TRURO — The tent is back in town. Not a red-and-yellow tent with elephants — but an enormous, unevenly heated white tent that was set up for the first time last year on the Truro Central School ballfield so that 647 voters could juggle motions, amendments, and spirited disagreements.
“We’ll be under the big top again,” Town Moderator Paul Wisotzky announced at Truro’s April 17 pre-town meeting at the Community Center.
There will be 40 warrant articles at town meeting on May 3 — some of which could be held over to May 4 — and voters can expect to witness some rhetorical acrobatics and high-wire balancing acts.
One headline measure is Article 27, which would accept the state’s new “seasonal communities” designation created in the Affordable Housing Act that Gov. Maura Healey signed last August. The designation provides towns with a high percentage of vacation homes a bundle of legal tools to help support middle-income year-round housing.
The designation “allows us to be more nimble,” said select board member Nancy Medoff, and “allows us to move forward with less legislative paperwork.”
The measure has drawn discussion in several towns, including Truro, because it also allows towns to increase their residential tax exemption amount from the state’s current maximum of 35 percent of the value of the average residential property to a new maximum of 50 percent.
Article 10, unanimously recommended by the finance committee and select board, authorizes $3.2 million to clean up soil contaminated with PFAS at the DPW facility at Town Hall Hill. The work includes capping the soil and installing a permeable barrier at the site.
“We have five years to do this work, but it is better to do it in advance of DEP telling us, ‘Hey, you need to get on this and do this,’ ” said DPW Director Jarrod Cabral at the April 17 meeting. “We’d rather get out in front of it.”
Article 32, the proposed zoning overlay district for the 70-acre Walsh property, will be the star attraction for many voters. Because it would allow multi-family housing, retail space, and dedicated open space on the property — which is itself next to a municipal water supply — it plays to many of the town’s favorite themes.
Cabral tried to assuage worries about water at the April 17 meeting. The Walsh property itself has “not been confirmed, selected, or considered” as the location for a new well to supply public water to Truro and Provincetown, he said. “If it is going to be studied or modeled, jointly both towns would review that together,” he added.
First, the Money
Article 1 funds the town’s annual budget at a total of $27.7 million.
Article 2 and the 16-part Article 3 would make a series of transfers from free cash to fund various initiatives, including a public safety staffing analysis, a climate action coordinator, and staff support for the town clerk’s office.
Articles 4 through 9 make up the consent agenda and are set to be approved in a single vote.
In addition to the PFAS project in Article 10, there are three more borrowing authorizations that would need to pass with a two-thirds vote and at the ballot.
Article 11 asks for $200,000 to finish stormwater infrastructure design at Pond Road. Cabral said the current design plan is 75 percent completed. “If the timing works out right, we’ll be able to bring an actual construction estimate and a cost to town meeting next year,” he said.
Article 12 would add $250,000 to last year’s voter-approved $1.54 million for HVAC and roof repairs at Truro Central School. Cabral said that inflation and the delay in bidding the project have increased the expected cost.
Article 13, sponsored by the town’s energy committee, would authorize $5 million in borrowing to fund town-owned solar power installations on town property.
Article 14 would refund $2,000 to two living town residents, Jonathan Sperber and Jacqueline Kouffman, who bought Lot O-6A in the natural burial section of Old North Cemetery and wish to return it to the town.
Article 15 would set up a new fund to collect rents from properties the town leases out, allowing the receipts to fund maintenance in future years rather than go to the town’s general fund.
Articles 16 through 23 allocate Community Preservation Act funds to a variety of local needs: affordable housing, historic preservation, disability access, and a new natural burial section at New South Cemetery.
Policy Changes
Article 24 would loosen up town charter rules to allow “informational non-directive conversations” between select board members and department heads; Article 25 would do the same for the chairs of other town boards and department heads. Article 26, also a charter amendment, would allow annual town meeting to be held as late as “the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend.”
Article 28 would adopt a state statute that lets town offices treat Saturdays as a legal holiday for certain administrative timelines.
Article 29 would authorize the select board to acquire easements from the Cape Cod National Seashore for the Herring River Restoration Project. “There is no cost associated with this,” said Cabral. “It just avoids us having to do a land exchange. It’s something the Seashore came up with to make the process a little easier.”
Article 30 would double beach parking fines from $50 to $100, while Article 31 would encode the select board’s curb cut policy into a bylaw with an accompanying fine schedule for violations.
Article 33, a zoning bylaw amendment requiring a two-thirds vote, updates language for tower structures to match the state building code. Article 34, a home rule petition, asks the state to let Truro regulate pesticides.
Article 35 proposes special legislation that would allow the town to impose a 0.5-percent real estate transfer fee to support capital improvements and affordable housing. This is its third spin around — voters approved it in 2019 and 2022, but Beacon Hill has yet to act.
Article 36 is an “advisory vote,” put on the warrant by the select board, to gauge public support for pursuing “a pilot test of electronic voting” at next year’s town meeting. A vote would be taken at the end of that town meeting, the article says, to decide whether to use electronic voting permanently.
Article 36 may be taken out of order on May 3, since Article 3-16 would allocate $20,000 in free cash to pay for electronic voting devices.
“The plan right now is to vote on Article 36 first,” said Wisotzky.
Citizens’ Petitions
Article 37, a nonbinding citizens’ petition from Clinton Kershaw, urges the town to use all its free cash to reduce the property tax rate.
“Having all of the free cash go to reducing and stabilizing the tax rate stops all of this nonsense with free cash and brings all of the articles onto a level playing field,” Kershaw wrote in his explanation.
KP Law’s Gregg Corbo said it was “merely an advisory vote,” meaning even if it were to pass, the town would not be bound to follow it.
Article 38, also from Kershaw, asks the town to accept a state law that would allow the town to plow private roads. Corbo said it would need a companion ballot vote to take effect.
Article 39, sponsored by Dennis O’Brien and requiring a two-thirds vote, seeks to ban finance committee members from holding any town office appointed by the select board. The current rule already prohibits them from holding or running for elected office.
O’Brien said that “independence from the select board is the foundation of the FinCom’s role and responsibilities.” Corbo said that this kind of prohibition is relatively common statewide.
Article 40, also from O’Brien, is a nonbinding resolution to cap the future DPW facility cost at $20 million and require competing schematic designs to be developed and presented to the select board. It is the only article on this year’s warrant concerning the DPW project, which dominated discussion at last year’s town meeting and is set for another official vote at next year’s town meeting.
