Despite attempts to indefinitely postpone the vote on Article 23 and amend its wording, the article which would amend the Town’s zoning bylaw to adopt 3A multi-family overlay districts passed with 951 out of 1,710 people voting in favor of it Tuesday night at Town Meeting.
Before the voters could have their say, they needed to vote on four subsidiary motions which had the potential to impact how to vote on Article 23.
The first was a motion to amend Article 1 to see if the voters would allow certain articles to be moved up in the evening. It asked for the order to be: Articles 23, 34 and 33, and then the remaining articles in numerical order, starting with Article 2, would follow. This amendment to Article 1 passed, changing the order Articles would be discussed.
The next motion was brought by John DiPiano, and he asked voters to “indefinitely postpone the vote.” After roughly an hour of back and forth, about 58% of Town Meeting attendees voted against that motion.
The third subsidiary motion asked voters to change the language in Article 23 so much so that the Article would have had an inverse meaning – as Yael Magen was asking for the word “not” to be placed before the words “amend the Zoning Bylaw.” It also asked that an additional clause be added, requesting that the Select Board “file an exemption/extension/amendment regarding the implementation of Chapter 40A Section 3A.” That motion also did not pass, with 61% of the voters against Magen’s motion.
The fourth and final subsidiary motion considered before Article 23 was voted on was whether Town Meeting attendees wished to utilize written ballots rather than their clickers to vote. This would have eliminated the opportunity for a vote for reconsideration on the motion, according to moderator Jack Attridge, and that motion failed with 60% of voters against it.
With the first motion’s passing, Article 23 moved up the scheduled list of articles to discuss and was then voted on. The Marblehead High School Field House erupted in cheers as it passed.
“I am so proud of the Town of Marblehead and its residents for getting informed on this issue, turning out in unprecedented numbers, and for doing the right thing on 3A zoning,” said Angus McQuilken, a founding member of the Marblehead Housing Coalition who has been consistently vocal in his support of 3A. “This change in zoning is going to be good for our community, and tonight we sent a message to the entire Commonwealth that Marblehead wants to be part of the solution to our state’s housing crisis, not part of the problem.”
Once Article 23 passed, voters began crowding toward the exits, and about 700 people left.
Since about 56% of Town Meeting voters were in favor of 3A, the three identified districts – Pleasant Street District, Broughton Road District and Tioga Way District – will now be zoned as multi-family overlay districts. Further, this allows the Town to become compliant with the state mandate prior to the July 14 deadline.
That does not mean DiPiano and those who voted against 3A have given up, though. By Tuesday’s adjournment, DiPiano was already securing signatures to appeal its ratification and attempt to put 3A on the June ballot. He hopes to have 300 verifiable signatures collected by next Monday to turn into the Select Board.
