The Natick Select Board this Tuesday is set to sign the 2021 Spring Annual Town Meeting Warrant, which features the usual batch of budget- and bylaw-related articles, as well as some less routine material that will be sure to spark discussion in light of recent pot shop developments and calls for handling certain Town Meeting member behavior.
The warrant (embedded below) features 33 articles to be voted on at Town Meeting, slated to be held online starting on April 13. The town’s Finance Committee and Planning Board will hold hearings on articles in weeks to come that should help clarify the wording currently in the articles.
Among the articles that might be good for lively debate:
- Article 23: Accept State Legislation Allowing Lower Speed Limits. You can get a good feel for this issue by watching a Natick Pegasus recording of a discussion on this subject (second half of the recording).
- Article 27: Re-Zoning of 26-28 Eliot Street & Article 28: Amend Historic Preservation Zoning By-Law (Article 28 text: “To see what action(s) the town will take to amend the Historic “Preservation By Law section of the existing Zoning Bylaws (Section III-J) in order to allow certain additional uses by special permit in former houses of worship that qualify under the Bylaw, such as indoor amusement and recreation uses, performing arts training, education and live performances and/or to amend the Definitions section of the Zoning Bylaw (Section 200) so as add a definition for “Houses of Worship” and/or related definitions and/or otherwise act thereon.” Inspired by efforts to run an acrobatics school out of the shuttered Sacred Heart church on Eliot Street in South Natick.
Inside Sacred Heart Church in summer 2020 as new owners work on converting it into an acrobatics school - Article 29: Amend Zoning By-Laws to Create Residential Buffer Zones Regarding Licensed Marijuana Retailer Establishments under Section III-K.2: Adult Use Marijuana Establishments (See: Pot shops get another shot at locating on Rte. 9 in Natick)
- Article 33: Town Meeting Member Removal/Recall Study Committee. Not that any Town Meeting members have been behaving badly of late…
Is there any reason the author of this article is referring to dispensaries as pot shops. Would you call a liquor store a booze shop. As a person with 17 different diagnosis, 4 Co-morbidities and a medical card holder I found it off putting.
In part, pot shops is a lot shorter than marijuana or cannabis dispensary, so works better in a headline. And actually, we do toss around the word booze in our headlines. But I appreciate your point on this. Thanks for commenting, BobB