Next up in our review of town meeting season in the ‘Boroughs is Southborough, which holds its annual town meeting on Monday, April 9, starting at 7:00 p.m.

The 24-article warrant (posted here) does not include a long-awaited overhaul of the town’s zoning bylaw and subdivision regulations. The Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC), which has been working since 2008 on a comprehensive update to the zoning bylaw, recently requested more time to complete the project.  For more information, visit the ZAC’s website, which includes the most recent draft of the proposed revision.

A few articles of note on the Southborough warrant:

• Establishing the Position of Town Manager: Article 4 would authorize a special act petition to create the new position of Town Manager, to replace the current position of Town Administrator.
• Assabet Vocational School Project: Article 7 would authorize borrowing for a renovation of the Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Marlborough. Southborough is one Assabet’s seven member towns, all of which must vote in favor of the borrowing in order for the project to move forward.
• Pumping Flooded Basements: Article 22 would enact a new bylaw authorizing the Fire Department to pump flooded basements if requested by property owners in emergency situations. The Fire Department would also be authorized to charge fees for this service if property owners have declined to install necessary sump pumps or take other remedial actions to avoid flooding. 

Southborough has an open town meeting, which means that any resident registered to vote as of March 20, 2012, can participate (see Town Clerk’s Political Calendar).