Articles Seek to Bring Town Center Vision to Life
Town Meeting Articles, if approved, will allow for mixed residential-commercial development and consistent signage rules in the Town Center.

Two sets of Articles for this January's Town Meeting hope to bring a revitalization of Burlington's Town Center to life—one by creating mixed residential-commercial zoning and another by making the rules for signs clearer and easier to follow for businesses.
Article 8 would create a Middle Housing overlay in the Town Center where mixed-use development would be allowed. This zoning would permit, for example, for commercial space on the ground floor and medium-density (12 units per acre) residential above. This zoning is a revisiting of the Town Center Overlay, a 20-year-old bylaw that was ready for some tweaking, said Planning Director, Liz Bonventre when the Buzz interviewed her for the Winter Magazine. Redevelopment has been historically tricky in this area, and the hope is that this overlay will allow for more flexibility for development and, ultimately, more connectivity in the Town Center.
Articles 6 and 7 seek to establish Signage Districts, which would each have their own set of guidelines and rules for businesses to follow when creating signs. The only district that would be created with these bylaws would be one for the Town Center; more could follow, though there aren't current plans to establish more.
At the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on January 7, Betsey Hughes and Sally Willard from the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee's Sign Subcommittee explained that signage rules are currently designed around zones, of which there are multiple in the Town Center. So, two businesses in close proximity might have different rules for which signs they can display. Businesses have expressed the desire to have more clarity around the rules, but previous efforts to establish guidelines for the entire town, say Hughes and Willard, have not been successful. Different areas of town will naturally call for different kinds of signs, and the establishment of the Town Center overlay would be a first attempt at designing sign regulations by area rather than how each building is zoned.
The proposed bylaw received support from the Planning Board, though the Board of Appeals voted 0-5 against the idea*, with members saying it created more bureaucracy and suggesting an amendment to the already-existing Town Center Overlay bylaw instead.
If the bylaw amendments pass, existing businesses wouldn't need to comply immediately, but new businesses coming in would be subject to the new regulations.
There are also financial articles, general bylaw articles, and other zoning bylaw articles on the Warrant for January 27. Check out the Buzz's full Warrant summary.
*Editor's note: In following up on this article, the Buzz learned that, according to Town Moderator Bill Beyer, the Zoning Board of Appeals doesn't have standing to share their position on Articles 6 and 7; Chair Jeff DiBona confirmed they will not be sharing their vote at Town Meeting.
Burlington's January 2025 Town Meeting begins on Monday, January 27, at 7:00 in the BHS auditorium. Official Town documentation includes the Warrant, the Warrant Backup, zoning detail, and the town and school budgets as a reference.