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Uxbridge Times
“Your Hometown News” VOlUME 25 • ISSUE 12
FREE Monthly Since 1991
Uxbridge • North Uxbridge • linwood • Douglas • Northbridge • Whitinsville • Sutton • Manchaug DECEMBER 2016
Soil By-Law passes at Uxbridge Town Meeting By Constance Reddy Dwyer Some Town Meetings are short and others go on and on. Well, the Fall Annual Town Meeting in Uxbridge held on october 25th was a long one, starting at 7 p.m. and finishing after 11:20 p.m. The meeting started by announcing that Articles 22 and 23 would be passed over and Art 17 being taken out of order; the article to amend the Charter, allowing removal of elected officials passed with a 152/68 vote. Justin Piccirillo passionately spoke how this citizen petition to permit elected officials to be removed for cause needed to be passed. He said he wanted “accountability in our Town Government…some town officials are not following the law.” The by-law now goes to the Attorney General for approval and it will then be voted upon at the Spring Annual Town Meeting. The remaining 21 article warrant had one notable major focus, the potentially “dirty soil” problem plaguing Uxbridge, addressed in Article 10. After a lengthly debate, it was passed by a 200/32 vote, the soil by-law to insure that soil being taken by trucks into Uxbridge will be monitored and thus prevent pollution of wells and aquifers. This article drew a larger than usual crowd for the meeting, at 232 voters. The dirty soil problem was addressed by more than 10 speakers divided into pros and cons. Speakers included Selectman Baghdasarian, Mark Stacey, Rachel Frazier, James Dwyer and Patrick Hannon (who downplayed the dirty soil issue and said the soil being brought in “was not contaminated.”) Dr. David Tapscott representing a new group called “Uxbridge Citizens for Clean Water” stated that a new by-law had to be passed to avoid more problems in town. James Dwyer, a former Selectman in Uxbridge and a former chairman of the Uxbridge By-Law & Charter Committee, pointed out that the hurriedly drafted bylaw merging earth
POSTAl PATRON
removal permits and land fill permits left much to be corrected, but stressed the need for controls. The by-law will enable the planning board to have more control. The previous actions consumed approximately 2 hours. Article 1 was passed over and articles 2 through 9, financial articles passed easily. Most notable were Ambulance, Fire and Police purchases necessary for the safety of citizens and police and fire personnel. Articles 11 and 12, by-law amendments failed. Article 11 would have amended the Zoning By-Law by adding to the table of use regulations for all zones, “Commercial Fill/Soil Importation.” Article 12 sought to create a Wetlands By-Law more stringent than state law and “more onerous” according to former Conservation Commissioner Mike Potaski. Article 14 passed, removing the need to have 300 feet of frontage on both streets of a corner lot in the agricultural zone, Zoning By-law Table of Dimensional Requirements. Article 15 to restrict elected officials to a single elected office and no appointed office failed and Article 16 on a related topic was then passed over. Article 18, merged by agreement of sponsors with Art. 10, was passed over. The remaining articles, Article 19 to create a Pilot Agreement on a solar power array, Article 20 to add parcels to the Wau-cantuck Mill Adaptive Reuse overlay District and Article 21 to rezone specified parcels from Industrial to Agricultural all passed and the Warrant was dissolved to end the meeting. Interesting enough, and a word of advice to his elders, were the words of one of the youngest voters present, Lucas Hogan, 20, a college student at Northeastern. Asked why he comes to Town Meeting, he said, “It is important to have a say in the direction of where the Town of Uxbridge is going. Town budget articles interests me.” PRESoRTED STANDARD US PoSTAGE PAID BoSToN, MA PERMIT No 55800
eCRWSS
Community Solar Array Project
DRAWING A BRIGHT FUTURE - New Orleans Artist, Ida Floreak, (left) offered a personal portfolio critique to BVT Multimedia Communications Students. Senior, Anna Shobe of Upton (right) receives pointers on how to strengthen her work before sending it to the California Institute of the Arts, her first choice school where she hopes to study Animation. See story on page 32
Caroling by Candlelight Come join members of the East Blackstone Quaker Meeting House for a night of friendship and caroling. The candles will be lit, boughs hung, and wood in the stove burning as the East Blackstone Quaker Meeting House and Cemetery Association hosts a traditional 'Caroling by Candlelight' service on Friday, December 9th, at 7 p.m. It will be an old-fashioned Christmas carol sing-along with special music selections to be performed by local singers and musicians. The program will be under the direction of
John Staples, and co-chaired by Jonathan Steele and Beverley Kelly Ryan. Bring your voices and join your friends and neighbors for a wonderful evening in this historic building that is over 200 years old and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The meeting house is located at 197 Elm Street, in Blackstone. For further information regarding the evening, please contact Board Member, Harriet Chase Sharp by email: harriet@blackstonequakermeetinghouse.org.
BuSineSS Bio:
Trinity Episcopal Church Canon Dr. John Derek Stubbs, better known as “Father John,” Rector at Trinity episcopal Church in Whitinsville, shares his vision of love of God & humanity.
See story on page 33
Clean Energy Collective (CEC), the nation’s leading community solar solutions provider, joined state and local officials in celebrating its 1.3 megawatt (MW) Uxbridge Community Solar Array, This is a project that will provide more than $650,000 in electricity bill savings for National Grid residential and business customers over 20 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax revenue for the Town of Uxbridge. The Uxbridge Community Solar Array is part of a comprehensive portfolio of community solar projects by CEC that includes 31 facilities, totaling more than 43 MW of clean power deployed across the Commonwealth by early 2017. “I applaud CEC’s efforts and solar energy initiatives such as the Uxbridge Solar Array. This will help bring savings to constituents throughout the district. Energy and heat can be extremely hard on people’s wallets during winter months, especially those on fixed incomes,” said Senator Ryan Fattman (R-Webster). “The Commonwealth is a national leader in solar energy, harnessing the full potential of clean energy innovations to reduce costs and carbon emissions,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary, Matthew Beaton. “The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to working with municipal partners across Massachusetts to expand community solar projects, saving ratepayers and taxpayers thousands of dollars annually that can be reinvested into the community.” "It's great to see the continued expansion of the solar industry in Uxbridge," said Rep. Kuros (R-Uxbridge). "Projects like these help diversify our energy portfolio while generating revenue for the town." This milestone exemplifies a major continued on page 34
~ INDEX ~ Town News ..............Page 4 Calendar...................Page 21 Society .....................Page 23 Senior Corner ..........Page 25 School News............Page 29 Business News........Page 33 Sports.......................Page 35 Classifieds……..……Page 38