As your Town Moderator, I do not express an opinion or take sides on issues that come before Walpole Town Meeting. I am an objective arbiter of the rules and procedures of town meeting to ensure the meeting is conducted properly and fairly. However, I do not live in a bubble. Like everyone else, I have been following the issue of a casino being developed on land in Foxborough. For the record, I am dead set against any proposal to build a casino in Foxborough. Period. Build it somewhere else.
But as readers of this blog know, I take a keen interest in the workings of town meetings elsewhere in Massachusetts. So, I am going to follow the casino debate from a Town Meeting perspective. Foxborough has an open town meeting which means any resident can go and vote. As this article points out, Foxborough Town Meeting will have to vote to change zoning, because their current zoning bylaws do not allow for gaming facilities. "The bylaw doesn't provide for gaming," [Bill] Casbarra said about the zoning question. "A casino, as defined by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, would not be allowed under the current zoning bylaw anywhere in Foxboro." So, Foxborough Town Meeting will be required at some point to vote on a zoning change. By statute, changes to zoning by-laws in Massachusetts require a 2/3 vote by town meeting.
Trivia of the day: Foxborough Building Inspector Bill Casbarra taught industrial arts (shop) at Walpole High School for many years before taking his current position.
1 comments:
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