Hello and Happy Weekend! It’s been a busy week in the Hive, so I’ll get right down to business.

In this week’s Hive Roundup:

• Thanking Long-Time Town Employees for Their Service
• Select Board Begins, Continues Winn View Heights II Hearing
• A Look at Government History as Local Election Season Approaches
• Route 3A Repaving Project to Consider Updated Traffic Data
• Middle School Field Hockey Team Finishes Successful Inaugural Season, Other Sports Teams Start Their Seasons in Earnest
• Holiday Activities and Closings

Thanking Long-Time Town Employees for Their Service

Two long-time town employees were celebrated this week as they retired, both after 35 years of service.

• George Tommy Lee, Central Maintenance Superintendent of the Department of Public Works, was recognized for his many accomplishments, including maintaining a growing fleet of buses and road vehicles while keeping head count level—a testament, one Select Board member said, to his strong leadership.
• Michael Patterson is also retiring as Fire Chief. He was recognized by the Select Board for his many accomplishments during his long tenure, including the establishment of Station 2 and the Advanced Life Support program.

Select Board Begins, Continues Winn View Heights II Hearing

In a public hearing Monday evening the Select Board heard from the proponent of a “friendly 40B” housing development at the rear of 25 Mountain Road, in the Winnmere area of Burlington. This project was originally proposed in 2019, and the Select Board had previously provided a letter of support, but questions arose about how the property would be accessed.

The general spirit of the application is unchanged, only addressing the conflict with access, but residents spoke to the changes that have occurred in the last three years (including loss of the B line), as well as the disturbance they believed would occur with adding density to an already dense area. the public hearing remains open, so that the Select Board can hear more from residents at their next meeting before they vote on whether or not to provide a letter of support at their subsequent meeting.

Note: A letter of support from the SB won’t be an official approval of the project; the application must still go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for final approval.

A Look at Government History as Local Election Season Approaches

Election season will be here before we know it—the first day to pull papers to run for office is January 3, 2023, just over 2 weeks away! As the Buzz was created to inform and connect residents around local government, we went back to our roots to write about how Burlington’s town government has changed (and not) over the last 223ish years since the town was incorporated.

The tl;dr is that nothing changed from our original charter in 1799, which said we’d run the town like other town are run, until 1970, when we passed a special act establishing a Representative Town Meeting rather than an Open Town Meeting, which is the norm across the state.

We’ve had a government restructure committee since then, which has looked into the prospect of changing certain facets of our governing structure—like changing certain positions from elected to appointed, consolidating certain positions, or changing from a Town Administrator structure to a Town Manager structure.

Town Clerk, Amy Warfield, sent me the original Town Charter, which I’ll include below. Super cool!

As for the Election, below is a list of offices for which there are open seats. Click on the hyperlink to learn more about each position, and if you work within a Board that doesn’t have a clickable link (or know someone who does), please reach out so I can learn more and profile you!

• Moderator
• Select Board
• Assessor
• School Committee
• Library Trustees
• Planning Board
• Board of Health
• Housing Authority
• Recreation Commission
• Shawsheen Tech. H.S. School Committee
• Town Meeting, all precincts

Route 3A Repaving Project to Consider Updated Traffic Data

You might know there’s been a project proposed to repave, restripe, and partially reconfigure Route 3A from Cook St. in Billerica to Burlington High School. You might also know there was a public meeting on November 17, during which MassDOT fielded questions and concerns from the public. One major concern was the validity of the traffic data, as some of it was taken during the pandemic.

Despite MassDOT’s assurances that most of their baseline information was from 2019 and they used research-based growth factors to support their projections, they were out this week collecting new data. Pneumatic road tubes were set up in various places from Monday to Wednesday, presumably to confirm or update their projections ahead of this spring’s project.

Residents are still sharing concerns on social media, namely that the window for data collection was too small and that the addition of a bike lane is ill-advised.

Middle School Field Hockey Team Finishes Successful Inaugural Season, Other Teams Start Their Seasons in Earnest

Yesterday we profiled the town’s first-ever middle school travel field hockey team, who finished their inaugural season with a 3-1-2 record. Lots of High School teams also started up or continued their regular seasons this week with some exciting games.

In basketball, our boys have gotten off to a strong start, beating out Winchester and Stoneham. Girls, on the other hand, fell during their first two games.

Wrestlers also won their match against Malden Catholic, and both Boys and Girls won their first track meet against Stoneham at the New Balance Center.

Boys won their first swim meet against Melrose, and finally, Boys’ Hockey lost their first two games, while the girls won their last three, against Arlington Catholic, Winchester, and Reading.

Looking forward to watching these teams continue to grow this season!

Holiday Activities and Closings

Hanukkah begins this evening, the solstice is on Wednesday, and Christmas is next Sunday. As such, there are a number of activities taking place in our temple, churches, and library. Check them out!

The Buzz won’t be circulating on Sunday, December 25, and Monday, December 26, town offices will be closed in observance of the Christmas holiday.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Please take a moment to respond to the poll below regarding these Hive Roundups.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Nicci