Franklin Matters: 2026-10-04

Sunday, October 4, 2026

2026 Ballot Question 7: Single Family Homes

Question 7: Do you approve of a law summarized below, on which no vote was taken by the Senate or the House of Representatives before May 6, 2026?

SUMMARY

As required by law, summaries are written by the State Attorney General.

This proposed law would allow single-family homes to be built in a residentially zoned area as long as the land on which it is to be constructed is at least 5,000 square feet, has at least 50 feet of land bordering the street, road, or public way that it faces, and has access to public sewer and water services.

The proposed law would allow cities and towns to reasonably regulate certain aspects of those single-family homes, including their height, distance from neighboring buildings, open space, parking requirements, and whether they can be rented out on a short-term basis. The proposed law would also allow the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to issue guidance or regulations to administer the proposed law.

WHAT YOUR VOTE WILL DO

As required by law, the statements describing the effect of a "yes" or "no" vote are written jointly by the State Attorney General and the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

A YES VOTE would allow single-family homes to be built on lots of 5,000 square feet or more in residential areas, subject to reasonable local regulation of certain aspects of those homes.

A NO VOTE would make no change to the law relative to building single-family homes.

STATEMENT OF FISCAL CONSEQUENCES

As required by law, statements of fiscal consequences are written by the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

If the proposed law enables the growth of housing in communities, it could provide positive new growth revenues to municipalities. However, it is difficult to project the potential scale of new growth tied to the proposed law. The proposed law thus has no discernible material fiscal consequences for state and municipal government finances.

Additonal info - https://ma.omniballot.us/sites/25/vg/app/vig/voter-guide/info/16

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via Dan Kennedy:

https://commonwealthbeacon.org/ballot-question/

"Three local news outlets — CommonWealth Beacon, The Bay State Banner and El Planeta — unveil a detailed guide to this fall's state ballot questions.

It's freely available for republication online and in print." https://commonwealthbeacon.org/ballot-question/

Reminder: "We Speak in Stitches” display & presentation scheduled for Yankee Quilters meeting Oct 8, 2026

On Tuesday, October 13, Yankee Quilters Guild will welcome Cathy Racine, of the Charlton Sewing Center, and Charlotte Kassal, who will bring a remarkable and emotional collection of approximately 200 hand-stitched pieces fabric of art made by women around the world.

"We Speak in Stitches” is a collaboration between project manager Charlotte Kassal, Racine, and others to collect textile works by women on themes of democracy, freedom, and civil rights. After the individual pieces were mailed to Kassal, work began with staff of the Charlton Sewing Center to combine blocks into 23 large quilted panels for display.

Kassal said "I started this project over a year and a half ago through the 'Slow Stitch' group. This group has 149,000 members. I proposed to the group that we create 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" blocks making statements of how we feel about Democracy, Freedom, Civil Rights, and it was an inclusive project. Whatever a person's "leanings" were, their work would be included when the blocks were assembled into quilt panels."

The event at Yankee will be the second public viewing after the project opened in September at the Charlton Sewing Center.

The program will begin at 7:00 PM at Emma's Quilt Cupboard, Horace Mann Plaza, Franklin. Non-members welcome for a fee of $5.00.

On November 10th, Yankee will present "Piece by Piece," a program on making "mosaic quilts" with quilt artist Heidi Proffetty. $5.00 for nonmembers. For more information, contact yankeequilters11@gmail.com.

Welcome to a Franklin Food Service video update! (Video)

Welcome to a Franklin Food Service video update!

Throughout the school year, we love sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the exciting things happening in our kitchens and cafeterias. You can always find our latest videos pinned to the Franklin Public Schools Homepage in the "live feed" section or on our Official YouTube Channel.

Take a look at our most recent video below! To make sure you never miss a delicious update, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. https://youtube.com/@foodservicesonline?si=kgDe6otWZogN6_RE

Click here to see our most recent video

https://youtube.com/shorts/iUfCKmRNCpw?feature=shared