DARTMOUTH — Dartmouth Town Meeting participants spent Tuesday morning into the afternoon running through annual and special town meeting warrants, during which the residents approved changes aimed at simplifying the process of making an accessory dwelling unit, indefinitely postponed giving the Select Board authorization to sell the town’s former police station property, and — last but not least — passed the town’s highest total budget ever, as one town official made note.
“This is the first year that we’ve hit over $100 million in our budget,” said Select Board Chair Shawn McDonald during discussion on Article 13, which called for approval of the town’s total Fiscal Year 2025 budget amount of $103,653,491.
As is consistently the case in Dartmouth and surrounding communities, the town’s public school district accounts for the biggest single portion, this time in the amount of $53,156,839.
That amount, together with the town’s required contributions to Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech High School ($6,100,000) and Bristol County Agricultural High School ($210,000), made for a total “schools” budget line of $59,466,839. This represents an increase of $1,566,405 over the revised FY24 total of $57,900,434.
Other budget areas of note in the town’s FY2025 budget include “general government” at $5,834,415, and public safety at $9,361,910.
Town Meeting makes ADUs easier for Dartmouth residents
Town Meeting members had questions and some concerns over Article 23, but ultimately gave their approval, establishing more lenient rules around adding an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, to an existing structure.
As set forth by the article, Dartmouth residents will be able to create an ADU attached to an existing property in the Single Residence A, B and C, and General Residence zoning districts without the need to obtain a special permit. The new rules also expand the allowed size of ADUs from 800 sq. ft. to 1,000 sq. ft.
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As Dartmouth Planning Director Christina O’Grady clarified for one Town Meeting member, ADUs are not to be used as short-term rentals, or stays of less than 30 days, but only for “permanent” residence.
Idea of selling former Dartmouth police station property put on ice
While Article 25 would not have entailed any immediate or certain sale of the former police station property at 247 Russells Mills Road, roughly a half-hour of debate ended in a Town Meeting voting to postpone the article indefinitely. If approved, the article would have authorized the Select Board to engage in a sale of the former police station property — and/or potentially some subdivision of the attached land — at some point in the future.
As outlined by Finance Committee Vice Chair Janine Simmons, the parcels in question are current home to a number of town resources such as Dartmouth Community Media and the town’s FCC antenna tower, a World War I memorial, and is sometimes used by law enforcement for active shooter trainings.
The police station was closed in 2014 after officials discovered bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease in the site’s water system.
Town Charter Review Committee articles get tough reception
Dartmouth’s Town Charter Review Committee presented a number of articles that sought to enable voters, at next year’s Town Election in April, to decide on a series of changes to how a number of town bodies work. After stirring much discussion, the outcomes of those motions were mixed.
Based on how Town Meeting decided, the following will be put up to voters on the 2025 town ballot: Reducing the Historic Commission from nine to seven members, and changing language around how Board of Parks and Recreation elections work, from being specific seat-based, to favoring overall top vote-getters.
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Letting Town Election voters decide on making that same change to Select Board elections did not get Town Meeting’s approval.
Town Charter Review articles that failed were those that would have let the April election decide whether to change the Board of Health and Board of Assessors from elected to appointed bodies. An article that would have let the ballot decide on putting the Select Board in charge of appointing and setting the compensation for the town’s Superintendent of Public Works position was postponed indefinitely.
More on Dartmouth’s Town Meeting
As announced early on by Town Moderator Melissa Haskell, there were 154 Town Meeting members present at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings.
To watch a full recording of Tuesday’s annual and special town meetings online, visit www.youtube.com/@DartmouthCommunityMedia. The complete warrant packet can be found on the town’s website, www.town.dartmouth.ma.us.