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Three’s a charm in many circles, but for Town Meeting members it was just another Monday night. Yet the crowd gathered in Winchester High School’s auditorium on May 4 got a lot of work done toward wrapping up the annual meeting.
High School repairs were indefinitely postponed, but literacy won full support. The rat wars are going au naturale, sidewalk snow clearing is going to committee as is the formation of a transfer station committee.
Meanwhile, the Winchester Committee on Community Preservation won funding, but lost a chunk of land, at least for now, in the most debated article of the night.
Article 35 Timing
Article 35 came down to timing. Some thought it was the perfect time for the town to take advantage of purchasing Forest Ridge, 13.66 acres of open space adjacent to the Middlesex Fells Reservation and Stoneham, but others thought the timing was all wrong.
But before Article 35 even hit the floor, there was a debate on whether it could be or should be postponed to Thursday night, May 7, the fourth and what Moderator Phil Frattaroli said he hoped would be the final night of Town Meeting.
Michelle Berstrom argued a number of supporters of the article could not attend Monday’s meeting and therefore wouldn’t be able to speak on the article.
Precinct 8 member Heather von Mering said it would be one thing if the sponsor were unavailable, but postponing because supporters were not in attendance could be setting a tough precedent.
“I wasn’t here last Thursday … did you guys stop because I wasn’t here?” she asked.
The motion to postpone subsequently failed in a voice vote and the article itself suffered a similar fate.
The debate
WCCP Chair Christina Marshall and Conservation Commission Chair Tracy Olson presented the proposal seeking just over $3 million to acquire the property for conservation and passive recreation uses, and to use WCCP funds to pay the debt service.
Olson said the $3 million would be a ceiling and a final cost would be negotiated with the seller. The number, she said, is based on recent professional appraisals, which came in around $3.3 million. Olson said they have also applied for grants to help defray the cost.
Pros according to Marshall and Olson:
• Preserves land for residents use in perpetuity
• Safeguards wetlands and wildlife habitats
• Permanently restricts development
• Would provide educational opportunities
• Will not cost the town any money beyond acquisition costs. Upkeep and future improvements would be funded through grants and volunteer labor.
Cons:
• By voting a ceiling, the town is in essence giving the seller the purchase price with no room to move, said Anthea Brady, Select Board chair, which did not support the article.
• The Finance Committee argued there would be $3 million to $4 million in lost tax revenue to the town and also did not support the article.
• FinCom also pointed out there are other projects in town that could be funded with WCCP funds, but not if they are all going to pay off Forest Ridge.
• Even Marshall didn’t support the project.
Marshall had noted that WCCP had only one member vote against the plan. When asked if she could share some perspective from that member, Marshall said, “yes … That person was me.”
Marshall said she wanted the article to pass, it was a good use of CPA funds and would be a good acquisition, but she, like others, felt the timing was wrong.
“I think a vacuum, this is a great idea, but we’re not in a vacuum,” she said.
With the recent failure of the $11 million override, Marshall was concerned Town Meeting wouldn’t have the appetite for such a large appropriation. She also didn’t like the idea the project was being presented off cycle.
Typically CPA projects are presented in the fall. Marshall said that allows the committee to compare projects against each other with a cap on spending, which she believes results in a better list to present to Town Meeting.
She reiterated she does want to see the article succeed at Town Meeting, but she thinks it would have a better shot later on.
There were supporters, however.
Precinct 7’s Josh Bers felt it was exactly the right time to make the purchase and called it a worthy opportunity for the town to add to its beauty.
“I mean, how many people can buy 13 acres in Winchester for $3 million?” Bers asked. “I see houses going for $3 million that have less than a quarter acre.”
Roger Wilson, Precinct 1, said, “There’s no evidence that Mark Twain said, ‘Buy land, they’re not making it anymore,’ But that’s my basic argument here.”
He pointed to other open spaces such as Wright-Locke Farm, Horn Pond and Davidson Park.
“Having these open spaces around the center of town is critical to the development of more density in the center of town,” he said. “It makes the community more livable on a long term basis and I think it definitely is a good idea to buy this land as soon as possible.”
Precinct 6’s Dorothy Simboli argued that if the land was mostly ledge and wetlands, as many said it was, then the idea the town is losing out on potential tax revenue doesn’t hold water.
Ecologist, teacher and Precinct 1 member Prassede Calabi said she couldn’t understand how they could say no to the proposal.
