STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH
Preserving the Town's Character. Saving Taxpayer Dollars. Fighting Cronyism.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BEND OVER! THE STERLING D.P.W. BOARD WANTS TO RAM US ALL BIG TIME STARTING IN 2025. THEY WANT A NEW $33 MILLION ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ BOONDOGGLE COSTING $33 MILLION THAT WOULD INCREASE THE STERLING PROPERTY TAX RATE BY 11%!!! THESE D.P.W. F#CKERS ARE ABSOLUTELY OUT OF CONTROL.
GET READY TO SHOOT DOWN THE SEED-MONEY PROPOSAL FOR THIS MONSTROSITY WHEN IT COMES UP FOR A TOWN MEETING VOTE!!!
Stay Tuned.
J.G.
GEE FOLKS, SEE MY PREVIOUS BLOG POST! DID THE GUTLESS STERLING SELECT BOARD FINALLY FIGURE OUT THAT THEIR USELESS, SUPERFLUOUS, MAKE-WORK ‘TOWN PLANNER’ PAYROLL PATRIOT DRONE STEPHEN WALLACE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY HONEST WHEN HE SAID AT A PUBLIC FORUM THAT THE MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND LIVABLE COMMUNITIES (MEOHLC) HAD ‘REJECTED’ THE NORTHGATE MEADOWS HOUSING COMPLEX AS STERLING’S SO-CALLED ‘MBTA MULTI-FAMILY ZONING DISTRICT’???
SEE the Select Board’s 18 December 2024 Agenda: 2024_12_18_agenda.pdf
Of course, the Sterling Select Board are themselves outright gutless in failing to follow the Town of Holden Select Board’s example in telling Massachusetts AG Andrea ‘Kamala Smarts’ Campbell and MEOHLC to GO SHOVE THEIR SO-CALLED ‘MBTA MULTI-FAMILY ZONING DISTRICTS’ SIDEWAYS because the Town of Sterling, like the Town of Holden, has no land within 0.5 miles of a transit station or terminal of the type described in the pertinent statute, Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A—
General Law – Part I, Title VII, Chapter 40A, Section 3A
Stay tuned as this friggin’ fiasco permutates even more.
J.G.
I am very grateful for my readers, a couple of whom contacted me requesting commentary about the false statement made during a recent zoning public info ‘forum’ by Sterling’s useless, superfluous, make-work ‘Town Planner’ drone, Stephen Wallace, in response to the November 27, 2023 letter sent to him by lawless, out-of-control MEOHLC assclown twit Caroline “Chris” Kluchman, Acting Director, ‘Community Services Division,’ after Wallace proposed that the massive Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40B so-called ‘affordable housing’ Northgate Meadows Complex, located in Sterling near the Leominster line and the Registry of Motor Vehicles building, be deemed ‘MBTA Multi-Family Zoning District’-compliant. Here is the link to Kluchman’s letter—
sterling_pre-adoption_feedback_11-27-23_final.pdf
During that recent zoning public info ‘forum’ Wallace said that that letter constituted MEOHLC’s ‘rejection’ of Wallace’s proposal that the Northgate Meadows Complex qualify as Sterling’s so-called ‘MBTA Multi-Family Zoning District.’ Wallace’s statement was FALSE. As you can see from reading Kluchman’s letter, Kluchman sought follow-up clarification from Wallace on five (5) points. Wallace, being a paycheck-cashing drone, never followed up with any clarification to Kluchman/MEOHLC. Instead, Wallace next proposed to MEOHLC that the very environmentally-sensitive parcel off the end of Ford Road, discussed on this Blog previously, qualify as Sterling’s so-called ‘MBTA Multi-Family Zoning District.’
THE BIG PICTURE, YET AGAIN:
I repeat—Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A, set forth below, is inapplicable to the Town of Sterling BECAUSE THE TOWN OF STERLING HAS NO LAND WITHIN 0.5 MILES OF A TRANSIT STATION OR TERMINAL OF THE TYPE REFERRED TO IN THAT STATUTE. THEREFORE, MEOHLC’S SO-CALLED ‘COMPLIANCE GUIDELINES’ ARE ULTRA VIRES, UNENFORCEABLE BULLSHIT.
Multi-family zoning as-of-right in MBTA communities
This is an unofficial version of a Massachusetts General Law.
Table of Contents
Updates
(a)
(1)
An MBTA community shall have a zoning ordinance or by-law that provides for at least 1 district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right; provided, however, that such multi-family housing shall be without age restrictions and shall be suitable for families with children. For the purposes of this section, a district of reasonable size shall: (i) have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, subject to any further limitations imposed by section 40 of chapter 131 and title 5 of the state environmental code established pursuant to section 13 of chapter 21A; and (ii) be located not more than 0.5 miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable.
