TRURO — This weekend’s double town meeting is widely expected to break Outer Cape records. About 1,000 chairs will be set up under a heated tent on the Truro Central School’s ballfield for the special town meeting and annual town meeting to follow on Saturday, May 4.
By coincidence, May the Fourth is also an informal holiday, “Star Wars Day,” honoring the benediction “May the Force be with you.”
With 57 articles on the agenda — and a series of expected amendments — voters may need all the strength they can muster.
The 15 articles on the special town meeting warrant, carried over from last October, had been expected to be the most contentious. Four articles concerning a new dept. of public works building in particular have stirred passionate debate.
But those articles will now be amended on town meeting floor with a proposal from the town’s new ad hoc building committee, supported by the select board and finance committee.
The amended plan calls for a 20,150-square-foot facility — more than 9,000 square feet smaller than the one on the warrant — that will cost $28.3 million. That is almost $7 million less than the $35 million project in the original version of special town meeting Article 3.
“All of you have been very, very, very hard at work,” said select board chair Kristen Reed to the members of the building committee at their presentation on April 25.
“The amount of work that you’ve accomplished has been really amazing,” said select board member Sue Areson.
The other major items on the special town meeting warrant are Article 5, a group of recommendations for the phased development of the 70-acre Walsh property, and Article 6, which establishes an Ad Hoc Walsh Property Advisory Committee. Article 7 would adopt the town’s draft Local Comprehensive Plan.
Annual Town Meeting
After the special town meeting concludes, the annual town meeting will convene to consider another 42 articles, including the town’s budget for fiscal 2025.
Article 1 is an omnibus budget appropriation totaling $26,465,353. Article 2 amends the current year’s budget and includes a transfer of $58,000 from free cash to fund the heated tent, chairs, and audiovisuals for the May 4 town meetings.
Article 11, unanimously recommended by the finance committee and select board, seeks to acquire the Truro Motor Inn for housing by eminent domain. The money would come from existing funds. At its April 25 meeting, the select board voted to use up to $1.6 million from the town’s Dennis Family Gift Fund if Article 11 passes.
The current balance in that fund is $1.79 million, according to Town Manager Darrin Tangeman. The town can also deduct $51,331.34 in unpaid taxes that owners David and Carolyn Delgizzi owe on the property. Article 11 requires a two-thirds vote to pass.
At a pre-town meeting forum, voter Michael Forgione said the finance committee had been skeptical of the measure but then later supported it unanimously. “What changed?” Forgione asked.
Finance committee member Michael Fee said that once the use of $1.6 million of the Dennis Fund was proposed, “We voted in favor. All members of the finance committee are in favor of taking this action.”
Article 12 is a debt exclusion for $1.54 million to upgrade the HVAC systems at Truro Central School. It replaces the similar Article 1 on the special town meeting warrant — which had been for $1.4 million — after that cost estimate was deemed no longer valid due to the six-month delay.
The DPW Project
Article 13 on the annual town meeting warrant addresses the new DPW building. So do Articles 2, 3, 4 and 14 on the special town meeting warrant. This means there are numerous possible permutations of passed and failed DPW-related articles — especially since the voter rolls for the two town meetings are slightly different.
Because of a later registration deadline and a series of voter registration challenges, there are 41 more people on the annual town meeting voter list than the special town meeting list.
Because of the last-minute compromise on the DPW, Articles 3 and 4 on the special town meeting warrant and Article 13 on the annual town meeting warrant will all be amended.
The ad hoc committee was appointed on March 4, first met on April 1, and met nine times that month, eventually agreeing on a new plan for the facility. Its meetings included input from consultants and town officials. The “value-engineered” proposal is estimated to cost between $24.3 and $28.3 million, depending on the materials used.
The amended articles would authorize the borrowing of $28.31 million — or about $6.7 million less than the original version of Article 3. The square footage reduction will also create more distance between the new facility and nearby homes.
“The select board appointed you, maybe too late, but that is what it is,” said Areson at the April 25 presentation by the ad hoc committee. “You’ve done a really, really great job.”
More Decisions for Voters
Article 14 would authorize $1.5 million in borrowing to engineer and build a replacement culvert at Mill Pond Road to restore tidal flow inhibited by the existing damaged culvert. It requires a two-thirds vote.
Article 15, a budget override for a human resources coordinator, seeks $113,158 to add a full-time staff member to town government and also requires a two-thirds vote. Articles 14 and 15 both have unanimous select board and finance committee support.
Article 16 would fund the purchase of a property owned by the Noons family at 2 Sand Pit Road using a budget override of just over $6 million. It was unanimously supported by the finance committee, but at the select board, three members were in favor, one against, and one abstained.
Articles 22 to 30, a series of Community Preservation Act votes, would help fund projects in historical preservation, community housing, open space, and recreation. The community preservation committee seeks to allocate funds to the Lower Cape Housing Institute, the Truro Conservation Trust, and the Truro Central School for a revamped playground.
Article 31 would allow future town meetings to be held outside Truro in any town from Provincetown to Orleans if the select board deems it necessary because of high anticipated voter turnout. That possibility could have changed the course of special town meeting last fall, which was postponed from November to May because there wasn’t a large enough indoor meeting space in town.
Articles 32 and 33 would limit how many short-term rentals any one owner could operate in Truro and require companies operating short-term rentals to name their human owners. Article 34 would ban “fractional ownership” of residential properties.
Article 37, a zoning bylaw amendment, would allow “attainable housing” — defined as housing for those earning at or below the county’s area median income — to be built on undersized lots.
Article 39 would establish a town seal committee to design a new emblem for the town. According to the article’s explanation, “The Select Board acknowledges that the existing imagery on the Town Seal is not culturally or historically appropriate.” According to past reporting in the Independent, it is also inaccurate.
Article 40, a citizen’s petition, seeks to establish a climate resiliency and infrastructure stabilization fund. The article has full select board support and partial finance committee support, with two in favor and three abstentions.
Article 41 would establish a “Senior Perks Pilot Program” for people age 65 and up. A similar petitioned article appears on the special town meeting warrant as Article 15 and would be open to people age 60 and up.
Finally, petitioned Article 42 calls on the ad hoc building committee to synthesize the designs proposed by the town’s consulting company Weston and Sampson and by the self-appointed DPW Study Group. Like the other DPW articles, it is likely to draw significantly less discussion now that the building committee, select board, and finance committee have all endorsed a compromise plan.
