001three minute turn at the microphone during discussion of each article if you're responding to a question please do through do so through me there should be no direct discussion between parties at town meeting all debate is to be conducted in a respectful and courteous manner no comments of a personal nature are to be made Rude Behavior especially shouting bullying and personal attacks will not be tolerated anyone unwilling or unable to comply with this rule will be removed some announcements baby sitting is being provided this evening until 9:00 by the ashin recck department uh we should we should be done long before 9 o'clock I anything now I'll just yell thank you Preston we should be done long before 9:00 but if we're not children are welcome to join us in the auditorium at that point
002or any time this evening they just can't vote thanks to Kelly run and her team for making this service available the annual Holiday Stroll will take place this Saturday December 2nd from noon to 4: there will be pop-up boosts from local vendors downtown selling their products as well as the brick and mortar shops all over downtown the day caps off with the annual tree lighting at 4:00 Santa will be parading around town on Sunday the parade kicks off at 4:30 at the public safety building the annual manora lighting will take place on Sunday December 10th at 6 p.m. in Montenegro Square moderator's motions the moderator's Motions are listed in your handbook on page four they are the same standard motions we approve each town meeting so I'll address ask to address them as a group
003do I have a motion to approve modare motions 1 two 3 and four as printed in the handbook uh all in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously on to our business for the night article one free cash transfer sponsored by the town manager and finance director to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash an amount of funds to be placed in the stabilization fund OPB trust fund special education special purpose stabilization account capital account and or general fund or pass any Vote or take any action relative there too the finance committee recommends the town transfer 1,743 $680 from free cash to the following accounts sum of $25,000 to the general stabilization fund sum of 5,551 15,590 40 to the opep trust fund sum of $200,000
004to the sped stabilization fund the sum of $ 71,3 64 to account 01544 d524 for the purposes of supporting activities outlined within the op settlement program and the sum of $931,000 60 to the capital County Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator can everybody hear me hope they can now anyway thank you for being here thanks for coming U hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving holiday but um article one is indeed our free cash transfer it's something that uh we do every year in the fall and essentially what we do is we appropriate the balance in our accounts from the previous fiscal year um and what the select board Finance Comm Comm and the school committee as well as the town manager and superintendent agreed to back in 2013 was a set of financial policies which
005would address long-term liabilities as well as one-time expenses um and that includes moving money into our general stabilization fund which keeps our that's considered our rainy day fund um that keeps the balance at 10% of our expenses um our opep trust fund which handles long-term health insurance liabilities for retirees uh a sped stabilization fund which is which was established I should say to handle out a district special education costs and then Capital expenses um in a total of almost a million dollars it's how we fund partially our Capital plan and then this year is a little bit different uh we have opioid settlement funds uh the reason this is in here this year is that we received settlement money from a couple of major lawsuits related to the manufacturer of U opioids and and typically
006this goes into a special account but the Massachusetts Department of Revenue would not allow cities and towns to put that in a special account right now so it closed out to free cash thank you to allow discussion I'll entertain a motion that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $25,000 the general stab St General stabilization fund sum of $515,500 40 to the over trust fund sum of $200,000 to the sped stabilization fund Su excuse me sum of 71,3 6440 to account 5245 and the sum of 9316832866 Rockwood I'm just want to know why the total at the bottom of the uh chart is different from the total in the motion and which number is correct because there was a 40 cent error in the table the motion is correct okay and
007you get the bonus prize for noticing Janet Platt 11 Rodman Road um I'm just wondering about the capital funds how um it's nearly a million do and we don't have a capital funding committee anymore and I'm wondering what it's going to and how do we plan for that for the Future Okay um how we plan for for the future is probably best left to a meeting other than town meeting uh but what it's for there is no specific appropriation I'm sure the town manager will be happy to give you a general idea that's up on the screen but we V vote in appropriation not specific amounts I are you okay with that do you have's I'm more than happy to have uh Michael speak to it a bit just a general idea of the of
