Mall Road Design Standards Pass Town Meeting, Another Session to Come
Three questions were heard at Town Meeting, accounting for nearly half the articles on the agenda. Also: updates from the BHS Building Committee and E-Voting Subcommittee
Town Meeting spent its first night (Spoiler alert: There will be another!) debating three questions, which might not sound like a lot if you look at the Warrant, but turns out to be a total of eight articles out of the eighteen that were planned to be heard.
The evening kicked off before the official meeting with appointments of Shannon Robinson and Mark Smukler to Precincts 1 and 7, respectively. The first order of business at the meeting itself was a moment of silence for two long-time Town Meeting Members who recently passed away. After that, Town Moderator Bill Beyer recognized Shari Ellis, who will be stepping back after 30 years on Town Meeting and Amy Warfield, who will be retiring as Town Clerk at the end of April.
The Burlington High School Building Committee shared its latest video and plans for a Community Meeting on February 12, and the Town Meeting Electronic Voting Subcommittee shared its investigations and recommendations, which we'll bring to you in a later story.
Articles 2-5 regarding Mall Road Mixed Use Zoning were then heard; the presentation itself was nearly an hour long and consisted of Economic Development Director laying out the vision and reasoning for the proposal and sharing voices of community members and members of town government in support of the project. Conservation Commission Vice-Chair, Bill Boivin, read a letter of support that cited the benefits such a vision could provide for the town's natural resources. The project will provide for open space and walkability as well as holding developers to design guidelines that aim to make the area look and feel cohesive. After a good deal of debate, the articles passed—including the one involving the zoning use table, which needed a 2/3 vote.
Next up were several articles hoping to bring a new life to our Town Center.
First, a pair of articles (Articles 6 & 7) setting out Signage Districts and establishing a Town Center Signage District. This, like the previous set of articles, came about after a multi-year process with public input and consultant support (paid for in part by grants), and it came with a boatload of support from the relevant Town bodies. In the end, these articles passed easily.
The Town Center Middle Housing article (Article 8) didn't have as easy of a time, but after some clarifications that article, too, passed.
By that time, it was 11:00 and the body adjourned. Town Meeting will return for a second (and possibly final) night on Wednesday, January 29, at 7:00 in the BHS auditorium. Up first: Article 9, Regulations on Accessory Dwelling Units.
