Town Meeting Resumes Tonight

Town Meeting will resume tonight at the . On the agenda for the evening, the Fiscal Year of 2013 will be presented. During the last Town Meeting, four issues have already been voted on, two of which (Article 4 and 5) were postponed for tonight’s meeting.

Article 4 addresses the shade tree bylaw. Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 87, municipalities may adopt local shade tree bylaws or abide by the language in Chapter 87, which can be ambiguous. The proposed bylaw is intended to clarify Chapter 87, addresses tree planting, maintenance and removal on local streets.

Article 5 is a request for Chapter 2 of the Code of By-Laws to be amended to allow electronic distribution of committee reports and warrant article reports. Today, these reports are mailed and printed and Article 5 is an attempt to modify the methods of distribution. Both of these articles were postponed so that they could be tweaked and cleaned up for a vote.

Article 6, a citizen’s petition to approve a resolution to call upon Congress to pass an Amendment to overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens’ United, was voted into indefinite postponement.

Town will vote on Article 7 about whether to amend the Winchester Zoning Bylaw by amending Section 3.0, Use Regulations, Table of Use Regulations, Group II – Educational, Institutional, Recreational and Agricultural Uses, 1. Use of land or structures for educational purposes on land owned or leased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a religious sect or denomination, or by a nonprofit educational corporation.

The current language of the Winchester Zoning Bylaw tracks the language of the Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40 A, Section 3, it does not explicitly reference it. It would advise Town Hall to amend Winchester Zoning Bylaw Section 3.0 to make it clear that the town has no authority to regulate uses that are exempted by state statue.

Patch will have coverage of what decisions are made this evening, as it is impossible to predict how deep into the docket list Town Meeting will get tonight.