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Natick reveals 2021 Spring Annual Town Meeting Warrant: Lower speeds, amusing churches, pot shop buffers & TMM recalls up for debate

February 16, 2021 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

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.
    acrobatics schools sacred heart church
    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…

Download (PDF, 237KB)


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Filed Under: Government, Town election 2021


Natick high runners eligible for Greater Framingham Running Club college scholarships

February 15, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick High School student-athletes are among those eligible for two $500 scholarships sponsored by the Greater Framingham Running Club.

The scholarships will be presented to local high school runners who plan to attend either a two or four-year accredited college or university and who also intend to run cross-country, track or recreationally while in college.  The winning applicants must exemplify dedication, leadership, running talent, commitment and academic achievement.  That is, the award will not necessarily go to the runners in the greater Framingham area with the most success in running, but the track or cross-country team members who have always been committed and consistently work hard to persevere, combined with academic achievement.

Applications are available now and are due by March 31.

natick track

 


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Filed Under: Schools, Sports



Natick town meetings for week of Feb. 15-19

February 15, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

It’s a light week of Natick town meetings, with the Monday holiday and public school vacation week (more meetings may be added as the week goes along on the town website):

  1. Tue Feb. 16, 3:30pm

    Select Board – Virtual Meeting

    (Review and approve spring Town Meeting warrant)

  2. Tue Feb. 16, 4pm

    Town Administrator Screening Committee
  3. Tue Feb. 16, 5pm

    Finance Committee Education & Learning Subcommittee
  4. Tue Feb. 16,  7pm

    Finance Committee
  5. Wed Feb. 17, 7pm

    Planning Board

    (One South Main Street, Marijuana bylaw amendment, more)

  6. Thu Feb. 18, noon-1pm

    Audit Advisory Committee
  7. Thu Feb. 18, 7pm

Conservation Commission

See Natick Pegasus for live and recorded viewing options.

Natick Center fire site spring
One South Main Street development on the Planning Board agenda

Filed Under: Government

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Natick Business Buzz: 9 more small businesses get COVID-19 relief grants; Lawyer joins town’s Economic Development Committee; about that Huck Saxe Boulevard sign

February 14, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Our roundup of the latest Natick, Mass., business news:

Small businesses get COVID-19 relief

Nine more Natick small businesses have been named as recipients of state COVID-19 relief grants.

The Baker-Polito Administration announced nearly $64 million in awards to 1,312 additional businesses in the seventh round of COVID relief grants administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). Each business meets sector and demographic priorities set for the two grant programs.

Natick businesses reaped a total of $675,000 in grants during this round, each for $75K.

Natick, Agostino's Italian Restaurant

Awardees aren’t always obvious from the legal names listed in the awards spreadsheet, but a little searching shows restaurants such as Agostino’s restaurant and Natick Mall’s Kung Fu Tea are on the list, along with a few gyms.

small business grants


Lawyer joins Natick Economic Development Committee

Andreia Precoma, a Natick lawyer, has been appointed to the town’s Economic Development Committee.

The committee is an advisory board tasked with attracting business development in Natick to maximize tax revenue and generate job opportunities, among other things.

Precoma told the Select Board that she hopes her legal expertise will be a useful asset for the committee.

About that Huck Saxe Boulevard sign

Have you ever wondered about that brown-and-gold Huck Saxe Boulevard Memorial Way sign at the northeast corner of North Avenue and Walnut Street in Natick?

It’s no coincidence that the sign, erected in late 2019, stands across from Natick Outdoor Store.

WWII veteran Haskell “Huck” Saxe founded Natick Outdoor Store as an Army-Navy surplus business in 1947, and the original store was in Framingham. The Natick store opened in 1978 on the site of an old grocery business and is run by Saxe’s son-in-law Henry Kanner.

Mr. Saxe passed away in 2012.

huck saxe boulevard


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Filed Under: Business, Restaurants

‘Talk about sweet timing’: How Natick got extra COVID-19 vaccine doses

February 13, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Like other local health departments, Natick’s has struggled to get as much COVID-19 vaccine as it would like to distribute in light of the overall shortage supplied to the state. The Commonwealth has limited communities not at very high risk levels from requesting more than 100 doses a week, and many have come up empty.

But Natick Public Health Director Jim White explained during this week’s Select Board meeting how Natick’s Health Department came to find itself with many more doses than it expected to get for use this week.

Natick, in conjunction with Wayland, began vaccinating first responders in mid-January, doling out 200 doses.  The setup put Natick in a position to continue with vaccinations through more phases of the rollout if doses became available.

Natick has received its maximum doses in recent weeks, dispensing 100 doses on consecutive Wednesdays for locals who were eligible to get shots and lucky enough to get through the registration system, which opens and closes quickly when word gets out (get notified of availability here). The town has also begun administering second doses to first responders.

White and Public Health Nurse Deborah Chaulk were discussing how they might come by more doses, and wondering why organizations like colleges and universities that have reported surpluses don’t release the extra doses to local boards of health. Chaulk raised the same question about hospitals, which have also been reporting unused vaccines.

That prompted White to reach out to Steve Baroletti, COO of MetroWest Medical Center and that organization’s rep to Natick 180, the local organization that addresses addiction and substance abuse. And as White commented: “Talk about sweet timing.”

White emailed Baroletti that if the medical center ever got any spare doses, Natick’s Health Department would gladly take them off their hands. “Lo and behold he was in a meeting discussing with the state about their surplus and handing back in to the state, which the state requested, or if they had another certified approved site within the area that they knew of that could use the vaccine that they could transfer it over to them,” White said. Baroletti got back and said he could deliver 150 doses, but then last Friday actually delivered 300, which Natick was able to use at clinics this week for the 75-and-older crowd.

“We’re doing what we can with what we’ve got, but we’d love to do more,” White said.

Natick is also aiming to hold clinics at Natick Housing Authority locations for those eligible residents toward the end of this month, he said.

Meanwhile, the state has announced that a vaccine site open to all eligible residents will begin operating at Natick Mall on Feb. 22, with plans to administer 500 doses per day. White says the plan for that site is to gear up for 3,000 doses a day, seven days a week, once things get cranking.


If you have an interest in learning more about what the Health Department is up to beyond what’s shared at Select Board meetings, be sure to reach out to Natick Pegasus and let them know you’d like for them to make recordings of Natick Board of Health meetings available on a regular basis.


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Filed Under: COVID-19, Government, Health

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