Writing about Lancaster, Massachusetts

  The town posted it's response to the Capital Group's 40B application yesterday .  MassHousing allows 30 days after an application is filed for the town to respond -- this response is the towns opportunity to make it's case, and typically a town will state clearly it's opposition to the project, all out deficiencies in the application, and carefully state the town's progress on affordable housing.   The letter that Lancaster sent did none of those things.  The Response Letter Omits Reference to the Capital Group's appeal regarding their IPOD application in 2020. There are related applications at the site that appear to allow a denial at this site, and the town should have stated that. Massachusetts 40B regulations do try to protect communities from applicants who would try to weild 40B as a punishment: they require a "cooling off" period after another application on the same site.  The cool-off period begins after those applications are finally decide

  Everyone with an interest the Capital Groups 40B application should cut out some time to review the town's response.  (Once it's available for you to review.)  The town gets 30 days to respond to an application, and will be submitting that response this week.  We should town does pushes back on the application with all the issues raised by board's and residents. Residents and boards submitted their comments to the Town Administrator for Friday, 5/13.  The Select Board reviewed an initial memo drafted by the Town Administrator,  Kate Hodges, last night.    For whatever reason that draft memo wasn't posted as meeting materials, and the resident and board comments haven't been made publicly available for review.   I requested them this morning. Apparently at least some of the resident comments were shared with the Capital Group for feedback last week.   I don't have a good explanation for why the town would seek the Capital Groups feedback for it's response l

  At the 2022 Lancaster "Annual Town Meeting" held on May 2nd, 2022 we voted using electronic "clickers."   They are very convenient:  the clickers are roughly 1" by 3", and there are three labeled buttons for Yes, No and Abstain and some extra buttons (in the past it was suggested the extra buttons could someday become "order snacks" and "order drinks.") The moderator and town clerk cooperated to run the voting system: the moderator would announce that voting was now open, and the clerk would click some buttons on a computer to open voting.  After some time passed, the moderator announced that voting was closed and read the totals. I've started to worry about the clickers for a couple of reasons: I noticed at this meeting (and at the past two outdoor meetings in 2020 and 2021) that there's a delay between when the moderator announces that voting is open, and when the clicker will successfully transmit your vote.   This year I k

  Chit-chat with your neighbors while you watch tonight's (5/23) Select Board meeting on Zoom.   The Select Board will be reviewing the towns response to the Capital Group's 40B application-for-determination-of eligibility. Click the link below to join -- keep it friendly. LINK  TO CHAT The agenda for the Select Board Meeting with the Zoom meeting link is HERE .

Last month I asked MassHousing for a copy of Capital Group's 40B application -- they sent me all the files they had.  I just received it and haven't looked through it all:  some of it looks like it might be higher resolution copies of what's available on the town website, and some files weren't familiar to me.  You can look through it here: MassHousing files on Capital Groups 40B application Send me an email if you find anything interesting!  russwillistonpublic@gmail.com

  I wrote an earlier blog post, back on April 22nd, about how I was going to request Lancaster's payroll data from 2020 and 2021 to try to produce a report like this one from the Telegram & Gazette: What did Worcester City Employees Make in 2021? I did receive a response today, saying that my public records request was denied. Russ, I have been advised that this type of report is not maintained by the town as an outside payroll company handles the payroll. Please be advised that the Town’s duty to respond to records requests extends only to records that are in existence and in the custody of the Town, and the Town is under no obligation to create records in response to your request. You may appeal this response to the Supervisor of Public Records pursuant to 950 CMR 32.08(1)(d). You may also seek judicial review of an unfavorable response by commencing a civil action in the superior court, under G.L. c. 66, §10A(c). Sincerely, Lisa J. Johnson I assume the data does exist in a

At last night's "Affordable Housing Trust Meeting" the Trust revealed that that town has not yet received a "Letter of Eligibility" from the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).    This means that not only could the town not have adopted the bylaw at the Annual Town Meeting on Monday, but the Planning Board should not hold a hearing until it is received. The Lancaster Planning Board took a lot of heat this spring, from the Select Board and notably from two candidates on Monday's ballot: Steve Kerrigan, running for Select Board against a current Planning Board member, and Kendra Dickinson who's challenging an incumbent for a Planning Board seat.  Kerrigan and Dickenson both blamed the Planning Board for delaying the town's approval of the 40R bylaw, and both are running against current Planning Board members who have advocated for the town to carefully follow the process.  The revelation that the "Letter of Eligibility&qu

Photo by  Thomas Park  on  Unsplash Are you being held hostage by the Lancaster Planning Board? You heard it again at the "Annual Town Meeting" on Monday.  A resident serving on a town committee stepped to the microphone with something nasty to say about the Lancaster Planning Board.   The assertion is that the Lancaster Planning Board is preventing you from voting Short answer: No, you are not.    That's ridiculous. Longer answer:   No.  There are two proposed zoning bylaw amendments related to the development on McGovern Boulevard in North Lancaster.  One of the two bylaws was ready to consider on Monday -- you could legally have voted on amending the Enterprise Zone on Monday, but the Select Board removed it from the Warrant on April 20th.   The second bylaw, for the 40R district was submitted late and the hearing isn't scheduled for several more weeks. Moreover:  both bylaws SHOULD be delayed, because they will be presented alongside Memorandums of Agreement sign

 I put this together after a discussion about the FY2023 arose on one of the Lancaster pages.   For the FY2023 budget approved on Monday, non-school payroll and expenses increase 16% over the previous year.  A big jump -- in the previous three budgets they increased -1%, 6%, and 0%. Some of the increase in Payroll certainly comes from filling empty roles (I believe last years budget included no budget for the empty Planning Directory role), but there are definitely some big increases for specific positions this year -- they're visible in the Budget Detail that was provided for the Annual Town Meeting.