LYNNFIELD TOWN WARRANT
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING – OCTOBER 18, 2010
Essex, ss.
To the Constable of the Town of Lynnfield in the County of Essex, GREETINGS:
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify
and warn the inhabitants of said Town, qualified to vote in elections and in Town affairs,
to meet in the Middle School Auditorium, and in the Gymnasium, if necessary, on
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. then and there to act on the following articles:
ARTICLE 1. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or appropriate by
transfer from available funds, sums of money to pay overdue bills of a prior fiscal year,
or what action it will take thereon.
Submitted by BOARD OF SELECTMEN
ARTICLE 2. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from
available funds, sums of money to supplement certain accounts in the current 2011 Fiscal
Year where balances are below projected expenditures for various reasons, or what action
it will take thereon.
Submitted by BOARD OF SELECTMEN
ARTICLE 3. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, appropriate by
transfer from available funds or by borrowing, or from any or all such sources, sums of
money for the purchase of various equipment and items in the nature of capital
expenditure and to give authority to credit the value of the various old equipment to be
turned in toward the purchase price of said items, said sums of money to be expended
under the direction of various Town boards, committees, or officers; or what action it will
take thereon.
Submitted by BOARD OF SELECTMEN
ARTICLE 4. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate $1,000,000 for the purpose of
financing the following water pollution abatement facility projects: repair, replacement
and/or upgrade of septic systems, pursuant to agreements with the Board of Health and
residential property owners, including without limitation all costs thereof, as defined in
Section 1 of Chapter 29C of the General Laws; that to meet this appropriation, the
Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, is authorized to borrow some or
all of said sum of money and to issue bonds or notes therefor under G.L.c.111s.127B1/2
and/or Chapter 29C of the General Laws; that project and financing costs shall be repaid
by the property owners, in accordance with these agreements, but such bonds or notes
shall be general obligations of the town; that the Treasurer, with the approval of the
Board of Selectmen, is authorized to borrow all or a portion of such amount from the
Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust established pursuant to Chapter 29C (the
Trust) and in connection therewith to enter into a loan agreement and/or security
agreement with the Trust and otherwise contract with the Trust and the Department of
Environmental Protection with respect to such loan and for any federal or state aid
available for the project or for the financing thereof; and that the Board of Selectmen,
Board of Health or other appropriate local body or official is authorized to enter into a
project regulatory agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection, to
expend all funds available for the project and to take any other action necessary to carry
out the projects, or what action it will take thereon.
Submitted by BOARD OF HEALTH
ARTICLE 5. To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Bylaws by adding to the
end of Section 6, Sign Regulations the following:
6.8 Prohibited Sign Types
The following is a list of prohibited sign types:
1. Exposed neon expressed in a simple single or double stroke application.
2. Registration “R” mark or trademark “TM” symbols, affixed either to sign or
sign band.
3. Luminous signs employing vacuum formed plastic letters including any tubing
used as borders, stripes, or window and door surrounds, or building edging.
4. Signs employing un-edged or uncapped plastic logos or letters with no returns
and exposed fastenings.
5. Signs or lights that move, flash, make noise, or are animated including all
devices designed to attract attention by fluttering, rotating, spinning or moving in
some other matter, whether set in motion by movement of the atmosphere, or by
mechanical, electrical or any other means.
Such devices include but are not limited to beacons, searchlights, pennants,
ribbons, streamers, spinners, propellers or discs, whether or not any such device
has a written message
5.1 The permit granting authority may issue a Special Permit allowing a moving
sign which are indicators of time or temperature, barber poles for a barber shop
subject to size limitation of the underlying district.
6. Box style cabinet signs or “can signs” with illuminated, translucent background
and silhouette, translucent or acrylic letters.
7. Signs utilizing paper, cardboard, Styrofoam signs, stickers or decals hung
around, on or behind storefronts applied to or located behind the storefront
glazing.
8. Any imitation of official traffic signs or signals or use of such words as “stop,”
“look,” “danger,” “go slow,” “caution,” or “warning”.
9. No red or green lights or any lighting effect utilizing such colors used on any
sign if, in the opinion of the Chief of Police, such light or lighting would create a
hazard to the site operation
10. Portable signs not permanently attached to the ground or other permanent
structure, or a sign to be transported including, but not limited to signs designed to
be transported by means of wheels. Signs on A-T frames; sandwich board signs;
balloons used as signs; umbrellas used for advertising; signs attached to or painted
on a vehicle parked and visible from the public right-of- way, unless said vehicle
is used in the normal, day-to-day operations of the business.
11. No sign shall be illuminated between the hours of 11:00pm and 6:00am.
11.1. The permit granting authority may issue a Special Permit allowing sign
illumination outside of said time provided that such signs are on premises and
only for those times that are open for business.
