News Stories

What’s In May’s Town Meeting Warrant?

Members of Burlington’s legislative body, Town Meeting, will convene on May 13 for one of three yearly gatherings, with this one known as the annual meeting and likely to last at least two nights. 

In May’s Town Meeting, members will consider the town’s FY2025 budget, as well as significant warrant articles relating to funding a new police station and complying with the state’s MBTA Communities zoning law. 

The full warrant is available here, but let’s take a look at some of the significant items up for debate. 

 

Financial Articles

Town meeting members will vote on Burlington’s $176.8 million operating budget, representing a 4.99% increase over FY24’s. “This increase was driven primarily by financial obligations largely outside the control of the Administration, such as waste removal, special education tuition, regional school assessments, and health insurance,” wrote Town Administrator Paul Sagarino in a message to Town meeting members about the proposed budget. Sagarino added the budget was created with the town’s long-term goals in mind, including maintaining its AAA bond rating, managing debt and reducing liabilities; promoting and enhancing the local economy; and optimizing organizational structure. 

Members will also consider 30 separate requests from different town departments to appropriate funds from Free Cash for various larger projects and purchases. Among those are: 

  • $995,000 for Phase 3 Communications Infrastructure, a request from Police and Fire
  • $78,000 for a new Command Car for the Fire Department
  • $662 for Vehicle Replacement for the DPW
  • $190,000 for renovating Wildmere Playground, a request from the Recreation Commission
  • $150,579 to refurbish the boilers at the Burlington High School
  • $113,203 for critical building systems at Marshall Simonds Middle School
  • $358,574 for upgrades to the Marshall Simonds MIddle School bathrooms
  • $245,350 for district-wide curriculum review in the schools

Other significant projects fall under the Financial Articles umbrella. 

A request for $46.2 million would represent the largest amount of money Burlington will have spent on a single construction project, and would go towards rebuilding the Burlington Police Station. The request comes after Town Meeting in 2022 approved a feasibility study forth e 

The Department of Public Works is requesting $1.2 million to replace the resin in the PFAS filters at the Mill Pond Reservoir. 

Other financial articles include more routine actions like accepting just over $1 million in Chapter 90 funds from the State of Massachusetts;  transferring funds from Free Cash to the Stabilization Fund; and accepting about $77,000 from the Will of Marshall Simonds for improvements to Marshall Simonds Park. 

 

General Articles

A single general article up for consideration in May’s Town Meeting is Article #30, which would change the Town Clerk position from an elected to an appointed role. If approved by Town Meeting, a ballot question would appear on the April 2025 local election ballot on the issue. 

 

Zoning Bylaw Articles

Sure to be a hotly debated issue in May is a zoning article related to the MBTA Communities Act, establishing relevant bylaws and overlay districts to bring Burlington into compliance with the state law. 

The bylaw adds definitions to the bylaws for MBTA Communities-specific terms like  “as of right,” meaning that a development may proceed without a special permit, variance, zoning amendment or other discretionary zoning approval, and adds a new overlay district called MCMOD, or “MBTA Communities Multi-Family Overlay District.” The article also establishes the specific parcels of land included in the overlay subdistricts. 

Planning Director Liz Bonventre worked with a team from across government and civic life to find six parcels that are already zoned for multi-family housing which could easily be overlaid for the MBTA Communities Act without much – or any – chance to the housing already on the site. An additional parcel would have slightly different properties and would encourage mixed-use development, with some housing and commercial purposes, between Middlesex Turnpike and Great Meadow Road. 

Bonventre discussed the plan in depth, along with Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce President Rick Parker, who was a member of the MBTA Communities Act working group, in an in-depth conversation with BNEWS here. 

An additional zoning article would change the zoning in order to allow the Burlington Police Department to expand into the Sculpture Park next door. Right now, the land occupied by the Sculpture Park is designated Open Space; if Articles #32 and #33 are approved, a portion of the Sculpture Park lot would be rezoned as Limited Business District, which would match the existing Police Station lot at 45 Center Street. The Town intends to return to Town Meeting to rezone any unused portion of the lot back to open space upon the completion of the new police station. 

There are plenty of other warrant articles which will impact the future of Burlington. Read the full warrant here, and check out the backup, with additional information and context, here

Town Meeting is scheduled for May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Burlington High School auditorium. If necessary, Town Meeting will continue at 7 p.m. on May 15, May 20, and May 22.