Charlton voters will decide 15 articles at a Special Town Meeting next Monday, October 19.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Charlton Middle School, 2 Oxford Road. This is an open Town Meeting: Charlton residents who are registered voters may attend, speak and vote.

The largest financial question is not a construction vote. Article 5 asks voters to spend $500,000 from free cash on the schematic-design and owner’s-project-manager phase of a proposed senior/community center on Masonic Home Road and additional Police Department parking.

The warrant also asks voters to fund vehicles, equipment and municipal improvements; move money into reserve accounts; temporarily prohibit data centers while the Planning Board develops permanent regulations; rezone a portion of a Worcester Road parcel; and weigh in on Charlton’s Flock Safety cameras.

Here is what voters are actually being asked to decide.

→ Official Special Town Meeting page

→ Official warrant with motions and recommendations

→ FY2027 Capital Improvement Plan

The proposed plan would commit 67.2% of Charlton’s currently available free cash and leave a projected balance of $925,662. The $500,000 senior/community-center item pays for the design phase—not construction.

The motions would use approximately $1.892 million in free cash across Articles 4, 5 and 6:

Charlton’s Capital Improvement Plan reports $2,817,662 in available free cash before the recommended appropriations and a projected $925,662 remaining afterward.

Free cash is a certified, one-time funding source. These proposals do not directly increase the operating budget or set a new tax rate, but spending free cash reduces the amount available for other one-time needs, emergencies or future capital work.

The Finance Committee and Select Board support the published spending motions.

Article 4 is divided into four motions. Each group is treated as a separate appropriation.

Article 5 would transfer $500,000 from free cash for schematic-design services and an owner’s project manager for a proposed senior/community center on Masonic Home Road and additional Police Department parking.

The motion also authorizes the Select Board or chief procurement officer to enter related agreements, including agreements involving leases or acquisition of interests in land.

A “yes” vote would advance design and project management. It would not approve a final building design, construction contract or total project budget.

That distinction matters because the future construction and operating costs are not established by this $500,000 request. Those later decisions would require additional public review and funding authorization.

The Finance Committee and Select Board support the motion. Earlier in the warrant process, the Finance Committee unanimously recommended the article.

→ Watch the Finance Committee discussion and vote at 41:35

→ Read TTM’s earlier senior-center and school-capital explainer

Article 6 proposes four transfers:

These transfers reserve money for future needs. They do not authorize a particular sewer, water or municipal construction project.

Three linked zoning articles would create an interim townwide prohibition while Charlton studies permanent data-center regulations.

Article 11 adds a detailed definition of “data center.” It includes enterprise, colocation, cloud, edge, hyperscale, artificial-intelligence, high-performance-computing and cryptocurrency-mining facilities. Ordinary server equipment accessory to another lawful use is excluded when it exists only to serve that use and occupies less than 2,500 square feet.

Article 12 adds data centers to the zoning use table as not allowed in every zoning district.

Article 13 creates the interim regulation itself. While it remains in effect, the town could not issue a building permit, certificate of occupancy, site-plan approval or special permit for a data center, and no data center could be established, operated or expanded.

The Planning Board would be directed to study electricity, water, wastewater, noise, design, air quality, stormwater, traffic, decommissioning, fiscal impacts and consistency with Charlton’s Master Plan. It must report back with proposed permanent regulations—or explain why none are recommended—by the 2028 Annual Town Meeting.

This is different from a fixed one-year moratorium. The published text says the prohibition remains until the town adopts permanent data-center zoning, while preserving Town Meeting’s authority to amend or repeal it.

Each zoning article requires a two-thirds vote. The warrant-with-motions document posted Sunday does not list a Planning Board recommendation beside Articles 11–13, so residents should listen for the Board’s report at Town Meeting rather than assume its final recommendation.

→ Watch the October 7 Planning Board meeting

Article 14 would rezone approximately 14 to 15 acres of parcel 36-B-2.5 along Route 20 from Business Enterprise Park to Community Business.

The official exhibit identifies the affected area as the portion of the parcel fronting Worcester Road, with roughly 720 feet of frontage. The remainder of the parcel and nearby parcels would not be changed by this article.

The warrant labels the property as 269 Worcester Road, previously 293A Worcester Road. Parcel 36-B-2.5 is the consistent identifier.

The Planning Board supports the motion. A two-thirds vote is required.

The final article is a citizen petition concerning Charlton’s use of Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader cameras.

It asks Town Meeting to express support for the Select Board to:

The resolution is nonbinding. A favorable vote would express Town Meeting’s position, but it would not itself terminate a contract, deactivate a camera or compel the Select Board to take a particular action.

Article 7 — Dog licenses: Updates senior-citizen licensing provisions. The printed changes lower the senior age used in one fee schedule from 65 to 60, reduce the intact-dog fee to $5 and the spayed-or-neutered fee to $0, while also adding the statutory exemption for one dog per household for an owner age 70 or older. The Finance Committee and Select Board support the motion.

Article 8 — Delinquent taxpayers: Removes the requirement that the tax collector furnish licensing authorities a delinquent-taxpayer list annually, while retaining the collector’s ability to provide one periodically. The Finance Committee and Select Board support the motion.

Article 9 — Sunday alcohol sales: Would allow Charlton’s licensing authority to permit on-premise alcohol sales beginning at 10 a.m. instead of noon on Sundays and certain legal holidays. The Select Board supports the motion.

Article 10 — Ashley and Amber roads: Would accept Ashley Road and Amber Road as public ways, together with associated easements. Acceptance transfers future public-road responsibilities to the town. The Select Board supports the motion.

Article 1 would pay four late prior-year bills totaling $4,613.64 from existing FY2027 municipal-offices and sewer-maintenance accounts. Both the Finance Committee and Select Board support it.

The published motions call for Articles 2 and 3—general budget-transfer and budget-amendment placeholders—to be passed over indefinitely, meaning no substantive spending action is presently proposed under those articles.

If this guide helped you understand the warrant, please share it with a Charlton neighbor, family member or community group before October 19. Local government affects everyone, but most residents do not have hours to work through warrants, meetings and municipal documents.

The Town Minute does that work and delivers the important parts in plain English every Monday morning.

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The Town Minute is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the Town of Charlton. This guide summarizes the official warrant and published motions. It is not the legal warrant or a substitute for the meeting record.