(b)
An MBTA community that fails to comply with this section shall not be eligible for funds from: (i) the Housing Choice Initiative as described by the governor in a message to the general court dated December 11, 2017; (ii) the Local Capital Projects Fund established in section 2EEEE of chapter 29; (iii) the MassWorks infrastructure program established in section 63 of chapter 23A, or (iv) the HousingWorks infrastructure program established in section 27½ of chapter 23B.
(c)
The executive office of housing and livable communities, in consultation with the executive office of economic development, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, shall promulgate guidelines to determine if an MBTA community is in compliance with this section.”
NOTE: Nothing in that statute requires a minimum lot size of five (5) acres, a minimum ‘district’ size of five (5) acres, a district comprised of one (1) lot rather than three (3), minimum distance ‘district’ parcel required lot frontage on any street or road, street or road access within the host municipality rather than street or road access from an adjacent municipality such as Leominster, etc..
The Northgate Meadows Complex has water and sewer connections provided by Leominster.
Sterling’s useless, superfluous, make-work ‘Town Planner’ drone, Stephen Wallace, by failing to respond as requested to Kluchman’s 27 November 2023 letter, signaled that he’d rather drain the Town of Sterling’s already-stretched municipal well water capacity and degrade Sterling’s environment yet more by constructing dense multi-family housing and concomitant massive septic fields on the very environmentally-sensitive parcel off the end of Ford Road. Ya, ya, he’s F#*&ING BRILLIANT at Sterling taxpayer expense—a true payroll patriot.
OF COURSE, if Sterling officials had any smarts and cojones—demonstrably THEY DO NOT—long ago they would have done what the upstanding Town of Holden officials did and told Gov. Maura ‘Hold It’ Healey, AG Andrea ‘Kamala Smarts’ Campbell, and the entire bent crew at MEOHLC to SHOVE ‘MBTA MULTI-FAMILY ZONING DISTRICTS’ SIDEWAYS!
Stay tuned!
J.G.
The primary reason why the Commie Commonwealth of Massachusetts is so completely F#$%&* UP is because for decades it has been a one-party state governed/run by incompetent DemocRAT ideologue morons unable to make it in ‘The Dreaded Private Sector.’
Don’t believe me? Then check out this 13 November 2024 letter from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (MASSEOHLC) (that name itself is a F#$%&*@ JOKE unless you’re an illegal immigrant drug-dealing rapist-murderer living off Massachusetts taxpayers by being housed and fed in a local motel or hotel by delusional DemocRAT Twit Governor Maura ‘Hold It’ Healey and her sycophant minions) to Sterling’s useless, superfluous, make-work so-called Town Planner, Stephen Wallace–
sterling_pre-adoption_feedback_20241113_signed_003.pdf
Here’s the key language authored by one of MASSEOHLC’s resident morons, Caroline “Chris” Kluchman, Director, ‘Livable Communities Division’—
“EOHLC identified the following issues which may affect the MFOD’s compliance with Section 3A: 1.
EOHLC cautions that the definition of “Family” in Section 301-5.4 of the zoning bylaw could be construed as an impermissible cap on the number of occupants per dwelling unit. Section 3A does not allow for zoning-based caps on unit occupancy” (emphasis added).
That’s right folks, were Sterling voters ever stupid enough to approve, at a future Town Meeting, a so-called ‘MBTA Multi-Family Zoning District’ even though Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A is inapplicable to the Town of Sterling because it has no land within 0.5 miles of a transit station or terminal as described in that statute set forth below, the Town of Sterling would be barred from limiting the number of occupants per dwelling unit in such a Zone. I guess craven twit Gov. Maura ‘Hold it’ Healey’s new plan is to clear illegal immigrants out of Massachusetts-taxpayer-gravy train-funded motels and hotels and cram them into MBTA Zoning District dwelling units. Ya, Ya, some more PURE F#$%ING BRILLIANCE on her part.
“Chapter 40A, Section 3A: Multi-family zoning as-of-right in MBTA communities
Section 3A. (a)(1) An MBTA community shall have a zoning ordinance or by-law that provides for at least 1 district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right; provided, however, that such multi-family housing shall be without age restrictions and shall be suitable for families with children. For the purposes of this section, a district of reasonable size shall: (i) have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, subject to any further limitations imposed by section 40 of chapter 131 and title 5 of the state environmental code established pursuant to section 13 of chapter 21A; and (ii) be located not more than 0.5 miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable.
[ Subsection (b) effective until May 30, 2023. For text effective May 30, 2023, see below.]
(b) An MBTA community that fails to comply with this section shall not be eligible for funds from: (i) the Housing Choice Initiative as described by the governor in a message to the general court dated December 11, 2017; (ii) the Local Capital Projects Fund established in section 2EEEE of chapter 29; or (iii) the MassWorks infrastructure program established in section 63 of chapter 23A.
