During night two of Town Meeting, both Articles 16 & 17 dealing with the MBTA Communities Act Section 3A of MGL c. 40A, were allowed to be debated and discussed together. The new law requires that an MBTA community shall have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right. Meaning, Reading was required to zone but not build a minimum of 1,493 units.
It all started with multiple rounds of Town Meeting members being allowed to speak and almost ended with one non Town Meeting member (but a resident of Precinct 2) being thrown out and “moving back to New Hampshire”, a first for Town Moderator Alan Folds.
In the almost 4 hour discussion, it became pretty evident that the vote was going to be close. Multiple Precinct 3 residents (directly impacted by both articles) felt they were being slighted by being down 3 members and not being able to appoint new ones back in April due to quorum issues as well as a lack of notice by the Town Clerk for vacancies this time around. Laura Gemme previously apologized for the lack of postings at the start of Town Meeting this past Tuesday.
In the end, the unofficial straw poll would reveal which direction the votes were headed. The “need” for the poll was in the event that both Articles 16 and 17 both passed, the zoning would end up doubling and Town Meeting possibly wanting something passed for compliance. The chance at double zoning caught some Town Meeting members off-guard as they received revised motions about 2 and a half hours before the meeting containing the new language. Town staff pointed out that the doubling issue was always possible, they were simply putting it in writing.
When it came for the actual vote, Article 16 (the one consisting of the downtown, plus HomeGoods and South Main Street) failed a roll call vote 76 yes to 85 no’s. Town Meeting then moved on directly to Article 17 (just the downtown plus Summit Drive and Archstone Circle ) which passed 129 yes to 32 no’s. Both articles only needed a simple majority and not a 2/3rd vote to pass.
Town Meeting then adjourned with 2 Instructional Motions left on the table and not to be taken up; one by Nancy Docktor requesting the Board of Health change to elected rather than appointed and the other by John Sasso asking for a reverse 911 call policy. Neither of which would have been binding but simply instructional in nature.
As for the Winter Street resident who was going to move back to New Hampshire? He may be staying after-all. He was in favor of Article 17.
Below is the recording of the meeting:
