By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD – Town Meeting passed a series of articles amending the zoning bylaws in a short Fall Town Meeting Saturday morning, November 8 at Galvin Middle School. Bylaw Review Committee member Daniel Lieber said the changes will “make sure we can do things consistent with the goals of the town to meet the needs of the town in the future.”
Most were bundled in Article 11 “to amend and recodify the Zoning Bylaw, but not the current Zoning Map” in several subsections on definitions, use regulations, floodplain districts, dimensional regulations, fees and submission requirements, parking, special permits, site plan reviews, non-conforming uses, signs, wireless communication overlay districts, residential development, assisted living facilities, marijuana dispensaries, the MBTA overlay district, renumbering some sections and correcting typographical errors and incorrect cross-references.
Article 7 amended enforcement of restaurants or other businesses operating a sidewalk cafe without a permit by specifying fines of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $300 for the third. “Any such violation may, in the sole discretion of the Police Department, be made the subject matter of non-criminal disposition proceedings,” it reads. “Each day or portion thereof shall constitute a separate offense.”
Article 9 amended sections entitled “Marijuana Establishments Forbidden” so “prohibition shall not apply to the sale, distribution, or cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.”
Article 12 formally accepted the report of the Bylaw Review Committee with thanks. “It is my privilege to hand over the final report,” Lieber said, after which Moderator William Carroll thanked him and the Committee. “This was real work,” Carroll said, which elicited applause from the attendees.
In explanations of some articles, Lieber said recodification “makes it easier to look up what can be done and what can’t with a property.”
He also said there are new provisions for expanding definitions to allow development.
“The Town has three bodies for adjudication of zoning issues, the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Town Council,” he noted. “Members of all three participated in this process. The review allowed us to examine what is in the best interests of the Town and go through what and what does not work for the Town.”
“We did a full review,” Town Councilor Jonathan Chines said. “It was a technical cleanup and updates legal references if statutes have changed.”
Planning Board member James Hogan added the recodification of the bylaws “makes it clearer to anyone who wants to use them.”
Consultant land use lawyer and former New England School of Law professor Mark Bobrowski was present but was not called on to provide any clarifications. After the meeting he said 70 percent of the bylaw was unchanged and that he was glad he was not called on to speak.