SOUTHWICK – The annual Town Meeting takes place May 17 in the high school auditorium at 93 Feeding Hills Road, Southwick, and will feature 21 articles on the warrant, including multiple major bylaw changes.

The first major article on the warrant is Article 6, which would appropriate $2,663,259 to pay for the Town Hall roof and HVAC projects. The funds are being requested by the Select Board, which had sought to pay for the roof project in part using Community Preservation Act funds. The Community Preservation Committee rejected the board’s request for $830,000.

Article 9 is the town’s annual budget for fiscal year 2023, which includes $16,160,099 in municipal spending, an increase from the $15,760,881 approved for fiscal year 2022. Much of the increase in the budget is from the public schools and the town’s required minimum contribution to the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, which rose by $427,166 to $9,591,859.

Article 15 is the town’s total total contribution to the school budget, which is $12,252,012 and voted separately from the general town budget.

Article 18 is a bylaw change to require “hawkers, peddlers, solicitors and canvassers” soliciting in a public way or public space to submit fingerprints to the Southwick Police for state and federal background checks. It would also require such persons to obtain a license from the Select Board and receive written permission from the chief of police. This would not apply to those soliciting religious, political, social or any constitutionally protected materials.

Article 19 is a major change to the town’s planning bylaws that would require a more comprehensive and frontloaded review of major development proposals and inquiries in town. Created and submitted as a citizen petition by Southwick resident Diane Gale, the bylaw change was developed between her and the Planning Board in response to the Carvana controversy last summer.

The bylaw would apply to developments with new buildings with buildings and surfaces above certain sizes, and with a certain measurable traffic impact. Developers it applies to would have to submit a greater depth of information about their project proposal before it makes it to a Planning Board public hearing. It would also require the applicants to host a community meeting to talk about their proposal, and would create a set of standards for large developments without imposing a hard upper limit on development sizes.

Article 20 is an update to the town’s wireless communications services district bylaws to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and nearby properties. The bylaw would allow such facilities in all zoning districts, but would bar them from locating near active residential areas or detracting from the existing view. They would also need to be camouflaged to the extent that they can.

It would also impose an extensive application process, and a set of design criteria.