SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury will head to the polls on Feb. 4 to decide whether the town will comply with MBTA zoning.
After Town Manager Kevin Mizikar presented four possible dates to hold the vote – Jan. 28, Feb. 4, March 4, and May 6 – the Select Board voted 3-2 in favor of the February election. John Samia, Beth Casavant and Theresa Flynn voted for the February date, while Michelle Conlin and Carlos Garcia said they preferred the March 4 date.
January 28 represented the earliest possible voting date. May 6 would have coincided with the town’s annual election.
February 4 was chosen based on several factors, including the availability of poll workers and poll locations. The date is on the first Tuesday of the month – which Mizikar said was important to maintain familiarity among voters – and falls on an early-release day for schools, giving some voters easier access to their polling locations.
History of the referendum
After about two hours of debate on Nov. 18, Town Meeting voted 123-50 to approve Article 9, which created a “Transit Oriented Development Overlay District,” or MBTA zoning district, in the southeast corner of town along Route 20. Town Meeting approved a contiguous, 118-acre zone containing three main parcels: Shrewsbury Commons, 409 South Street, and Emerald Run.
Following the debate, a group of Shrewsbury residents started petitioning for a referendum to rescind Town Meeting’s approval of the MBTA zone. According to Section 16 of Chapter 553 of the Acts of 1953, residents can call for a referendum within 10 days (exclusive of Sundays and holidays) of the date of the Town Meeting vote. In that time, at least 5% of Shrewsbury’s registered voters must sign the petition. Residents stood in front of supermarkets to gather the necessary signatures.
By Dec. 2, organizers collected over 1,843 signatures, eclipsing the 5% threshold of 1,349 residents. On Dec. 5, Town Clerk Sharyn Thomas certified the signatures of 1,706 Shrewsbury residents, and on Dec. 10, the Select Board officially acknowledged the need to call a referendum, which will be the second such vote in the town’s history.
Shrewsbury’s bylaws include several specific guidelines regarding referenda. Section 16 specifies that “no action of [Town Meeting] shall be reversed unless at least 20% of registered voters shall vote in favor of reversing action.” In other words, at least 20% of all the town’s voters must vote “no” on the ballot for the referendum to successfully repeal Town Meeting’s approval of MBTA zoning.
Those 20% of registered voters must also outnumber those who vote “yes” to uphold the MBTA zoning. The 1950s-era bylaws call for the referendum to open at 2 p.m. and close “not earlier than” 8 p.m. Shrewsbury has had low turnout in previous town elections, including 10.35% turnout in May 2024, and 14.82% turnout in an especially high-profile 2023 election.
Since the election won’t be held until after Dec. 31, the state’s deadline for MBTA zoning compliance, Shrewsbury will enter 2025 as a non-compliant community. The town has confirmed this with the Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities.
