Westford Special Town Meeting Highlights [REPRINT] Mon. Oct 21st, 7:00 PM
The gymnasium filled up for the Special Town Meeting last night but it was not at full capacity as many expected. Admirably, the town staff and volunteers were prepared for the potentiality of a bigger crowd.
Article 1
The most controversial article that garnered the highest total vote count of 649 was Article 1. If passed, this article would position the Planning Board to approve any new firearms-business applications via a “special permit” process. Government officials coalesced in support of the article, including the Police Chief and both the Select and Planning Boards.
Al Prescott who led the opposition gave an impassioned and entertaining pitch to the voters. The Westford Pro-2A community came together to give a resounding NO for the second time.
A similar attempt to restrict firearms businesses was tried last October. [Note in the video that all clapping was censored.] Efforts by the Planning Board Chairman failed to convince the pro-Constitution, pro-2A community.
Thankfully, the article got voted down. It failed to meet the 2/3 majority needed to pass.
Article 5
Town Moderator Angela Harkness held a fair policy that articles could not be reconsidered except for technical or procedural purposes. Article 5 proposed putting in the bylaws the ability to reconsider motions upon a 2/3 vote. At the mic, I said that I prefer the policy to the bylaw change. A motion was made to amend the article with a requirement that the moderator’s policy wording be added to the proposal. But, that effort was called “beyond the scope”. Then Article 5 moved forward and passed.
Article 10
The last Article of interest was Article 10 that proposed changing Town Meeting to allow those who could not be physically present to be able to vote either electronically or by paper ballot after Town Meeting. Despite this proposal being vague, it passed with the intention of having Westford advise the Select Board to work with the Town Manager and legislators Arciero and Cronin or Pirro to introduce a bill for the 2025-2026 session seeking authorization for Westford to revise the format of Town Meeting.
Results for All Articles
Article 1: A zoning bylaw to regulate firearms businesses. FAILED 386 to 263.
Article 2: Allow additional uses, such as brew pubs and wineries, as well as update additional uses. PASSED 318 to 56.
Article 3: Establish and modify parking requirements for uses in Article 2. PASSED 312 to 54.
Article 4: To update the use of temporary trailers from six months to 12 months for compliance with state law. PASSED 321 to 20.
Article 5: Amend how votes are reconsidered at Town Meeting. PASSED 267 to 30.
Article 6: Publication of bylaw amendments. PASSED 562 to 42.
Article 7: Transient merchants. PASSED 562 to 42.
Article 8: Accept Cloverleaf Lane as a Public Way. PASSED 562 to 42.
Article 9: Authorize the Select Board to Acquire by Gift two vacant parcels of land located off Howard Road and one off of Kirsi Circle. PASSED 575 to 51.
Article 10: To enable citizens to vote on Town Meeting articles without being physically present. PASSED 333 to 268.
IZON TOWN MEETING RECAP can be found here:
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