Affordable Housing, Parking, E-Scooters: Brookline Town Meeting

BROOKLINE, MA – The town's legislative board resumed Thursday night and decided on a number of issues from what's next for electric scooters to getting behind collecting a tax that would be set aside for affordable housing.

Brookline Town Meeting voted to ask the Massachusetts legislature to give the town power to vote on whether to levy a real estate tax that would transfer money to an affordable housing trust fund.

They also voted to eliminate minimum parking requirements for storefront uses.

Then they tackled the topic of e-scooters. A proposal was before them to wait on allowing another electric scooter pilot until the state legislation clarified and created a new state law to regulate them. Town Meeting ended up voting to put a pause on e-scooters, but took the clause on waiting for the state to come up with rules out of the picture.

"Out of date laws have led to confusion and dangers to public safety," said Advisory Committee's Susan Granoff who urged the town to wait on passing new transportation regulations so that new state laws would not conflict.

She said it would irresponsible to rush ahead with a new pilot program in the spring.

"You'd have to really be asleep not to notice they've caused people a lot of consternation," Kate Silbaugh Town Meeting Member from precinct 1 said. She pointed out that the resolution before Town Meeting was not binding but more a way to show that Town Meeting Members took the issue seriously.

"This is a way of saying to the town, that we're committed to getting this organized," she said.

Others argued that Brookline should plug ahead with its own regulations and not wait on the state because they might not work for the town.

The pilot program recorded over 180,000 trips, said Transportation Administrator Todd Kirrane. The average trip time was about 10 minutes and about 1.3 miles. Read more: Electric Scooters In Brookline Saved 50K Car Trips: According To Lime

This fall the town had nearly 40 items to tackle, and many of them high profile topics - from renaming the Coolidge Corner school to banning the use of most fossil fuels in new major construction and tightening regulations for cannabis shops. In the three days, the town's legislative board made their way through almost two dozen items. There are about 17 more warrants yet to discuss and vote on.

On night four of the fall town meeting, it appeared not all 240 town meeting members were present. Fewer than 200 people voted on some of the issues. For the first time in recent memory Brookline's annual fall Town Meeting will take five days to get through.

The votes:

Article 9 - Proposal to ask MA legislature for home rule to have voters choose whether they will accept a real estate Tax levy to set up an affordable housing fund.

• Vote: A referral to the land bank study committee failed (96 yes to refer, 101 no, 5 abstaining) The main motion to ask MA legislature for home rule to bring a question on this to Brookline voters passed: 139 yes, 44 no, 16 abstaining.

15. Amend Zoning By-law to eliminate minimum parking requirements and establish maximum parking ratios for storefront uses within the Transit Parking Overlay District. (Pehlke, TMM2)

• Vote: Passes 199 yes to 1 no.

18. Amend the Town's Zoning By-laws to change the definition of "lodger" and permit certain short term lodging. (Gladstone, TMM16, et al)

• Vote: motion to refer the question to the working group on this: 173 yes, 21 no, 4 abstaining

31. Resolution pertaining to the Town's response to Climate Change. (Milner-BrageTMM12)

• Vote: passes. 192 yes, 1 no, 4 abstaining.

16. Resolution pertaining to E-Scooters and other micro-mobility devices (Warren, TMM1)

• Vote: a motion that would have the town wait for the state to come up with regulations on e-scooters before Brookline did anything fails: 48 in favor, 136 against and 11 abstaining.
• The main motion (with a clause about waiting until the state made regulations taken out) passes by a majority vote.

17. Resolution pertaining to Open-Air Parking Licenses and Electric Vehicle Charging Outlets. (Ananian, TMM10)

• Vote: Passes.

Read these, too:

• Brookline Pushes For Special Town Meeting On ...
• Electric Scooters In Brookline Saved 50K Car Trips: Lime
• As Coolidge Corner School Set To Be Renamed, Students Petition
• Town Meeting Night 1: Stipends, Driscoll, Oak Street
• Brookline Town Meeting Night 2: Bans Fossil Fuels, Renames Coolidge Corner
• Town Meeting Night 3: Brookline Votes To Lower Voting Age, Set New Hours For Cannabis Shops
• Electric Scooters In Brookline Saved 50K Car Trips: According To Lime

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).