“I think that’s what CPA money is for,” she said. “It’s for quality of life things, the things that always slide down the priority list because you need a fire truck or you need a literacy program.”
The nays had it in the end, however, and the motion to support the article failed 59-105.
Arts & Letters success
The second most discussed article of the night centered on Article 28, a $598,540 ask for a new literacy curriculum for grades K-5, which raised some questions, but passed handily.
Precinct 8 member Diab Jerius said he supported literacy, but wondered why the curriculum wasn’t part of the school budget.
School Committee Chair Tim Matthews explained the idea to fund the program separately was born out of the State of the Town Committee, the group behind the failed Proposition 2 ½ override, so the cost wouldn’t be built into the operating budget and impact the level services budget.
He also said there would be other costs associated with the curriculum, such as consumables, materials students use each year and licensing fees, that would be included in the budget.
Matthews also noted the last time the literacy curriculum was updated was 15 years ago and even then it was never fully implemented.
Carol Savage, Precinct 2, said she was excited to vote in favor of the article and thought that in the long run, it could save the town money. Savage said she believed the new program brings with it the possibility that fewer children will need evaluations or additional services thus saving money on what the district calls tier two supports.
Roger Wilson, Precinct 1, said he was glad the Finance Committee and others supported literacy, but he didn’t like the accounting.
“I’m in favor of this, but I think this is a slippery slope, budgeting wise,” he said. “It seems to me we should appropriate a single budget figure.”
Precinct 5’s Susan DeLeo said she was enthusiastically in support of funding the literacy program.
“Let’s vote for it. Let’s do it unanimously,” she said. “These kids need it, and they need it desperately, and they need it now.”
But she said she’d also like to task the School Committee with discovering how the district can support the COVID Kindergarteners, those students who are now rising seventh graders and will not benefit from the new curriculum, but are still struggling with reading.
Caitlin Musto, Precinct 4, said she knows how much parents are spending on tutors because their kids have fallen behind.
“This is a huge investment in our school system to make it right by these kids,” she said.
And Town Meeting members unanimously agreed.
Other articles
Town Meeting members indefinitely postponed Article 26 seeking a second round of repairs at Winchester High School, this time dealing largely with concrete in some of the original corners of the school, which dates back to the 1970s.
Chris Nixon, of the Educational Facilities Planning and Building Committee, said some further study was needed and members backed the Finance Committee’s decision to indefinitely postpone the article.
Article 27, the operating budget, was pushed to Thursday’s meeting as were articles 33 and 38.
Article 34, the WCCP’s budget, was approved.
Citizen petitions
Citizens petitions from George Nowell and Shamus Brady meet with mixed results.
Nowell sought the creation of a Transfer Station Data & Resource Committee consisting of five people appointed by the moderator who would work with town staff to collect, organize, analyze, and catalog all financial data related to the Transfer Station, and to present an annual, comprehensive financial report to Town Meeting.
It was approved 84-65, with 7 abstaining.
Brady’s petition to establish a bylaw requiring people to clear their sidewalks of snow in a timely manner was not as lucky, but didn’t fail.
Precinct’s 2 Stephanie Zaremba commended Brady for his effort, but said she didn’t think the body was ready to vote on the new bylaw yet. Instead, she offered an amendment that it be sent to a committee.
Town Meeting concurred, sending the petition to the Select Board.
Lastly, came the rats. Katherine Valone offered a citizen’s petition to see if the town would vote to amend the Code of Bylaws by adding Chapter 27 aimed at eliminating the use of all Anticoagulant Rodenticides (ARs), including first and second generation ARs.
“I believe it’s important that it be a bylaw, because it creates a more permanent solution to this environmental problem that surrounds us,” she said. “And codifying this ban would also send a message to the state that Winchester is among the 40 plus communities that recognize the risks of using anticoagulant rodenticides have passed similar measures.”
Valone pointed to the recent death of an eagle, Fae, who died in March, as an example of a very real risk. Testing confirmed her death was caused by three anticoagulant rodenticides. Other animals such as fox, hawks, owls, coyotes and even bobcats have also showed exposure to ARs, Valone said.
The bylaw provides an exemption in the case of a sudden infestation, which Precinct 1 and Board of Health member Greg Sawicki said he appreciated.
The article passed unanimously and Town Meeting was continued to Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m.
Chris Stevens is an award-winning journalist who has spent 25 years chasing, editing and photographing stories on the North Shore. She is the co-founder and managing editor of Gotta Know Medford.