008the idea behind it okay any further discussion see none this will require a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article two property tax exemption sponsored by the board of assessors select board and town manager to see if the town will vote to adjust the exemption amount and eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under Mass General Law chapter 59 Section 5 Clause 41 C and a half to be effective for exemptions granted for any school year beginning July 1 2023 or pass any voter take any action relative there to the finance committee recommends the town adjust the exemption amount in eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under Mass General Law chapter 59 Cheon 5 cost 41
009C and a half to 12% to be effective for exemptions granted for any fiscal year beginning July 1 2023 Mr bani thank you Mr moderator can everybody hear me I'll use my outside voice if I have to um this is a standard uh line item that we have just about every uh fall uh with respect to this and U specific issue and it's to help those who uh are having difficulties with uh paying their taxes uh especially seniors and and those that meet the qualifications um on online there's a online qualification list of things that they have to uh meet before they can uh apply for this for this for this exemption and this year it's 12% uh last year that figure was about $854 uh taken out their tax bill this year roughly I
010believe uh Mike you can correct me if I'm wrong roughly about $950 roughly per a say 97 97 okay so I know it's not I'd like to see it be more but for right now that's the best we can do and uh that's that's basically it thank you thank you Mr moderator to allow discussion I'll enter hand a motion to the town vote to adjust the exemption amount and eligibility factors for the property tax exemption for senior citizens under master General Law chapter 59 Section 5 Clause 41 C and a half to 12% to be effective for exemption granted for the fiscal year beginning July 1 20123 do I have a motion discussion SE move to a vote this requires a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and
011opposed that passes unanimously article three senior tax workof program sponsored by the town manager and Senior Center Director to see if the town will affirm its acceptance of General Law chapter 59 section 5K to allow for the select board to establish a senior tax workof program and further the town adjust the exemption and one allow an approved representative for person's physically unable to provide such services to the town and two allow the maximum reduction of real property tax to be based on 125 volunteer hours in a given tax year rather than $1,500 the finance committee recommends the town so vote Miss Greaves thank you Mr moderator get there anyway um so this is a program that we've had before but the state has made some recommendations for changes that we would like to accept the
012one is that instead of the person who is getting the tax right off has to do the work that someone can do it for them pretty much as it says right there and then the other one is that instead of an amount it's the number of hours and we do support this because as we you know for some people they can't do the the work physically but they do need to um benefit from the credit thank you thank you m Greaves to allow discussion I'll andh hand a motion that the town affirms acceptance acceptance of General Law chapter 59 section 5K for the select board to adjust establish a senior workof program and further the town adjust the exemption and one allow and approved representative for persons physically unable to provide such services to the
013town and two allowing the maximum reduction of real property tax to be based on 125 volunteer service hours in a given tax year rather than $1,500 do I have such a motion discussion Ryan turff 21 Rossy lean I just quick question that I probably missed um what's the monetary value of one service hour Mr Herbert so typically it's been $15 an hour but this also gives us the ability to make adjustments to that if necessary and I believe the you know as Miss GRE had mentioned we this is kind of a revision of a current program and I think last year that amount to toal 22 2,250 okay thanks thank you Mr Sony thank you you didn't mark the Sony Road as m i I did watch the pre- timeing inform it's the second question
014I had on that night if a person is working not working and has um Social Security disability with fixed incomes what does this due to this article was it due to what Mark to the article it s the motion oh the article sorry Mr Herbert yeah I would actually defer to our assistant Town manager for this miss ball I don't know you hear me um so we looked into this after the town me the town manager's forum and I don't there is no eligibility requirements like the exemption has and so if somebody is able to work off their hours they're eligible that includes volunteer here and um the fixed income doesn't get affected it go it goes directly towards your property taxes unless they're issuing a 1099 or a W2 there would be no social
