Annual Town Meeting Held at Sterling Airport

By Patrick J. McNally

Due to public health and safety protocols related to COVID-19, this year’s Annual Town Meeting (ATM) returned to Sterling Airport (121 Greenland Road) on Monday, June 14, 2021. Once again, a large staging area was assembled on risers for the Selectboardoard, Advisory Committee, and Council Members, which allowed those in attendance to see the proceedings from their parked cars. Members of the Sterling Police, Fire, DPW, CERT, and Light Board were present, as was the Sterling Lancaster Cable TV staff, who recorded and later broadcasted the event for public access.

The ATM kicked off just after 5:30 p.m. Amrith Kumar was the sole nominee for temporary Town Moderator and was elected to serve by a 52-1 vote. Like last year, all votes were tabulated using the Wireless Voter Response System (clickers).

With 55 Articles in the Warrant, residents planned for a long night of voting. The meeting was broadcast live on AM radio 1670, making it easy for residents to hear inside their vehicles. To speed up the process, a Motions Book was provided to all voters upon entry, which eliminated the need to have each motion read aloud (unless requested).

Due to the large number of articles in this year’s Warrant, there were two groups of Consent Calendar Articles. The use of a Consent Agenda or “Consent Calendar” process helps to make the Town Meeting more efficient by grouping similar and (perceived) non-controversial items.

This first Consent grouping would allow motions for Articles 2 through 8 to be acted upon as one unit and to be passed without debate with a majority vote.

The second grouping of Consent Calendar articles included an assortment of various updates to the Town’s Protective, or Zoning, Bylaws. These 14 Warrant articles were numbered Article 28 through Article 41.

The first Consent grouping was swiftly approved by a 95-4 vote. The second grouping faced resistance, specifically with Article 39, as it included 13 land parcels that would change from Performance Zone to Commercial Zone. One parcel (159-2) is a 1.6-acre plot located at 43 Redemption Rock Trail, which is Legg Cemetery, as noted by Dick Shepherd.

“What are you going to do, have tours there?” Shepherd asked. “Maybe put a Ferris wheel up?”

Richard Martin was passionate about removing this parcel from the Article. He asked, “Why would we be rezoning a cemetery? There are Veterans buried there. It should remain hallowed ground.”

Article 39 was amended to address these concerns and was then defeated (needed 2/3 approval).

Article 42 focused on usage regulations for commercial kennels. Anne Marie Catalano, Animal Control Advisory Board Member, stated “The ACAB is strongly opposed to this Article.” She made a motion to refer this Article to Committee, which would be appointed by the Board of Selectmen, and others. Many voters echoed that sentiment, and the Article was referred to Committee by a 146-23 margin.

The 2021 Annual Town Meeting was completed in less than three hours. Video from the event is currently online at https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=80&id=38377.