Bourne Select Board Meeting - November 12, 2025
Bourne Select Board Meeting - November 12, 2025
The Bourne Select Board met on November 12, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was televised and streamed. Key actions included approving a road layout, setting the single tax rate for FY2026, continuing a pole placement hearing, approving the Polar Express parking license (with conditions), reviewing the FY2025 budget and long-term financial forecast, and beginning the process to restart the social equity marijuana host community agreement after contentious debate. Consent items and committee appointments were also addressed.
Consent Calendar
- Approved consent items C, D, and E: appointing Bonnie McGinnis to the Recycling Committee (term ending June 30, 2028), authorizing the chair to execute the initial compliance certification for the Bourne Middle School Roof MSBA project, and authorizing the chair to execute the conservation restriction for 21 Huntersbrook Road Inc.
- Deferred consent items A and B (appointments to the Police Station Roof Building Committee and Library Building Committee) pending full committee formation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Michael Frazier, part-time resident and property owner, voiced strong criticism of town maintenance practices. He cited specific hazards at Key Field (rusty bleachers, potholes, thorns), siding and skylight issues at town buildings, and a defective fire suppression system. He argued that the town waits until problems become urgent, leading to costly last-minute fixes, and urged proactive maintenance rather than feasibility studies. He warned that his public comments put the town on notice for liability.
- John York provided a historical perspective on the town’s engagement with the Cape Hunt Bridges Program. He urged the board to actively question and negotiate with state authorities, as the town did during the canal construction era, to protect Bourne’s interests.
Discussion Items
- Public Hearing – Pulcass Woods Road Layout (Spinnaker Lane and Daniel Webster Lane): Tim Leiden from the Engineering Department presented the layout petition. The roads have been maintained well by the homeowners association. A betterment assessment covers new pavement and catch basin adjustments. The Planning Board approved unanimously. The board voted 5-0 to accept the layout; the matter will go to the May 2026 Town Meeting.
- Pole Placement Hearing (Verizon, Lincoln Avenue): The board opened and immediately continued the hearing to December 16, 2025 at 7 p.m. at the Bourne Police Station.
- Tax Levy Property Classification Hearing – FY2026: Assessor Marie Part presented. The town’s total valuation is $8.38 billion, up 5.2%. The proposed single tax rate is $7.66 per $1,000. The median single-family assessment is $626,600 (up 5.3%), with projected taxes of $4,799.75 (increase of $152.80 from FY2025). The Board of Assessors recommended a single rate. The board voted 5-0 to adopt a single tax rate (residential factor 1.0) and not to adopt the open space discount, residential exemption, or small commercial exemption for FY2026.
- Growth Incentive Zone Modification: Jen from the Planning Department presented a draft memo to update the Growth Incentive Zone. The existing cap of 360 housing units has been met; the modification requests 825 units (including 75 keystone units reclassified from commercial) to meet MBTA multifamily requirements. The open space offset was removed in 2019. Commercial square footage remains at 650,000. The draft will be sent to the Cape Cod Commission for technical review, then returned to the board for final vote.
- 2025 Polar Express Parking License Agreement: The license allows bus staging at Taylor’s Point Marina from November 21 to December 23, 2025, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a no-idling condition. Public comment from Pauline Fogel (Ryder Lane resident) and board discussion highlighted persistent noise and fume issues from train idling near residences. Board members noted they could not condition the license on train operations. The license was approved 3-1 (MJ opposed) with the start date amended to November 21. The board agreed to separately address idling concerns in a future meeting.
- FY2025 Budget Review & Long-Term Financial Forecast: Finance Director Erica Fleming presented. General fund budget for FY2025 was $80.36 million after amendments. Revenues: property taxes 75%, local receipts 14%, state aid 9%. Free cash as of July 1, 2025: $7.77 million (9.5% of budget). General stabilization: $5.58 million (6.81%). The long-term forecast projects a $788,000 shortfall in FY2027 and growing gaps in outer years as expenditures outpace revenue growth (4-4.5% vs. ~2.8%). Key pressures: Proposition 2½ limits, health insurance costs, energy, special education, and inflationary collective bargaining.
