Select Board backs firearms zoning bylaw in 3-2 vote

SUDBURY — March 12, 2024 — Sudbury Select Board splits 3-2 on firearms zoning ahead of May town meeting. Members Charles Russo, Daniel Carty and Jen Roberts voted to support Article 16, which would move firearms businesses from by-right to special-permit zoning, limit them to industrial districts and require a 250-foot setback from sensitive areas. Chair Janie Dretler and member Lisa Kouchakdjian opposed; Dretler had supported last year's defeated ban. Russo read from a 2021 Giffords Law Center letter warning that "pursuing a ban at this time with the current makeup of the federal judiciary is not an effort that Giffords recommends." Town Manager Andy Sheen told a Finance Committee request for litigation cost estimates that no responsible counsel would give a figure beyond "it's going to be millions." The board also lowered the consent-calendar pull threshold to seven voters, appointed four members to the Sudbury 250 Committee, added a Goodnow Library EV-charging article to the warrant, and approved $85,000 in ARPA funds to replace the Fire Station 3 roof against a $138,000 low bid.