Citizens Petition for a
Special Town Meeting
Over 2 weeks in March of 2024, more than 400 Acton voters signed a petition for the Town to hold a "Special Town Meeting" to discuss a Non-Binding Resolution*:
PETITION LANGUAGE:
We urge Town leaders, before recommending any major zoning proposal, to perform [and release for public review] detailed impact studies, which examine the maximum impact of such a proposed zoning proposal.avoided.
State law provides for the right for any citizen to gather 200 signatuares to hold a Special Town Meeting
Why did petitioners submit a "Citizens Petition for a Special Town Meeting?
Major changes are being proposed for Acton Town Meeting in May. By one estimate, if passed, they would allow thousands of additional “market rate” [not affordable] condos to be built in South Acton along Central Street, Main Street and on Rt 62.
They are said to be the biggest zoning change proposals in the history of the town.
Is this good or bad?
Since the zoning proposals were released to the public, the public has been asking for information from the Town to help assess the impact of a vote for or against.
BASIC INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN RECEIVED.
Without impact studies, how will we know the impact of our vote; if our vote will:
- increase tenant displacement risk
- reduce income diversity
- incr ease carbon footprint
- increase taxes/water-cost
- increase traffic
- increase flooding
- decrease walkability
- decrease water quality/availability
or create other impacts?
CLICK H ERE FOR MORE DETAIL
* The intention of this petition and this site is is that the Special Town Meeting vote be ONLY about the above petition language, not the list of concerns on this website Impact studies can analyze a variety of topics. Officials can tailor analysis to cover all, some, or none of the list. It is an illustration of types of impacts, not to provide specific items to vote on