6.9 Severability
Every provision of Section 6 is intended to be severable, and the invalidity or
illegality of any portion of said section shall not affect the validity or legality of
the remainder hereof.
or what action it might take thereon.
Submitted by PLANNING BOARD
ARTICLE 6. To see if the Town will vote to amend Chapter 9 of the General Bylaws by
deleting therefrom the first paragraph of Section V and replacing it with the following:
Any person filing a permit or other application, but not an RFD, with the
Conservation Commission shall also provide notification to the owners of any
property within 100 feet of the property line of the land where the activity is
proposed, including any in another municipality or across a public or private
street or a body of water, such persons being referred to herein as “abutters”. The
applicant shall provide notification at the mailing addresses shown on the most
recent applicable tax list from the assessors’ office. Notification shall be at the
applicant’s expense. The notification shall state where copies of the application
or request, with plans, may be examined and copied and where information on the
date, time and location of the public hearing may be obtained. The applicant shall
notify abutters by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by certificates of
mailing. Mailing at least seven (7) days prior to the public hearing shall
constitute timely notice. The applicant shall present either the certified mail
receipts or certificate of mailing receipts for all abutters at the beginning of the
public hearing. The presentation of the receipts for all abutters identified on the
tax list shall constitute compliance with abutter notification requirements. When
a person requesting a determination is other than the owner, the request, the notice
of hearing and the determination itself shall be sent by the Commission to the
owner as well as to the person making the request.
or what action it will take thereon.
Submitted by CONSERVATION COMMISSION
ARTICLE 7. To see if the Town will vote amend Section III “Exemptions and
Exceptions of Chapter 9 of the General By-Laws of the Town of Lynnfield (Lynnfield
Environmental By-Law)” by adding at the end of the first paragraph thereof the
following:
“This By-Law shall not apply to Isolated Vegetated Wetlands having a surface
area of 3,000 square feet or less that do not border on creeks, rivers, streams, ponds or
lakes. The types of Isolated Vegetated Wetlands include wet meadows, marshes, swamps
and bogs. In addition to the minimum size requirement, Isolated Vegetated Wetlands
must also meet at least two (2) of the following three (3) criteria:
i. The vegetation community of an Isolated Vegetated Wetland consists of
50% or more wetland indicator plants. Wetland indicator plants are classified in the
following categories: Faculative, Faculative +, Faculative Wetland -, Faculative Wetland,
Faculative Wetland +, or Obligate Wetland (source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) or,
ii. Other indicators of hydrology including site inundation or saturation,
water marks, drift lines, sediment deposits, oxidized rhizospheres, water-stained leaves,
shallow root systems, buttressed tree trunks, and recorded hydrologic data (stream gauge,
aerial photo, or other) or,
iii. Presence of Hydric Soils”
or what action it will take thereon.
Submitted by PETITION
ARTICLE 8. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate, borrow or transfer from
available funds, a sum of money to be expended under the direction of the School
Building Committee for a feasibility study, addition of classroom space and associated
costs at the Lynnfield High School, 275 Essex Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940 which school
facility shall have an anticipated useful life as an educational facility for the instruction of
school children of at least 50 years, and for which the Town may be eligible for a school
construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”). The
MSBA’s grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as
determined by the MSBA, and any project costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant
approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the Town.
Any grant that the Town of Lynnfield may receive from the MSBA for the Project shall
not exceed the lesser of (1) forty and twenty-six hundredths percent (40.26%) of eligible,
approved project costs, as determined by the MSBA, or (2) the total maximum grant
amount determined by the MSBA. It shall be understood that said percentage rate may
increase if the MSBA, in its sole discretion, determines the Town is eligible to receive
any incentive reimbursement points; and further provided that any appropriation hereunder
shall be subject to and contingent upon an affirmative vote of the Town of Lynnfield to
exempt the amounts required for the payment of interest and principal on said borrowing
from the limitations on taxes imposed by M.G.L. 59, Section 21C (Proposition 2½); and that
the amount of borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant
amount set forth in the Project Funding Agreement that may be executed between the
Town of Lynnfield and the MSBA..
or what action it will take thereon.
Submitted by SCHOOL COMMITTEE
And you are further directed to serve this warrant, by posting up attested copies thereof,
in at least six public places in said Town of Lynnfield, fourteen days at least before the
time of holding said meeting.
HEREOF FAIL NOT, and make due return of this Warrant, with your doings thereon, to
the Town Clerk, at the time and place of meeting, or before hand as aforesaid.
Given under our hands this 20th day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand
and ten.
Al Merritt Chairman
Arthur J. Bourque III, Selectman
Robert P. MacKendrick, Selectman