- Marijuana Host Community Agreements:
- 10A & 10B: The board voted 5-0 to authorize the chair to execute municipal certificates for Cheef Cannabis LLC and Cape Way Cannabis LLC, confirming local compliance.
- 10D & 10E (Social Equity HCA): A lengthy debate followed the reading of an email from Attorney Jesse Alderman (representing Cape Cod Dispensary) alleging bias and improper scoring. Board members expressed concerns about process fairness, inconsistent ratings, and lack of deliberation. The board voted 3-2 (Jean, Melissa, Chair in favor; MJ, Peter opposed) not to accept the final narrative for the social equity host community agreement, and 3-2 not to authorize the administrator to execute the HCA with Bourne Cannabis LLC. This effectively rescinds the earlier decision and restarts the process. A future agenda item will address next steps.
- Police Station Roof Replacement Building Committee Representative: After a contested nomination, MJ was appointed (Melissa withdrew).
Key Outcomes
- Road Layout: Unanimous acceptance of Spinnaker and Daniel Webster lane layout for Town Meeting.
- Tax Rate: Single rate of $7.66/$1,000 adopted for FY2026.
- Polar Express License: Approved 3-1 for Nov 21–Dec 23, 9 a.m.–9 p.m., no idling in lot.
- Marijuana HCA – Social Equity: Process terminated; board voted not to accept narrative and not to execute agreement with Bourne Cannabis. Restart with revised process to be discussed.
- Building Committee: MJ appointed to police station roof committee.
- Minutes of November 4, 2025: Approved unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
You have 7 p.m. on the elect. Good evening, everyone. Being 7 p.m., I will call the Bourne Select Board meeting of November 18, 2025 to order. Note this meeting is being televised, streamed, or recorded by Bourne TV. If anyone in the audience is recording or videotaping, they need to acknowledge at this time. Hi, Owen. Please refrain from using flash photography. If anyone from the public wishes to access the meeting, they can do so by calling the following conference line 1929-205-6099. The Zoom meeting ID is 897-129-3538, and the password is Born B-O-U-R-N-E in Capital Letters. The Zoom chat will not be monitored, so participants who wish to speak, please raise your hand icon until the chair asks them to unmute. In this case, the vice chair. All meetings within the agenda are subject to deliberation and votes. So like take a moment of silence to recognize our public safety personnel. Pledge of allegiance. Undergard. And it is low with liberty. I do have a uh certificate I've been sitting on that. It's from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. It's a certificate of achievement presented to the town of Bourne for participating in the Massachusetts Broadband Institute's municipal digital equity planning program. And the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts greatly appreciate the time and energy you expended to participate in this program. This stems from our cable internet telecommunications advisory committee. One of our members was nominated for a Digital for All award. And myself and a few of the members attended, and we received the certificate from the Mass Broadband Institute. MJ, you had something to do. Yeah, I just wanted to uh mention the excellent seasons that uh board uh high school football team had making it into the playoffs to the Elite Eight and the girls' volleyball team uh made it um through the playoffs to the championship game, and unfortunately they lost in uh champion state championship game, but great seasons by both teams, so congratulations. Um is there anyone for public comment for non-agenda items? Yes, sir, come up to the podium, please. Non-agenda? Non-agenda here. Thank you. I'm gonna try to make this quick. Um could you state your name, please? My name is Michael Frazier. Okay. I'm a part-time resident here now. I used to be a full-time resident here at Bourne. But I still have uh companies here uh in Bourne and a lot of property. Um I do a little radio. People hear me on the radio, they'll call my office and ask me for my advice. Ask me what's going on, certain parts of Bourne and the goings on at Bourne. So I try to listen to them, and they've asked a few people have asked me to come forward, especially on a few things. And I wanted to uh hopefully this doesn't fall on deaf ears. You know, the town of Bourne, as we've gone on, we've we're building schools, fire departments, police stations, we have recreation for our kids. The problem here in the town of Bourne, and again, this is not a personal attack on anyone. It's just something that you people have to take into consideration because we don't anymore. And same thing with the town of Plymouth, which I have a lot of interest in that town also. I I take point uh, I went to the recreation department and I asked them, and this has been going on for quite some time about Key Field. And I said, hey, you know, I'll go down there once in a while, and I'm a pretty busy guy. I have a resort in my Washington, I'm down here running my son's company.
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