[ Subsection (b) as amended by 2023, 7, Sec. 152 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298. For text effective until May 30, 2023, see above.]
(b) An MBTA community that fails to comply with this section shall not be eligible for funds from: (i) the Housing Choice Initiative as described by the governor in a message to the general court dated December 11, 2017; (ii) the Local Capital Projects Fund established in section 2EEEE of chapter 29; (iii) the MassWorks infrastructure program established in section 63 of chapter 23A, or (iv) the HousingWorks infrastructure program established in section 27 of chapter 23B.
[ Subsection (c) effective until May 30, 2023. For text effective May 30, 2023, see below.]
(c) The department of housing and community development, in consultation with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, shall promulgate guidelines to determine if an MBTA community is in compliance with this section.
[ Subsection (c) as amended by 2023, 7, Sec. 153 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298. For text effective until May 30, 2023, see above.]
(c) The executive office of housing and livable communities, in consultation with the executive office of economic development, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, shall promulgate guidelines to determine if an MBTA community is in compliance with this section.”
As you can see, Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A refers EXPLICITLY to “multi-family housing” BUT Ms. Kluchman and MASSEOHLC are SO WARPED AND INTELLECTUALY DISHONEST that they disregard outright that clear language and would bar the Town of Sterling from determining just what constitutes a ‘family’ for purposes of ‘Multi-family housing’ units. That’s the kind of totalitarian double-speak absolute insanity that the late, great George Orwell warned all of us about but that is so prevalent in DemocRAT-dominated Massachusetts.
The intelligent, honest and sane among us–apparently a minority in the Town of Sterling now given the fact that lying airhead Komrad Kamala Harris’s Sterling voters outnumbered Trump voters by about 200–hope that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Attorney General vs. Town of Milton et al.— Mass Appellate Courts – Public Case Search –rules that the MASSEOHLC’s so-called ‘MBTA Zoning Guidelines’ are ultra vires and unenforceable as being in outright derogation of the clear statutory language and having been issued without following requirements set forth in the Massachusetts Administrative Procedure Act.
Stay tuned.
J.G.
Massachusetts’ Deranged Airhead Lefty DemocRAT Governor Maura Healey, who is just fine with men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, boys and men competing against girls and women in sports, and sociopath/psychopath physicians/hospital administrators mutilating the sexual organs of children, for profit, before those children reach the legal age for contract consent, is now on the record vowing to protect illegal immigrants in Massachusetts–you know, the ones getting hotel rooms, medical care, meals, and transportation at taxpayer expense while taking away jobs from U.S. citizens, or thriving in the drug trade, or murdering and raping U.S. citizens when they aren’t pushing them out of hospital emergency rooms and public school seats–from President Trump-ordered mass deportation
Ya, Ya, Maura, you F#CKING DOPE, your so-called state-level “Executive Power’ is meaningless in the face of federal law and President Trump’s impending Executive Orders to implement that federal law in order to reverse the Biden-Harris 15 Million Illegal Immigrant Invasion/DemocRAT Illegal Voter Scheme.
SEE
8 U.S. Code § 1227 – Deportable aliens | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
I’m hoping ICE and CBP agents absolutely SWARM Massachusetts in order to conduct MASS round-ups of resource-sucking freeloader illegal immigrants– Fiscal ‘time bomb’ ticking in Massachusetts due to migrant costs, new report shows — as a prelude to their mass deportations. Good riddance!
GO TRUMP!!!– https://dailycaller.com/2024/11/09/what-trumps-immigration-agenda-will-be/
J.G.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance—Massachusetts taxpayers’ BEST FRIEND—lists the reasons why voters should vote ‘NO’ on Ballot Question 3.
SEE Vote No on Question 3 – Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance
SO, FOLKS, it is clearly in YOUR best interest to vote ‘NO’ on Ballot Question 3.
HERE IS THE MASSACHUSETTS FISCAL ALLIANCE BALLOT QUESTIONS RECAP ADDRESSING ALL 5 NOVEMBER BALLOT QUESTIONS: 2024 Ballot Question Guide – Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance
GET OUT AND VOTE!!! THIS TIME, MAKE IT TOO BIG TO RIG!!!
J.G.
Unsurprisingly, Ballot Question 5, to require an increased minimum wage for tipped workers, is funded by a California radical group—meaning DemocRATS who are REALLY, REALLY STUPID AND INTO SELF-ABUSE. SO YEAH, IF YOU DON’T THINK YOU ARE BEING SCREWED ENOUGH ALREADY AT THE GROCERY STORE BY BIDEN-HARRISINFLATION, THEN, BY ALL MEANS, VOTE FOR BALLOT QUESTION 5 AND SCREW YOURSELVES SOME MORE AT RESTAURANTS AND FAST-FOOD OUTLETS.
