Daily Buzz | Select Board Recap, Housing Discussions, Recreation Signup

Today in Burlington: A proposed rezone, Rec Department deadline, and more

Good morning!

I hope Monday didn’t treat you too unkindly.

Select Board met last night. You can watch the recording of the meeting on Facebook; minutes will be up on the town website after they’re approved. Some highlights:

• Town Clerk, Amy Warfield, is looking forward to using the new voting equipment and the e-check-in system for voters in the upcoming election (April 9!). Also, there is no early voting/vote by mail like there was last year. Instead we’ll use absentee voting in person, or by mail or drop box. Don’t worry, I’ll share this info with you about 1,000 times between now and April 9.

• Mama Bear Effect, an organization that raises awareness about child sexual abuse, will have their annual fundraiser on April 3 from 12-4 at Grandview Farm, accompanied by a walk around the Town Common.

• Our town’s second annual Pride Day celebration will be Sunday, June 5, 10:30-4:30 on the Town Common.

• There will be a BHS All-Night Graduation Party at King’s. I didn’t catch the date, but surely your interested high-schoolers will tell you about it!

• The Bring Me to Burlington website is generating interest and providing information for businesses and companies looking for locations.

• The Burlington Housing Partnership presented an update as well as the results of the Housing Needs Assessment (which I highly recommend you take a look at). They’re also looking to transition to being a standing committee.

• The DEI Subcommittee submitted its quarterly report, including

  • The Committee’s philosophy - to ensure equity for all people in town

  • Its goal - to research and implement strategy to achieve equity and inclusion in Burlington.

There was a lot of debate on this last point, and tensions got pretty high. I’m still organizing my thinking around it. Give the meeting a watch, and stay tuned for a later post about DEI in Burlington.

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By the way, did you know you can subscribe to receive agendas for the committees you’re interested in attending, as well as other town alerts? Click this link and create an account or sign in, and you can sign up for alerts about agendas and minutes.

A few updates and reminders today:

• The Recreation Department catalog is out now! Get your clicking finger ready, because registration opens on Thursday, 3/3, at 6pm!

• The Planning Board TCM Subcommittee meets at noon to discuss the proposal to rezone the area around Roger’s Piano for residential units.

• The agenda for Thursday’s 7pm Planning Board meeting is up and they’ll be discussing the above proposal as a whole group. (Join via Webex)

• Housing Partnership has their regular meeting today at 5.

• Shawsheen Budget Subcommittee meets at 6:30.

• Board of Appeals meets at 7:30.

• Shawsheen School Committee meets at 7:30.

Updates to the calendar for later in the week (committees aren’t required to have agendas up until 48 hours ahead of meetings, which is why not everything is posted on Sunday when I send the Weekly Buzz):

• Transportation Committee meets tomorrow at 6:30 for a Safe Routes to School presentation (Join via Webex)

• Conservation Commission Stormwater Subcommittee meets Thursday at 2:00 to talk more about the proposed amendments to our town’s stormwater bylaw.

That’s all for now. See you tomorrow!

Nicci