015security impact Mark it's not it does not yeah it goes directly against your property tax okay thank you you're welcome any further discussion see none this will require a simple majority vote all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously article four accept donation of land zero Fountain Street sponsored by the town manager to see if the town will vote to accept as a gift take or otherwise acquire a parcel of land identified on the assessor map 010 and lot 0045 including approximately 10,890 square feet more or less with an address of zero Fountain Street rear and to authorize the select board to take any other action or execute any documents necessary to effectuate the conveyance of same to the town or take any action relative there too the
016finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr Herbert thank you Mr moderator um so this is a small piece of property in basically the middle of a subdivision off of Fountain Street um that's being generously donated to the town by the Bell family um again it's uh it's a very small piece of property it's unbuildable um and currently it's forested open space where it will and if it does come to the town if the town meeting so votes it will remain as open space um and our conservation agent and our assistant conservation agent have identified this parcel as having a high ecological value for the town um and has benefits in terms of carbon sequestration so um that's why we had asked town meeting to support it thank you Mr Herbert to allow discussion I'll
017ENT hand a motion that the town accept as a gift take or otherwise acquire a parcel of land identified on the assessor map 010 and lot 0045 including approximately 10,890 sare ft more or less with an address of zero Fountain Street rear and to authorize the select board to take any other action or execute any documents necessary to effectuate the conveyance of same to the town to have motion discussion relating to land acquisition this will require two-thirds majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passes unanimously Article Five accept easement 107 High Street sponsored by the select board in DPW to see if the town will vote to accept as a gift purchase or otherwise acquired and easement as shown in a plan entitled easement exhibit plan 107 High
018Street Ashland Mass prepared by gcg Associates Inc and dated 92823 and indicated as 15ot access easement a copy of which is on file in the office of town clerk and further the town shall appropriate funds sufficient to acquire same or take any action relative there too the finance committee recommends the town so vote M Bennett thank you Mr moderator uh this is a u easement up on High Street um if you're familiar with the old yesty year Farm up there um that woman Mrs uh Crawford many years ago donated a piece of property out in back of her home it's about 3.28 acres and uh with the stipulation that the town mow it twice a year the town does not have access to that land to to mow um without having had to disrupt some
019very old stone wall um so that some neighboring home owners have offered um or negotiated with the town for an easement so that we can access the property for mowing twice a year um so we would uh like to support this so we can continue to have this as free space you can actually see it if you drive up High Street and look to your right uh not too far after whittimore you can see the the open space back there and and uh looks like a nice field thank you thank you Miss Bennett to allow discussion on ENT hand a motion that the town accept as a gift purchase or otherwise acquire an easement as shown on the plan entitled easan exhibit plan 107 High Street Ashlin Mass prepared by gcg Associates Inc in data
02098 2023 and indicated as 15 foot access easement a copy of which is on file on the office of the Town Clerk and if the easement is not provided as a gift that the town appropriate or transfer $2,000 from account One account 01422 d524 in order to pay the cost the same please note the account reference was not in your handbook it was added later it was unintentionally omitted do I have S a motion discussion thanks all uh I'm here to speak against the proposed your name and address sure Ben cre 111 High Street thank you here to speak against the proposed easement for 107 High Street I'm an autter at 111 High Street in the town manager Forum this week Mr Herbert alleged the need for this easement was because a new property owner
021had expressed opposition to the town using his property to fulfill its obligation to mow the field located off of High Street believe he's referring to me and I want to be clear that I have never expressed any opposition or anything but cooperation in allowing the town to access the field via my property in fact when the DPW cleared some dogwood trees from my neighbor's property in preparation for taking this easement last year I asked why they were doing so and was told it because the select board had expressed concern in the town accessing this accessing this field via private property and that a future homeowner might possibly deny them access do not feel either argument is valid and given High Street status as a Scenic Road I'm against this easement and the removal of the
