Brookline Fall Town Meeting 2021: What To Know

BROOKLINE, MA — It's almost time for Brookline's fall Special Town Meeting, set to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 16 and tackle 32 warrant articles, fewer articles than previous years.

The main meeting has 31 proposals on the table, including two that tackle the town's recreational marijuana retail licenses, one that would continue to allow hybrid meetings, and one that would add to the town’s bylaws a provision for language access services. There's also a proposal to restrict where gun shops could open in Brookline and another that would make it illegal to sell new fur products in the town.

There is a second meeting within the main meeting that will have legislators considering one article, which deals with appropriating additional funds to the various accounts in the fiscal year 2022 budget or transferring funds between those accounts.

Town Meeting consists of 240 elected Town Meeting members, plus the members of the Select Board, and any state representative or state senator who lives in Brookline. The Town Moderator, Kate Poverman, presides and the town clerk acts as secretary. Town Meeting is responsible for passing a balanced annual town budget, and enacts all town bylaws.

Here's what's on the docket for the fall Special Town Meeting:

1. Authorize the payment of bills from previous fiscal years (Sponsored by the Select Boar
2. Fund the cost items in collective bargaining agreements between the town and unions and fund wage increases for employees not included in the collective bargaining agreements (Human Resources)
3. Special legislation to exempt employees in the police department from the Civil Service Law. (Select Board)
4. Petition the Legislature to amend Section 5 of Chapter 270 of the Acts of 1985. (Select Board)
5. Grant an access easement to 62 Harvard Street LLC (Commissioner of Public Works)
6. Amend the General By-Laws, Part VII, Streets and Ways (Roger Blood)
7. Adding two marijuana retail licenses reserved for equity applicants (Select Board)
8. Cap on retail marijuana licenses (Select Board)
9. Create a recreational marijuana industry Study Committee (Alok Somani and Susan Park, TMM 2)
10. Authorize the town to hold hybrid town meetings. (Select Board)
11. Exempting the town from in-person quorums. (Bonnie Bastien, (TMM 5, Mike Toffel (TMM 8),Elizabeth Schafer (TMM 10), Marissa Vogt (TMM 4), Jeffrey Benson (TMM 3), and Anne Weaver (TMM 11)
12. Adopt a resolution regarding remote meeting access. (Bonnie Bastien (TMM 5), Michael Toffel (TMM 8), Elizabeth Schafer (TMM I 0), Marissa Vogt (TMM 4), Jeffrey Benson (TMM 3), and Anne Weaver (TMM 11)
13. Amend language in the town's General By-laws regarding Open Meeting Law .(Mike Toffel, TMM 8)
14. Economic Development Advisory Board. (TMM 10)
15. Language access plan. (Chi Chi Wu, TMM 7 (Corresponding petitioner); Raul Fernandez, Vice Chair, Select Board; Mariah Nobrega, Town Meeting Member TMM 4 and School Committee Member; Brookline Asian American Family Network)
16. Ground Source Heat Pump for Driscoll School. (David Gacioch, TMM 13, Andy Fischer, TMM 13)
17. Zero waste resolution. (Paul Hsieh and Douglas Plante)
18. Adopt a resolution to use low-carbon concrete products and recycle old concrete when possible. (Ira Krepchin, TMM 15)
19. Impose liability for loud and unruly gatherings. (Jonathan Davis, TMM 10)
20. Olmsted-Richardson Thematic Local Historic District. (Preservation Commission)
21. Amend Section 4.07, Use 6 of the Zoning By-laws. (Planning and Community Development Department)

22. Restrict where gun shops can open via a "firearm business uses" bylaw amendment. (Petra Bignami (TMM 12), Janice S. Kahn (TMM 15), Alexandra Metral (TMM 1) and Sharon Schoffman (TMM 14)

23. Modify residential parking requirements. (Michael Zoorob, Lisa Cunningham, Scott Englander, Jesse Gray, Ben Hellerstein, Jonathan Klein)
24. Off-street parking space regulations. (Planning Board)
25. Increase requirements for EV READY parking spaces. (Michael Zoorob, Lisa Cunningham, Scott Englander, Jesse Gray, Ben Hellerstein, Jonathan Klein, Werner Lohe)
26. Town wide planning and zoning reform project. (Linda Olson Pehlke TMM 2, Paul Warren TMM 1, Gina Hahn TMM 3, M. David Lee, President Stull and Lee Architecture and Planning)
27. Warrant reports for articles. (John Doggett TMM 13 and Neil Gordon TMM 1)
28. Restrict trade in fur products. (Shira H. Fischer; Jonathan Klein, Jonathan H. Davis)
29. The public's right to be heard on warrant articles. (Neil Gordon TMM 1)
30. Appropriate $198,050 to indemnify legal fees for TMM Stanley Spiegel. (Martin Rosenthal TMM 9 and counsel for Stanley Spiegel)
31. Reports of town officers and committees

Read the article explanations from the town here.