Annual Town Meeting warrant previewed

Date: 5/10/2010

May 10, 2010

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW -- The town's Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for May 17 at 7 p.m. in the East Longmeadow High School auditorium. The warrant for the meeting contains 30 articles, varying from the fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget to how large contractors' lawn signs can be.

The following is a preview of some of the larger issues included in the warrant.



FY11 Budget

The Appropriations Committee is recommending an FY11 budget of $50,249,040, an increase of just over 4 percent from the FY10 budget of $48,187,335. Jack Villamaino, who served as the chair of the Board of Selectmen while the budget was being crafted, said the group worked with the other executive boards to come up with a budget that would provide a level of service that the town has consistently been offering.

"The budget was a difficult endeavor because we didn't know what was coming down the pike, literally," Paul Federici, current chair of the Board of Selectmen, said. "We went with a conservative scenario -- not necessarily a worst case scenario. It was a great group effort."

And, despite the growth in the budget and the surplus in the operational stabilization fund, cuts will be made. Federici said those cuts still have not been finalized, although things such as furloughs and the closing of town offices (with the exception of the police and fire departments) one day a week are being considered.



School Bus Fees

Laura Joubert, a mother of students in the East Longmeadow Public Schools, put together a petitioned article asking the town to provide a sum of money to allow the lowering of the bus fee from $270 per student a year for those who live within a two mile radius of their neighborhood school. The amount listed in the warrant is $150 per family a year but Joubert said that number is not set in stone.

"I've gotten a lot of positive reactions," Joubert said. "I've stood in the car lines at schools and everyone I talked to wanted some change to that system. We need to come up with a number that's affordable for every family in town."

She added that she knows the town can't afford to do the busing for free but noted that parents can't keep paying what they're paying now.

"I want it [the fee] to be fair for everybody," she said.



Green Bylaws

With the Green Committee's quest to have the town become a Green Community, several bylaw changes must be approved by voters.

Article 21 asks the town to approve the Stretch Energy Code "for the purpose of regulating the design and construction of buildings for the effective use of energy." The Board of Selectmen shared their approval of the code in December 2009.

Director of Planning, Zoning and Conservation Robyn Macdonald said the Planning Board is recommending the adoption of the bylaw at the moment.

Article 22 would add a section to the administration portion of Zoning Bylaw 7.45 regarding as-of-right siting of renewable or alternative energy generation, manufacturing or research and development projects proposed in the designated as-of-right zoned area, which Macdonald said is limited to the industrial garden district.

"As-of-right siting means if a project comes in that meets the specifications for the zone, it cannot be prevented from coming in to that site with a special permit," Macdonald explained. "The business would still need to go through the rest of the site plan process, however."

Additionally, the bylaw would include constructive approval. If the Planning Board doesn't make a decision on a project within the allotted 155 days after submission and it doesn't request an extension, a builder could come in without approval to move forward with a project, according to Macdonald.

"My board wouldn't let something fall through the cracks," she said. The Planning Board already works with an expedited timetable when it comes to approving or denying projects.

"I don't anticipate it [constructive approval] causing a problem," she added.

Article 23 outlines the new definitions for the zoning bylaws, adding the terms "Alternative Energy" and "Renewable Energy." Alternative energy would include solar, hydroelectric and geothermal power but not power generated by biomass or wind.

A hearing on these issues will take place May 11 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Hearing Room.



Stormwater Management

Lengthy Article 25 asks voters to approve a Massachusetts General Bylaw regarding stormwater management. East Longmeadow is required to develop stormwater bylaws under the Clean Water Act's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. The goal is to minimize the impact to water resources from municipally-owned stormwater management systems, including storm drains, catch basins, detention ponds and outfalls.

"This is a federal unfunded mandate," Sean Kelley, senior project manager for the town's Department of Public Works, explained. "What we're presenting is a fine-tuning of the federal law that gives the town the power to enforce it. It's aimed to protect our natural resources."

The two main points of the bylaw are to regulate construction and post-construction stormwater runoff -- mostly mud and what the soil already contains, according to Kelley and to control illicit discharges, such as animal waste, paint thinner, oil and other non-natural items, from entering storm drains and catch basins.

"From a homeowner perspective, this only affects you if you have a large construction site of over an acre," Kelley said of the first point. He added that the goal of the second point is to get people who intentionally illicitly discharge to stop.



The Full Warrant

A preview of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant will be presented on ELCAT this week, and the full warrant is also available on the town Web site at www.eastlongmeadowma.gov.