Funny story: under state law, stable owners are supposed to be permitted through the local town. But it turns out Abington never adopted stable permit regulations.
Abington hasn’t been home to a large number of horses in a couple generations now – Board of Health Chairman Aaron Christian estimates there may be just two stables in the town. But the board still needs to adopt regulations that allow those stables to be properly permitted. So that’s just what the Board is looking to do at its meeting Monday night.
“No one’s complaining about horse stables; we just don’t have the regulations in place and we’re supposed to,” said Christian.
The Board of Health is in the middle of a top-to-bottom review of all its regulations after realizing many hadn’t been looked at in more than 15 years. The board’s regulatory authority extends over a wide swath of areas, including plastic bag usage, ice cream trucks, funeral homes, lead paint, swimming pools, septic systems, and tanning beds. It rewrote its body art rules back in 2022 and also started reviewing private regulations.
Its revised tobacco sales regulations went into effect just last week. Some of the changes simply brought the town’s rules in line with updated state rules; for example, the state back in 2018 raised the age limit for tobacco sales from 18 to 21. The board also opted to prohibit new tobacco shops from opening within 500 feet of other tobacco shops.
“What we found is when stores open that close, they use gimmicks to get people into their stores versus the other,” Christian said.
In addition to the stable regulations, the board on Monday is expected to discuss whether there is a need to adopt regulations around other backyard animals. Abington no longer has any working farms, but chickens, goats, and rabbits are rising in popularity as pets.
Again, Christian says his board isn’t being inundated with complaints. Rather this is just an opportunity to discuss if there is a need for a larger review.
“We want to make sure we’re ahead of the curve,” he said. “So we’re looking at that now and asking ourselves if there’s anything else we want to incorporate.”
The board is also expected to kick around whether to pursue a ban on nips, the small plastic bottles of liquor that are ubiquitous along town sidewalks, gutters, and roadside wooded areas. Chelsea, Falmouth, Mashpee, Newton, and Wareham have already banned the sale. Plymouth Town Meeting last summer voted to ban the sale, but the ban was narrowly repealed during a special election earlier this month. Whitman Town Meeting also rejected a ban last year.
“It is a problem,” said Christian.
The Abington Board of Health will meet Monday at 6 p.m., in the Ware Room.
SELECTMEN TO DISCUSS BOARD REORG, POSSIBLE SPECIAL ELECTION
Less than a week after Selectmen Chairman Alex Hagerty made the surprising decision to resign, the four remaining board members will convene Monday to decide what’s next. On the agenda is a vote to name a new board chairperson. Current Vice-Chairman Kevin Donovan is serving as acting chair. However, the vote that elevated Hagerty to chairman back in May was split 3-2, with Tim Chapin and Kevin DiMarzio supporting each other for chairman and vice-chairman, respectively. The board will also discuss a determination from town counsel whether a special election is necessary to fill the vacancy. The Town Charter says a special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs three months before the Annual Town Election on April 27. Hagerty did resign more than three months before the Town Election, but by the time a special election is held, the new selectperson would serve for just a couple weeks before voters go back to the polls.
SOUTH SHORE TECH HOLDS HEARING ON NEW SCHOOL PLAN
South Shore Technical High School is designing a new building and will hold a public hearing on the effort in Abington on Thursday night. Member communities back in 2021, including Abington, gave the school permission to start working with the Mass School Building Authority on designing a new building to replace the decades-old existing regional high school, located on Route 123 in Hanover. School officials are currently weighing options for a new building capable of educating between 805 and 900 students. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Abington Middle/High School Auditorium.
SIGNUPS UNDERWAY FOR ANNUAL AEF TRIVIA NIGHT FUNDRAISER
Registration is now open for the popular Abington Education Foundation Team Trivia Night fundraiser which will be held Saturday, Feb. 3. This year’s event is again going to be emcee’d by NBC10 Boston morning host and Abington resident Raul Martinez, with yours truly assisting. Cost is $250 per team. Money goes to fund supplemental educational opportunities for Abington students. The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus.
GREEN WAVE ATHLETICS
BOYS BASKETBALL
Varsity
Monday, 5:30 p.m., vs Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., @ Randolph High School
Junior Varsity
Wednesday, 5 p.m., @ Randolph High School
Freshmen
Wednesday, 3:30 p.m., vs. Whitman-Hanson Regional High School
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Varsity
Monday, 4 p.m., vs Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., vs Randolph High School
Saturday, 6:30 p.m., @ Quincy High School (ENDOWMENT GAMES)
Junior Varsity
Wednesday, 5 p.m., vs. Whitman-Hanson Regional High School
INDOOR TRACK
Varsity Boys
Monday, 6 p.m., @ Reggie Lewis vs. Middleboro
Varsity Girls
Monday, 6 p.m., @ Reggie Lewis vs. Middleboro
HOCKEY
Boys Varsity
Wednesday, 8 p.m., @ Sandwich Middle/High School
Saturday, 5:50 p.m., @ Rockland High School
Boys Junior Varsity
Sunday, 3:10 p.m., @ South Shore Technical High School
Girls Varsity
Wednesday, 7:50 p.m., vs Hingham High School
Saturday, 8 p.m., @ North Quincy High School
(FOR THE MOST UPDATED GAMES AND SCORES, PLEASE CHECK ARBITER LIVE SPORTS)
MEETING SCHEDULE
MONDAY
Affordable Housing Trust Fund, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall. Agenda includes a discussion on CPA requests, request from Habitat for Humanity about a possible house in Abington, updating the committee page on the town website, and meeting with Board of Selectmen at 6:30 p.m.
Board of Selectmen, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall. Agenda includes discussion about a possible special election to fill a vacancy, reorganization of the board, meeting with the Affordable Housing Trust Fund on a possible Habitat house at Griffin’s Dairy, and vote on road closures for St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
TUESDAY
Trustees of Veterans Memorials, 2 p.m., American Legion Memorial Building. Agenda includes flags on street signs, a sign for Gliniewicz Way, and an update on “Abington’s 43.”
Conservation Commission, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall. Agenda includes 1400 Bedford Street, 1015 Plymouth Street, 267 North Quincy Street, and goals for 2024.
WEDNESDAY
Finance Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall. Agenda includes a review of the Town Clerk, Veterans Department, and Town Accountant FY’25 budgets.