A $9 million annual budget, a petition to allow the sale of beer and wine in town restaurants, and a new bylaw aimed at protecting pre-Civil War houses will all come before voters at the Chilmark annual town meeting Monday night.
The town meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 25, at the Chilmark Community Center. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside over the session. There are 35 articles on the warrant.
The $9.05 million budget for the fiscal year represents a 1.67 per cent increase over last year’s budget, due largely to increases in the areas of human services and public works. Total government spending is up 4.46 per cent, to $1.2 million, while total education spending is down 1.98 per cent, to $3.02 million.
Town accountant Ellen Biskis said this week that a 22 per cent increase in the human services budget reflected the town’s assessments by the Council on Aging and Center for Living, along with a decision to incorporate the budget for Vineyard Health Care Access, which usually has its own line item.
“The CFL budget went up quite a bit,” Ms. Biskis said, adding that the town finance committee had worked with the center to fine tune the assessment.
A 328.5 percent increase in the snow and ice removal budget was mostly a technicality that did not equate to increased spending, Ms. Biskis said, adding that the line item is the only one the state allows to be overspent without penalty. Chilmark has long kept it at $7,000, although actual spending is usually much higher.
“Everyone kind of acknowledged this year that $7,000 is ridiculously low,” Ms. Biskis said. The new $30,000 estimate will stay in place unless it needs to increase.
Town officials this week said they were generally happy with the budget, which they thought reflected responsible spending by all town departments. A decrease in education spending was mostly the result of fewer students.
Voters will decide on a number of requests related to projects in Menemsha, including $23,000 for a new boardwalk, $11,000 for a dirt parking area north of the comfort station, and $5,000 to prepare the station for the summer season. Another two articles seek authorization to create a three-foot-wide pedestrian path along Basin Road, and to widen the main parking lot by five feet to the north and east. All the requests emerged from a public visioning process last year.
Efforts are still underway at Squibnocket Beach to remove stone revetments, relocate the town parking lot and build an access road to the homes at Squibnocket Farm. Voters will decide whether to allocate $200,000 in available funds, and up to $150,000 of a previous town meeting allocation, to cover the town’s construction budget for the project.
Last year, the town missed a deadline for using a $280,000 Coastal Zone Management grant for the project. The grant was re-awarded, but a new deadline was also expected to be missed. The town hopes to apply again, but it was unclear whether the state program would continue in the new fiscal year.
Other requests include a $33,000 contribution to an Island Housing Trust project to build 22 affordable apartments on Kuehn’s Way in Tisbury, and $75,000 to replenish Chilmark’s rent subsidy program, which began in 2002. Both allocations would come from community preservation reserve funds.
A total of $36,000 would pay for a new police vehicle to replace the department’s 2010 Ford Expedition, and $44,000 would pay for a new pickup truck for the highway department. Both articles are recommended by the finance committee.
The largest spending request this year is $627,584 to reconstruct about two miles of Middle Road. About two thirds of the money would come from state highway funds, and the rest from the highway stabilization fund and allocations left over from previous town meetings, including about $10,500 for the paving of Menemsha Hill in 2013.
An article seeking approval of a $2.5 million bond to expand to the Edgartown transfer station will likely be indefinitely postponed, since the article failed in Edgartown two weeks ago. Approval would have required a majority vote in all four member towns, including Aquinnah and West Tisbury.
Voters will decide on a number of regulatory changes, including whether to allow Chilmark to end its long streak as a dry town. An article submitted by petition would allow up to five annual or seasonal licenses for the sale of beer and wine in restaurants, inns and hotels that can seat at least 50 people. Ten signatures were needed to bring the question to a vote at the annual town meeting.
A proposed “historic houses” bylaw aims to prevent the demolition of historic buildings by excluding them from the town’s total living area allowance, if inclusion would mean exceeding the limit. The bylaw defines a historic house as any predating the Civil War, as listed in the 1985 Chilmark master plan, although the master plan itself may change. A special permit from the zoning board (following a report from the historical commission) would be required prior to any work that changes the exterior of the house. Replication after a fire “or other catastrophe” would also be allowed by special permit.
Another proposed amendment would help streamline the town’s homesite lottery process. Changes to the homesite housing bylaw would allow the town to be the recipient of a special permit for an undersized lot, easing the burden on lottery winners.
“It was a little confusing for people that had spent over six months being part of a process and had been awarded a lot in a lottery,” town executive secretary Tim Carroll said this week. “It seemed like it would be a lot easier for everyone involved for the town to take it on the chin, negotiate with any concerned abutters or neighbors or anything else, and to have the lots ready to go.”
Changes to the bylaw would also include language allowing the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority to enforce long-term deed restrictions that keep properties affordable for eligible buyers. Mr. Carroll said that would keep doors open in the future.
Chilmark will be the fourth Island town to vote on a proposed bylaw that would prohibit stores from using single-use plastic bags in their checkout lines. Instead, stores could only provide paper or reusable bags, but could also charge a fee. The ban could be enforced by any town police officer or board of health agent, and would take effect Jan. 1, 2017. Edgartown, Tisbury and West Tisbury have already adopted the ban. The Oak Bluffs selectmen voted in March to conduct further study.
Polls open at noon Wednesday for the annual town election. In the one contested race, Carol (Candy) Shweder and Zoe Thompson are vying for a three-year term on the library board of trustees. Polls close at 8 p.m.
Comments
Comment policy »