Reporter’s Notebook: Affordable housing, a ton of photos, and the smell of grass clippings

The temperature said 88 degrees. The heat rising from the artificial turf on the Grafton High School football field added at least another 15 degrees.

Luckily, if anyone had “Heatstroke wipes out Grafton Town Meeting” on their 2020 Bingo card, that wasn’t the case on Saturday. For his final meeting, Town Moderator Ray Mead and the town of Grafton managed to pull off a near-flawless outdoor, socially distanced-for-COVID-19 Town Meeting for about 550 residents, split between the football field and gymnasium. Misting tents were available for a quick cool down. State Rep. David Muradian passed out water bottles. The audience microphones were quickly sanitized between speakers.

Even the children — children! Allowed to attend Town Meeting! — behaved themselves.

And no one, yes, no one, called for a ballot vote. It was just too darned hot.

There were a few snags:

• People in the gymnasium complained that their slideshow, displayed with the text of the warrant’s articles, was running behind and was unreadable;
• Masks were required but the heat found most people pulling them down as the heat index rose;
• Absolutely no one, possibly fearing the final wrath of Mead, brought beach balls to bat around.

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*****

Apparently, Select Board member Ed Prisby needs to dance when submitting town proposals more often. The final article on the warrant was Prisby’s citizen petition requesting the town to transfer ownership of 25 Worcester St. to the Affordable Housing Trust to be developed as affordable senior citizen housing.

• Why dancing? Prisby decided to announce this idea in a Facebook video, in which he held up signs and danced.
• Why 25 Worcester St.? Its 2.3 acres have been vacant since 1980 when the Norcross Annex was torn down. It was pitched as a fire station site and a home for the Super Park. It’s now used, unofficially, for parking and, most recently, a dump site for an old sink.
• Why senior housing? Almost 10 percent of senior citizens living in Grafton are in poverty. In Massachusetts, “Finding senior housing in the state of Massachusetts is incredibly difficult because we just don’t build enough of it.”
• What did the town administrator think? Tim McInerney said it was an excellent idea, but he wasn’t sure if giving the land to the Affordable Housing Trust was the best way, as opposed to the town working to find a developer, as in the “transit hub” of mixed-use development going into 8 Pine St.
• What’s the verdict? It passed.

*****

Passing the $67,615,329 Fiscal Year 2021 Town Budget? Piece of cake. The contingent budget of $909,121, which comes into play if the Proposition 2 1/2 override passes Town Election Tuesday? Passed by in a blink.

It’s always the articles you least suspect that will take a lot of time. That would be Articles 17 and 18, which appropriate money for police and fire equipment. There was a bit of confusion about the items — they will be covered by the override if it passes, but this vote was to ensure that needed safety equipment is purchased even if it fails — and it led to confused questions. Could voters go back to earlier items? No. What if — no.

And then there was the disposal of the Upton Street DPW Highway Barn, planned as a “Grafton Gateway” mixed use development after the DPW moves into its new facility. There was a concern that a marijuana retailer might move in, a suggestion that it would overcrowd the Grafton Common area with traffic.

And, of course, there’s the plight of one man’s grass clippings. He explained that when he mows his lawn, he disposes of the clippings at the highway barn because they would otherwise smell and attract bugs to his yard. It was not entirely sure if he meant the entire project should be scrapped so he could continue to throw his grass clippings there, and Mead simply stopped blankly for a moment before moving the articles on.

The town was given permission to dispose of the DPW Barn and zoning was changed to allow the mixed use development.

Does anyone have room for one man’s grass clippings?