022scenic stone wall it would entail as this town changes and modernizes I believe it is important to respect and preserve artifacts of our Agricultural and Industrial Heritage and maintain the rural field that attracted so many of us to buy homes and build lives here this unnecessary undertaking undermines those cultural touchstones and therefore I'm opposed to it thank you thank you Mr Herbert did you have a okay um Amy Sayad 106 High Street um I have um two questions the first one being that is presented um in the um the I apologize what's that called the uh the plan um Claudia you very specifically mentioned to this was being done to not disturb stone walls and I believe there is a stone wall exactly right there Mr Herbert this is an existing driveway um so you're
023talking I'm looking at right there so this is not to the left this is is her the current owner's driveway correct okay all right so I apologize for that um so then I guess my second question is that what's going to be if if the town is taking that easement what type of um ensuring that people are not going through in that road to get to that parcel of land understand that atement just means that you can walk across doesn't mean you're going to develop it it just means you can have have access but but understand that this is a Scenic Road it's a very that that curve that's right there is a very tight curve there's a lot of accidents and um the ground outside of I'm directly across the street from that entrance
024is extremely soggy and any car that parks there sinks into the mud okay and again I'm not here to dispute any of what you're saying I'm just explain an easement doesn't mean anything's built it just means the town has legal access to transgress that that area to get from one place to another I I know but it's being presented tonight as being that oh this is great we can now access this this parcel of land without any hindrance because there now is a direct access and I'm questioning the what is going to happen to ensure that people are not going onto that parcel at all hours of the day because right now there is no access so now suddenly there will be access that's my question Mr thank you so just to be clear I
025mean obviously there's a a bit of confusion here but I believe this is is an existing driveway it is it's a private home though so now you're saying the town is going to have that access we will have access for mowing purposes only okay a year yeah okay so then we we're already doing that a I I do I understand that but it was just presented as being that this is open space and that you're saying okay this is great now the town can access it and so can private citizens no it access for the town of Ashland okay that's just not how it was presented so again I there's been a lot of just disc like the way that this has been presented has been just very confusing and quite frankly against I'm sure
026if if Mavis was still alive today she'd be thrown the fact that we're having so much discussion over her request to mow this La twice a year so thank you very much hi ma' um Katie cre I live at 111 High Street um I just wanted to share with you my concerns about the communication around this easement being put in I came out one day to find DPW putting stakes in the grass and cutting down a blooming tree saying they were going to take down the stone wall and put in a gate and make an access that way and that was the last that we heard of it and so to find out now it's actually not that the tree was cut down for no reason it's going to be through the neighbor's driveway that's
027new information to all of us and also as my husband said I think we're being misrepresented um we did not tell anyone that they could not come through our yard in fact unannounced a tractor showed up four-year-old twin boys when they see a tractor they're all that excited they think it's like time to go see the tractor and we said we just need to be informed a heads up just let us know and that was not well received so I think that's why we all have some concerns also with the location of where this easement is when they're coming in and out we just recently had an accident of someone coming across our lawn right there it's a very bad Corner very poor visibility so just wanted to share my concerns here about that Mr
028say Mr monor Mr manager Katie I'm starting to understand a little bit where some of the confusion is so yes about a year ago DPW looked at creating a new e rather than the existing one that that that existed uh that would go through a stone wall and and you would have to clear brush and everything um they decided not to do that and go with the existing driveway access that is uh that's currently being used we just needed to get an easement specifically an easement for it and so I was not referring to to the creit family when I was talking about people who didn't want us to use it anymore so okay so this this house is actually 107 High Street yeah okay ises that does that clear things up a little bit
029yeah I mean it's new news you know because when they came through and they cut the tree down it was like we're doing this and now to cut down a tree for absolutely no reason when they're not even going there and they cut this created this little animosity and a lot of people very confused why it was happening that this tree was cut recently no when they put the stakes in a year ago and then we never heard anything about it so all right little and I do want to I'm sure I apologize on behalf of the town for for the lack of communication which doesn't sounds like it could have been handled better um in in a couple of instances I do just want to note for folks in the audience that the reason
