November 5, 2024

WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE – 11/05/24

SELECT BOARD

Signing of Warrant for Special Town Meeting. At its Tuesday meeting, the Select Board voted to sign the warrant for the November 18th Special Town Meeting. There are eight warrant articles to be voted on. The first three articles came from the Board of Assessors (“[o]ne is to reauthorize the senior means-tested property tax exemption for three years, while the other two are to approve new veterans tax exemptions that were approved by the state Legislature during its last session.” Article 4 would impose a 0.75% local meals tax to fund a full-time economic development officer. Article 5 would transfer control of the Hughes Property to the Open Space Preservation Commission. Article 6 would rescind “authorized but unissued debt” amounting to over a million dollars. Article 7 would establish a revolving fund for the Board of Heath to begin next fiscal year. And Article 8 will present one or more plans that comply with the state’s MBTA zoning overlay district requirement. The plans presented will be determined by the Planning Boards vote at its November 4th meeting. Select Board signs warrant for Nov. 18 STM, questions time frame for public notification about articles (Article by Mary Ellen Gambon, 10/30/24)

Special Town Meeting Articles:

Article 1: Reauthorize Means Tested Senior Property Tax Exemption (Sponsor: Board of Assessors)

Article 2: Accept MGL Ch. 59 Sec. 5 Clause 22I – Veterans Tax Exemption, Cost of Living Adjustment (Sponsor: Board of Assessors)

Article 3: Accept MGL Ch. 59 Sec. 5 Clause 22J – Veterans Tax Exemption, Additional Exemption (Sponsor: Board of Assessors)

Article 4: Adopt Local Meals Excise (Sponsor: Select Board)

Article 5: Transfer Care, Custody & Control of Hughes Farm Parcels (Sponsor: Town Manager)

Article 6: Rescind Authorized but Unissued Debt (Sponsor: Town Manager)

Article 7: Establish Board of Health Revolving Fund (Sponsor: Board of Health)

Article 8: MBTA Communities Zoning Bylaw (Sponsor: Planning Board)

For additional information on these articles, see the Town Manager’s Weekly Update, October 31, 2024

For more information about the November 18th Special Town Meeting, to read the Warrant, and learn more about the articles to be voted on, click HERE.

PLANNING BOARD

MBTA Communities Act proposals to be presented at Special Town Meeting. At its Monday meeting, the Planning Board focused almost entirely on the 4 zoning overlay proposals for compliance with MBTA Communities Act to determine which proposal(s) would be put up for a vote at the November 18th Special Town Meeting. Public comments were heard and the merits of each proposal deliberated. In a deadlocked vote 4-4-1, the Board voted to present 2 proposals at STM: 1) the original plan that was voted down narrowly at the Annual Town Meeting in May and 2) a recently proposed plan which includes The Preserve and Walcott Valley condominium development, as well as a portion of the downtown area. Prior to public comment, concerns regarding property being taken by the state were addressed by a letter from Senate president Karen Spilka’s office stating, in part, that “[n]owhere in the law does it allow the state to take a residence or business property by eminent domain, and there have been zero conversations in the Legislature about that hypothetical, or anything remotely close to it.” The issue of Wilson Street road damage was postponed and the hearing about the redevelopment of the former Hopkinton Drug and adjacent property of 6 Cedar Street was continued to the Board’s December 2nd meeting. Planning Board votes to present — but not recommend — 2 MBTA Communities zoning bylaw proposals to STM (Article by Mary Ellen Gambon, 11/5/24)

MBTA Communities Act Compliance in Surrounding Communities:

Natick recently voted on warrant articles to approve the town’s zoning plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. Natick Town Meeting OKs zoning plan in effort to satisfy MBTA Communities Act (Article by Tom Benoit, 10/29/24)

Framingham councilors may vote as soon as next week on a plan to satisfy the multifamily zoning requirement of the MBTA Communities Act. Framingham councilors may vote next week on plan to satisfy multifamily zoning law (Article by Tom Benoit, 10/31/24)

HOPKINTON SCHOOLS

Charleswood Project. The Elementary School Building Committee voted last Tuesday to use a small, standard mock-up structure for testing purposes for the new Charleswood School project, rather than a large scale mock-up proposed at a prior meeting reflecting the same features and materials as the new school and costing between $85K and $103K. Air infiltration testing will take place at the new building itself. Additionally, the ESBC voted for Souza True Engineers to manage the structure peer review. Vertex will be meeting with stakeholders to review the proposed design for road improvement and a presentation to share with neighbors will be forthcoming. ESBC selects smaller Charleswood mock-up for testing (Article by Susan Gonsalves, 10/30/24)

School Safety – citizen’s petition. A Hopkinton parent plans to submit an article for the Annual Town Meeting in May 2025 on funding for a safety assessment of the schools, to consider additional measures to deter acts of school violence. School shooting concerns prompt parent to advocate for safety assessment funding (Article by Mary Ellen Gambon, 10/30/24)

MCAS. Recent MCAS scores reflect that Hopkinton students “continue to outperform statewide scores in achievement and growth.” ‘Good stuff is happening’ with Hopkinton’s MCAS performance (Article by Susan Gonsalves, 10/25/24)

WEST MAIN STREET GAS STATION ISSUE

Climate Action & Building Workgroups of the Sustainable Green Committee discussions. At a meeting last Monday, the Climate Action & Building Workgroups of the Sustainable Green Committee discussed potential ways to regulate projects like the proposed West Main Street gas station going forward, that could address environmental concerns and support sustainability. The groups agreed to bring the matter before the Sustainable Green Committee at the general SGC meeting and follow up after the November 13th meeting of the Board of Appeals addressing the West Main Street gas station project. Gas station projects in crosshairs of SGC workgroups (Article by Nick Schofield, 10/29/24)

MAIN STREET CORRIDOR UPDATE

Walkway work at 35 and 77 Main Street will be finalized by Tuesday, November 5th. The town is waiting on schedules from Eversource and Verizon to begin overhead to underground work and complete overhead utility transfers on the west side, respectively. Main Street Corridor Update