LONGMEADOW – The Town of Longmeadow hosted their annual Town Meeting on May 14 to discuss and vote on 42 warrant articles – all of which passed by unanimous or majority votes, with the exception of article 41, which was not passed by residents.

Article 15

Article 15, which was recommended by the Finance Committee, was in place to see if the Town would vote to authorize the Treasurer to borrow the sum of $870,000 for the purpose of purchasing town street lights and the replacement of the lights with high efficiency LED lighting and related bonding costs.

This article posed some discussion at town meeting, with one resident questioning why there would be a $44,000 maintenance contract when an “LED light has an average lifespan of 100,000 hours and a seven-year warranty.” Town Manager Stephen Crane responded, stating currently the town has 250 streetlight complaints. He added, “We’re not the first town to get at this...this has been happening quite a bit in the Commonwealth.” Crane then explained that currently Longmeadow is working with Agawam and West Springfield as those towns are both going through the same process, and they want to work “collectively to procure a maintenance contract” with those towns to drive down the cost.

An additional resident stated he was having difficulty appreciating the information provided, however after Select Board Chair Mark Gold spoke in favor of the article and a vote was taken, the motion passed with a two-thirds declaration majority vote.

Article 16

Another article that provided significant amounts of discussion was Article 16, which was in place to see if the town would vote to authorize the treasurer to borrow the sum of $1,541,000 for the purpose of making improvements to the Wolf Swamp fields and parking areas. The article was not recommended by the Finance Committee.

Crane provided a presentation to residents in attendance. He explained that the Wolf Swamp fields are the most widely used sports facility in town, with over 2,000 participants a year. Sports that use the fields include field hockey, soccer, six baseball leagues, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse and more – as the list did not include people from non–organized sports who use the fields. Crane then addressed current safety issues with the fields, stating that there are concerns with pedestrian safety, traffic flow, parking and field conditions.

“The fields are heavily used, and because we don’t have an irrigation system which means we can’t do the seeding and fertilization and weed control that we’d like to do, they don’t get the chance to recover, and there’s been a deterioration over time,” Crane added, “And that deterioration, frankly has led to a reduction in bookings by larger events which both diminishes the towns reputation in the region in terms of our commitment to youth sports, and it also reduces potential revenue.”

Crane continued to explain the project scope and cost, and noted that a phased approach would take significantly longer and that it would lead to more displacement of the sports events. “Doing it all at once determined to be the most efficient way to go,” he noted. The current cost of redoing the field in one phase was reflected in the warrant, however, as Crane stated, if they had gone with a phased approach, the cost would have been over $2 million.

After Crane showed fall and spring renderings of the layout of the field, residents had the opportunity to discuss the project. The most debated topic was baseball, where residents argued the field should be redesigned to include two baseball fields as opposed to the one that was featured in the renderings. There was a motion to redesign the plans to include two baseball fields, which passed by majority affirmative vote. Ultimately, Article 16 as amended was passed by a two-thirds declaration majority vote.

Article 41

Article 41 proposed a change to allow for vehicles registered as either commercial or bus that are no larger in size than vehicles that are often driven for non-commercial use to be parked in driveways overnight as long as the vehicle is registered in Longmeadow. The current bylaw, according to the warrant, was a challenge to enforce.

Residents spoke both for and against this article. Resident Larry Goldberg stated that many years ago he was informed that his commercial vehicle for his business was in violation of the towns bylaws as his commercial truck was parked in his driveway overnight. In response, he purchased a parcel of land in Longmeadow to park his business’ vehicles so that he would not be in violation. He then stated, “I have two neighbors within a half mile radius of my house, a father and a son that own a business, not in Longmeadow – they both bring home their trucks, they can’t fit in their garage, and I don’t need to see their advertising on a daily basis for their business,” Goldberg added, “It’s the billboard – the free advertising that shouldn’t be in town. I spent $60,000 because somebody complained.”

Resident Margaret Rakus explained her viewpoint, “I agree with those who say people need to make a living – just because somebody has a commercial plate and has a commercial vehicle parked in their driveway doesn’t mean that they are degrading the value of the neighborhood.”             Rakus continued to state that if there’s a problem with what the resident is leaving behind or leaving in their yards, then there are ways to deal with that. She continued, “I personally like to see the lettering so that I can use town people to do work in my home. The  Yellow Pages are gone. It’s nice to run by somebody’s house and see a truck with lettering. I do feel bad for the gentleman who spent $60,000 because he was being harassed, but I think it’s time for us to look and say, is this being petty?”

When it came time to vote, the bylaw failed by a two-thirds negative vote.

Article 42

Article 42, a citizens petition, was in place to see if the town would vote to adopt bylaws to provide that the town’s planning and zoning bylaws are used to ensure there is adequate protection of its citizens and its environment from noise, pollutants, emissions, discharges, leaks and other risks and hazards that are associated with facilities of natural gas utilities.

At town meeting, many residents spoke in favor of the article. One mother stated that when her teenage son brought the topic of a potential metering station being constructed at Longmeadow Country Club, which is located near residential areas and Wolf Swamp Road School, she and her children took a drive to nearby East Longmeadow to experience their meter station. She noted that when they rolled down the windows of their car it was hard to breathe. She urged residents to vote in favor of this article.

Ultimately, residents voted to adopt the amended version of article 42, which was amended at the meeting with several clarifications. The article was passed by a two-thirds declaration affirmative vote.

As previously stated, the remaining articles were all passed by Town Meeting, however most garnered less discussion than the aforementioned articles. To watch the meeting for yourself, head over to Longmeadow TV’s live stream at https://livestream.com/longmeadow/events/8682194.