030you get an whether this situation or another the reason you you acquire an easement when you're already doing something is to preserve the legal right to do it in the future when there are are different property owners or or different neighbors so that's it's a standard practice and has nothing to do and I believe in this case as well with the current folks there it's just a matter of preserving the town's legal right to go m al on twice a year that without an easement has to rely on the individuals who may be there now in 10 years and 20 years and 100 years and oppos ton I'm here looking for your support and requesting additional Lial licenses you probably are wondering why we are requesting additional liquor license if we still have licenses available
031the answer is simple the process is long it could take up to two years for us to receive those licenses these additional licenses could be used for restaurants hotels clubs taverns Continuing Care retirement facilities or General on premise this slide shows the location of all currently issued liquor licenses the green shows locations where we have both a retail and a restaurant establishment an example would be Mexico City or Las Cabos the blue is retail stores only and the red is restaurants so why are we asking for 16 more licenses if we still have licenses we recognize that having licenses readily available is a tool that can help us attract businesses but understand that we need to issue them in a responsible manner attracting businesses and U is and benefiting from the meals tax is good
032for Ashlin so how did we arrive at 16 we looked at the potential needs and the current projects these include the development of downtown 10 to 60 Main Street Pleasant Street the MBTA train station 9 to 49 hom RAV the tech center located at 200 hom RAV 100 Chestnut Street and the Redevelopment of Route 126 currently we are awaiting the application for 200 hom RAV and the brewery application for the downtown fire station in closing supporting the home rule petition is an investment in the community this helps us shape our community and attract new businesses communities like Hudson malor and NAC have revitalized their communities following the same process adding additional licenses will play a key role in revitalizing and redeveloping Ashland we will be adding dining options that will dry draw people from other
033communities and we will benefit from the additional meals tax it generates let's hope that Ashlin becomes the destination that other communities strive to be thank you m Roby to allow discussion I'll entertain a motion the town authorized select board to file a home R petition to increase the number of alcohol license for on premises consumption for the town of Ash by 16 additional license for alcohol and further upon submittal the select board is hereby authorized to approve amendments to said petitions petition which are within the scope of this article do I have a motion uh discussion uh Miss Kinsman wanted to make a statement on behalf of the select board thank you Mr moderator um our community has invested a lot in our infrastructure specifically in our downtown in Route 126 the select board looked
034at the potential private investment in businesses that could come into Ashland as a result of this over the next 5 to 10 years we are already seeing that commercial investment beginning Ashland is a desirable Community the select board felt strongly that it was important to our Town's economic development that if a restaurant wanted to come into ashin that we should have the ability to offer a liquor license if they wanted rather than risk losing them to another town if there were no more licenses to give especially since we hear from residents how important it is to attract new businesses to Ashland as the town's licensing Authority the select board takes its role in determining liquor licenses very seriously each applicant must come before the board for a hearing and follow a strict process before a
035liquor license can potentially be given because of the lengthy time and legislative process around a home R petition it will not be possible to come back to town meeting to request more at a later time so although there may never be a need to actually issue 16 additional liquor licenses the select board supports this warrant article and asks town meeting to vote in favor of the home rule petition thank you Mr dony okay thank you m Sony again against it for for the reasons why we could do better business attraction than just liquid licenses against it because it does not show what true ashang can be 16 Li license it have to come back in a couple years to make sure it's there it's not the right way of doing things in my mind economically
036it does not help it only targets one product why is this a thing to do now when there's no business to be in town for it's the blind leing the Blind and hoping the blind don't get drunk before they can see again thank you Mr chff hey Ryan turn Cliff you're gonna get the better half of us in a second here so I'll just get my two bits in so is it gonna be dueling turnp no no we're not we're on the same side okay wouldn't everyone like to see that though yeah so so look my comment here is um if we have open an available liquor licenses this is premature and it's the the board of the select board's um responsibility to issue these licenses appropriately and fairly and competitively um I I would
