre. There, they discussed the different places that could be used to meet the state’s requirement for multifamily zoning.

The current plan is to create a zoning overlay that would include a few different properties that currently contain multifamily housing at the required 15-unit-per-acre density or greater. (This is the density of the condos behind CVS near the Town Center.) The overlay would also contain the Staples building and a few parcels of land behind it, up on Middlesex Turnpike. If this overlay passes Town Meeting and also passes muster with the Attorney General, nothing would immediately change with respect to housing for nearly all of Burlington, and there would be no effect on residential neighborhoods.

Some worry that the state’s next move will be to mandate that the multifamily homes are built (currently there’s no requirement for building, just for zoning). Others are seeing the towns like Milton buck against the state and would prefer to wait to see how the battle plays out in the courts.

Planning Board Chair Barbara L’Heureux and Planning Director Liz Bonventre both hold that the lift is so low for Burlington that it makes far more sense to comply than to engage with the state in a legal battle for something that won’t affect Burlington much at all.

Speaking of housing, the Buzz In-Depth feature on the past, present, and future of the Mall Road corridor discussed how the town hopes to create new zoning with design standards to reimagine a mixed-use zone in that area.

And, Winn View Heights II is back in the news as the state gave notice to the town that they had approved the project—which has been opposed by several town boards and a large and vocal number of residents—without a second site visit and without the requisite 30-day public comment period. After pushback from the town, the state rescinded its approval pending public comment, which will be open until March 15. Will they still approve the project after hearing from the public? Only the state knows. But if you have an opinion about the project, here’s who you can contact to make your voice heard:

Catherine Racer, Undersecretary
Division of Housing Development
Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
Email: Catherine.racer@mass.gov
Address: 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 300, Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Also include Rieko Hayashi -- rieko.hayashi@mass.gov. She is available by phone at 617-573-1426 for any questions on the process.

Local Election and Presidential Primary Updates

The list of candidates for the local election has been set, and you can find out the most up-to-date information at our Candidate Info Sheet. Soon we’ll be scheduling interviews, publishing profiles, participating in debates, and otherwise helping you become as informed as possible about the candidates and offices up for election. If you’re a Town Meeting Member candidate, be sure to fill out this survey ASAP!

Before the local election even gets here, the Presidential Primary will come and go. Here are the important dates for that election, which takes place on March 5 from 7:00 AM-8:00 PM:

• Saturday, February 24, is the last day to register. (Check to see if you’re registered.)
• Tuesday, February 27, is the last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot.
• Early in-person voting will run from Saturday, February 24, through Friday, March 1, at the Town Clerk’s office.

And, up for a vote before either of those will be the designs for Burlington’s 2024 “I Voted” sticker. Out of 115 submissions, five finalists will be presented to attendees at Burlington’s 225th birthday party on February 28, and the winner will be chosen.

Arts in Burlington

Arts are all around in Burlington, and this week saw both the announcement of the Call for Artists for the 2024-2026 Sculpture Park installation and the request for sponsors for the 2024 Pigs on Parade installation on the Town Common. If you’re a business owner looking to paint a pig for display on the Common from June through August (and then hopefully at your place of business thereafter!), reach out to Sculpture Park Committee Chair, Barbara L’Heureux.

Another opportunity to show off your creative skills is coming up at the end of March, as the Rotary Club presents a Charcuterie Class for your enjoyment.

Basketball, Hockey Teams Make State Tournament

This year’s MIAA state tournament will feature three Burlington teams, all of whom have worked exceptionally hard and had some great wins this season.

The girls’ hockey team currently stands at a Power Ranking of 3 in Division 2, having beat some of the top Division 1 teams this season and holding a 15-1-2 league record; the boys’ hockey team is at 25 in D1 with its 11-7-3 record; and the boys’ basketball team sits at #12, with a 14-6 record after winning 11 out of their last 12 games.

Tournament brackets are coming soon, and games will start next week!

Help or Get Help in Burlington

The Buzz, along with a working group that consists of local non-profits and public service agencies, is working to compile information on where to look for help with human services in Burlington. This list is not perfect, but it is a pretty strong starting point (with a table of contents!) to find support from one of our many local agencies trying to help residents get what they need to thrive in our community. This is a great place to start when looking for volunteer opportunities, too.

Additionally, the town has an affordable housing opportunity right now with 119 South Bedford Street, a town-owned single-family home that has been renovated and is now open for lottery applications.

And, finally, if you’re looking to support someone in need this month, here are a few ways:

• Participate in the Womenade March Calendar Raffle (get your ticket by Friday!).
• Donate baskets and other supplies to People Helping People so they can create Easter baskets for local kiddos.
• Donate to the Wish Project via their Target or Amazon wish lists.

And that’s that. Our next Hive Coffee Hour will be March 8 at Wegman’s Upper Level. We were able to get the room open last time, and I anticipate we’ll do the same this time. Feel free to bring a midmorning snack for everyone to much on; I’ll bring the coffee! Our topic this time around will be, generally, the upcoming local election. What issues to you see as the most important, and how would you like to see our candidates address them? I’d also like to have a conversation around housing—What are the most pressing issues, what’s preventing us from solving them, and what can be done locally to make housing more accessible? Maybe that conversation will happen at Coffee, or maybe Coffee Hour will be taken up by election conversations, but either way we’re sure to have a good time. RSVP here.

I’ll see you tomorrow, Hive. Thanks for being here!

Nicci