LYNNFIELD — A Special Warrant Town Meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 7 p.m at the Lynnfield Middle School Auditorium to debate and vote on 14 warrant articles, including some that fund Town projects, raise Town fees, and bring by-right Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in line with existing town planning rules.
Town Meeting must have a quorum of at least 175 registered voters from Lynnfield to vote on articles, as required by the town charter.
Articles 7 and 8 amend the zoning bylaws to bring them in line with the ADU portion of last year’s Affordable Homes Act, which allows ADUs to be built in single-family zoning districts by right. Since that law went into effect this year, multiple applications have been submitted by property owners for permits to build them, but the Town currently has little oversight.
The ADU-related articles are intended to ensure that new ADUs follow the existing site-planning process to ensure safety and to limit the negative impacts on both neighbors and the environment.
At a Select Board meeting on Sept. 29, Town Administrator Rob Dolan implored people to show up to Town Meeting so that a quorum can be achieved to pass these articles.
He said, “I think people are going to be absolutely shocked if we do not regulate this law… If we don’t get a quorum to pass this, it will be, I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but the Wild West when it comes to building.”
He added that should a quorum not be reached then “there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”
Four articles — Articles 2-5 — amend the Town bylaws to increase the fees the Town charges for permits, licenses, and services. The changes include building and electrical fees, town clerk fees, annual and event permit/license fees (including alcohol licenses), and Board of Health fees.
Articles 9 and 10 involve the rezoning and sale of the building and lot at 630 Salem St. that was, until recently, used by Lynnfield Fire Department (LFD) as its temporary headquarters. Now that LFD has moved into the new station at 1100 Summer St., the building is considered extraneous.
These articles seek to rezone the plot at 630 Salem St. from Single Residence A (SA) to Limited Business (LB) and allow the sale of the land by the Select Board. The land is not large enough to be converted to a residence under the Town’s bylaws on its own, but interested parties have floated ideas such as converting it to parking for the adjacent lots, which are already zoned LB.
Articles 11 and 12 seek to raise and appropriate funds to complete or perform repairs on town buildings. Article 11 would fund the completion of the town hall/public safety complex to cover the funding gap caused by the discovery and mitigation of soil contamination during the course of the project. Article 12 would fund the repair of the library’s roof.
A quorum of 175 voting-age residents is required to have a vote on any of these articles. Interested residents are strongly invited to attend Town Meeting.