037argue that you can have a competitive process for these licenses and find the best uh business to bring into Ashen that deserves and needs a liquor license for that business to exist um recent news in Framingham last year huge battle over a single Lial license that became available because of business turnover and that's going to happen in Ash 2 I would love for every business that opens that needs a liquor license to be successful the reality is they're not so have you really accounted for business turnover in the request for these liquor licenses and do we really need what it would be at least 46 she's going to have the right number of liquor licenses um in this town um so I guess that's my piece uh if if they are issued I would just
038urge Extreme Caution and judicious um uh use of those licenses to those businesses thank you Miss turncliff I'm Amy turncliff 21 Rosy Lane and I absolutely understand the intent and the good intent of this article um but it I think a conversation would be remiss without the public health perspective um and so it's my understanding I just want to make sure I have the numbers right it's my understanding we have 20 licenses 16 have been issued four are available our total liquor licenses with the additional 16 would be about 50 I think stop it right there are those numbers correct Mr Herbert before we get on any further let's validate that so yeah I have the latest numbers I have are four being available uh for all alcohol and to ym all and then 50
039total which would be on premise and off Prem with the 41 oh excuse me I'm sorry incorrect um that is correct okay so I think that puts us from the abcc map and I'm not sure this map is up to date but I think that would put us into the category um listed by the abcc that would be um with with towns like NAC Milford Franklin that all have populations of about 30,000 I know that the intent of the mass law is one per 10,000 population and if we get the additional 16 we're looking about one per 450 um residents and so I just think it's important that we have from a public health perspective a conversation about the public health ramifications of expanding alcohol access and uh availability and potentially signage for young people
040um and would ask that there be a public health impact assessment of what you know increasing those essentially doubling those licenses would would lead to thank you thank you Mr Crow uh prestent Crow 41 Rockwood um I personally don't drink so you know my initial reaction is well this doesn't impact me um but then on the other hand I can very quickly name s restaurants in Ashland that I like to go to that all have a liquor license and my understanding of the restaurant business is that without the liquor license most of those restaurants wouldn't be making it and wouldn't be around anymore so even though I'm not consuming alcohol myself uh having a good variety of restaurants is to my benefit and to the town's benefit and if we want to have more restaurants
041in town um besides you know fast food places um they need liquor licenses or they won't make it or you know they'll choose to go some other town so I'm in favor of this thank you ma'am yep um Amy say 106 High Street um I just have questions you can pull that microphone down to to the the little girl level um so no to the not giant level um so my quick question is around um Town resources I have to imagine that adding 16 liquor licenses would be an increase into town resources such as Board of Health for inspection services and also um civil from a perspective of we're going to have that many more drivers that have just been drinking and then are now driving I just curious about what thoughts have been given
042into the consequences and the additional resources that are town would need to support such a large increase in legal licenses thank you Mr Herbert so I would say probably the majority of the resource intensive part of this would actually be on the administrative end and Susan since uh you are the administrative end on on with your licenses you feel confident that you can handle this I do and I feel that we're not going to get 16 all at once we're going to get one here two there until they're all dispensed so I don't think that we're asking to operate I mean to run hearings for 16 licenses all at once any further discussion C none we'll move to a vote this will require a simple majority all those in favor of article six please raise
043your cards thank you and opposed article six passes article 7 CPA funding to construct a dog park sponsored by the community preservation committee see if the town will vote to appropriate up to $215,000 to enable the creation of the Ashland dog park on Town property along Memorial Drive or pass any Vote or take any action relative any action thereon the community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town so vote subject to the presentation presentation of a maintenance plan acceptable to the town and to report on Revenue generating opportunities to pay for said maintenance Miss Terell we have a little SL presentation you could see it but we can't there we go okay hi my name is Cara Terrell three hildale Place Ashland and I'm the president of the Ashland