In the Commie State of California restaurant and fast-food-joint workers now get a minimum wage of $20/hour, driving up meal prices for customers/patrons and payroll costs for owners. That has spurred restaurant and fast-food-joint owners to adopt automation in order to eliminate workers/payroll overhead and remain competitive—
Fast food operators rushing to use AI in the wake of minimum wage hikes – Los Angeles Times
MEMO TO DemocRATS: You can’t get $20/hour as a California fast food worker if your job is eliminated by a robot. The same principle applies to workers here in the Commie Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
SO, unless you are a REALLY, REALLY stupid DemocRAT ignorant of economic laws and into self-abuse (but I repeat myself), VOTE ‘NO’ ON BALLOT QUESTION 5.
J.G.
Komrad Kommiela Harris is sinking like a stone in the 2024 Presidential Election betting pools. Thinking people have had waaaay more than enough of the press-dodging, lying, equivocating, empty-pantsuit, airhead, destructive DemocRAT Totalitarian Swamp Rat. That’s no wonder given her announced policy pronouncements compiled here:
In the betting pools the smart money is flowing toward Trump BIG TIME. Here is a compendium:
Of those, I follow the Polymarket 2024 Presidential election betting pool daily. Check it out:
Polymarket – 2024 Presidential Election Predictions
I’m hoping for a 5 November 2024 Pro-Trump Electoral College Tidal Wave as a prelude to completely scouring out Swamp Rat-infested D.C.– the District of Corruption.
GET OUT AND VOTE. MAKE THE 2024 ELECTION TOO BIG TO RIG!
J.G.
QUESTION: What’s the difference between the rancid DemocRAT-dominated Massachusetts Legislature and a DEN OF THIEVES???
ANSWER: There is none.
The Massachusetts State Auditor is elected to audit every Massachusetts state entity to facilitate efficiency and cut down on cronyism, fraud, waste, and abuse.
Tax-hungry, tax-wasting DemocRAT hyenas dominate the Massachusetts Legislature, THE ONLY Massachusetts state entity that refuses to be audited by the State Auditor.
The Massachusetts State Legislature is one (1) of ONLY four (4) Legislatures in the U.S. that exempts itself from Public Records-request laws.
If the Massachusetts Legislature were efficient, honest, above-board, and on the level, it would welcome annual outside audits BUT, OF COURSE, IT IS NONE OF THOSE THINGS.
SO, VOTE ‘YES’ ON NOVEMBER BALLOT QUESTION 1 AND AUTHORIZE THE STATE AUDITOR OPEN AND EXAMINE THE CROOKED MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE’S ACCOUNT BOOKS.
J.G.
When it comes to self-abuse, and risking the safety non-dopers such as innocent drivers and their passengers using taxpayer-funded public ways, dopers, like drunks, aren’t known for self-restraint. AND, of course, their wholesale and retail suppliers/enablers are amoral, profiteering sociopath whores—and the same goes for city and town officials who encourage them in order to increase their respective ‘tax bases.’
SO NOW, VIA NOVEMBER BALLOT QUESTION 4, the dopers and their degenerate allies want to legalize the cultivation, sale, and possession of so-called ‘psychedelic/hallucinogenic mushrooms,’ as though they are harmless personal playthings. They are not. Psilocybin, referred to explicitly in Ballot Question 4, along with LSD and heroin, is on Schedule 1 of controlled substances the possession and distribution of which constitute very serious federal crimes. SEE Drug Fact Sheet: Psilocybin (dea.gov), Psilocybin Fast Facts (justice.gov)
This is what the Massachusetts Legislature’s Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions had to say, in pertinent part, about Ballot Question 4:
“The petition would both create a system of state-licensed and taxed [cultivation and retail] facilities on the one hand, and on the other, decriminalize the cultivation, possession, and distribution of a variety of hallucinogenic and psychedelic substances. Voters are, therefore, being asked to simultaneously establish a … costly licensure [and regulatory] system…while at the same time making the same substances widely available for individual cultivation across the Commonwealth in a non-licensed manner … [allowing] residents to carry many doses…on their person or in their home at one time. It therefore…allows an unlicensed cultivator to ‘gift’…certain doses… [T]his loophole would…subvert the safety regulations imposed on licensed [growers/sellers],,, The petition would also require municipalities to zone for and permit these licensed [growers/sellers] while capping their ability to levy a tax rate [determined] appropriate to manage traffic, …inspections, and any increased calls requesting the assistance of law enforcement or medical professionals… [The petition] OUGHT NOT TO BE ENACTED… “(emphasis added).
VOTE ‘NO’ ON NOVEMBER BALLOT QUESTION 4.
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH