Voters wrap up annual town meeting in three marathon sessions

Voters were in a “yes” mood during most of Hull’s annual town meeting, approving a including a $50.1 million town budget ($17.9 million for the schools), accessory dwelling units, and bylaw amendments to clarify the town’s marijuana regulations, as well as funds for seawall repairs, a public safety building study, the MBTA Communities Zoning Bylaw, and other significant proposals.

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Rep. Joan Meschino, a Hull resident, addressed the crowd at the beginning of this week’s town meeting. [PHOTO BY SKIP TULL]

A plan to take property on Beach Avenue by eminent domain earned a vote of 124-123, falling short of the required two-thirds majority to pass. Voters also rejected Community Preservation Act funds for a study of potential locations for a dog park.

“It’s so good to see a full house of friends, neighbors, and my parents here tonight,” Rep. Joan Meschino, a Hull resident, said at the beginning of the meeting. “This is where we come together as part of our civic duty for public discourse on matters that are important to us.”

Passage of the ADU article will allow certain homeowners of single-family residences to add and rent out an accessory dwelling unit within their home, subject to the special permit process. The goal is to help increase the town’s housing stock and to allow owner occupants to generate rental income. (See related story.)

The intent of the marijuana zoning article was to rectify and clarify procedural issues in the article that passed at the 2023 special town meeting intended to limit the number of retailers to two by special permit, but not to allow cultivation, testing, manufacturing, or on-site consumption.

Voters also approved salaries for the select board, town moderator, town clerk, assessors, and the municipal light board; the $50.1 million town budget on a vote of 333 to 62; replacing the capital outlay committee that hasn’t met for quite some time with a new capital improvement planning committee; and accepting a $3.8 million settlement resulting from the sewer plant lawsuit filed in 2013 following storm damage.

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