044dog park committee next slide so with over 1,800 plus registered dogs ashlin's culture embodies the need for a designated open space and recreation community dog park the designation of an area for dogs to roam off leash legally will further preserve the currently used areas Town Forest Ashland State Park Warren Woods and Warren center from dog use time and time again the voters in this community have told us they want an Ashland dog park next Slide the Ashland dog park committee a board of six members has been working on the project of developing an active Recreation dog park for over eight years next slide we became a 501c3 so we could act as a nonprofit in fundraise we're expected to complete the dog park project by Spring of sorry to start the project by Spring of
04520 no we're going to complete it by Spring of 2025 fingers crossed so we can be so we can be sure we don't lose our grant funding the committee is now in receipt sorry slide the committee is now in receipt of a design created by a design architect who has worked closely with Stanton Grant at past dog parks our next step to be eligible eligible for construction Grant is to find a designer to create a final design obtain permits from the conservation committee agree upon a finalized maintenance plan for ongoing maintenance then we will go out to bid the grant says we need to be ready for constructed construction by Spring of 2025 to still be eligible for the construction Grant through strand standon Grant where we are getting most of the funding next and
046this is the design that we have currently and this is on Memorial Drive um take a right at the Dunkin Donuts okay next that's it there is no next that was it thank you okay thank you to all discussion I'll enter h a motion that the town appropriate up to $215,000 to enable the creation of the Ashland dog park on Town property long Memorial Drive that will include parking storage facilities fencing and offleash exerise space for dogs and that to meet this appropriation the sum of up to $215,000 be transferred from the open space account from the community preservation fund balance and with unexpended funds as of June 30th 2027 being returned to their funding source do I have such a motion discussion sir uh Aaron lad 153 Pleasant Street chair of the CPC committee
047we enthusiastically support this application we've seen it in many other towns across the Commonwealth of dog parks working with the Stanton Grant as part of the funding mechanism uh the land in place is a great location um the design has been tweaked to make sure that we have everything funded for the future uh it fits into our open space and Recreation plans uh I hope they apply for a liquor license so they can do some fun events all joking aside sorry I need a little humor at town meeting but I get the Applause so that's all good um I hope you support this and I will as well for the future thanks is there any further discussion okay this will require a simple majority all those in favor please raise your cards thank you and
048opposed that passed but not unanimously thank you now the article you've all been waiting for no just kidding it is the last one article 8 extend CPA funds for the Riverwalk project sponsored by the community preservation committee see of the town will vote to extend the time by which funds need to be spent on the Riverwalk Trail enhancement project which was authorized under article 11 at the 2017 annual town meeting to complete the design and construction of the subury river trail Riverwalk until December 31st 2026 at which time any unexpended funds will be returned to their funding sources or take any action relative there to the finance the community preservation committee recommends the town so vote the finance committee recommends the town so vote Mr lad yeah so um a in school asking for an
049extension um but the project is tweaked a little bit you seen work continue on the Riverwalk project um even today as you speak mil work at milpond Park um is getting constructed there we've completed the bridge we've completed the boardwalk this continuation of extension is to hopefully make connections towards the Caville Road part of the trail so we can make a loop uh connecting with the project so a little bit more time to do engineering work studies related to the other side of the river and hopefully we can get that done in the next three years otherwise I'll ask for another extension thank you to allow discussion I'll end hand a motion the town extend the time by which funds need to be spent on the Riverwalk Trail enhancement project which was authorized under article
05011 of the 2017 annual town meeting to complete the design and construction of the Sudbury River Trail Riverwalk until December 31st 2026 at which time any unexpanded funds will be returned to their funding source do I have such a motion discussion is there any discussion SC none we'll move to a vote this requires a simple majority all those in favor of article 8 please raise your cards thank you and opposed that passed unanimously being no further business I'll entertain a motion to dissolve all in favor opposed happy holidays everyone e