Town Meeting voters will consider whether to zone marijuana dispensaries in an area that would land them near Tobey Hospital, whether to design an outdoor classroom adjacent to the Wareham Free Library, and whether to fund the purchase of a water taxi that will shuttle boaters from their vessels to Onset Village.

The meeting convenes Monday, October 28, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium. All registered voters in the Town of Wareham can attend, speak, and vote.

Here's a recap of some of the agenda items. Click the links below for more!

Water taxi, boat ramp update

The Harbormaster Department is seeking to use $103,000 of money generated from permitting fees and boat excise taxes to purchase a water taxi to shuttle boaters to their moorings in Onset Bay, rehabilitate the Tempest Knob Boat Ramp, and add another worker to the department's roster.

Harbormaster Garry Buckminster says the water taxi, or "launch," would cost approximately $30,000. He said the idea has been well-received by area business owners because it would offer boaters a way into the village if dock space is full.

If approved, the launch will run 12 hour shifts, 7 days per week in the summer season.

As for Tempest Knob, Buckminster says: "We're looking to do an upgrade to the Tempest Knob boat ramp floating docks. ... We're going to replace all the floating docks that are past their time, and not repairable."

Buckminster is also looking to hire another assistant harbormaster.

"We're the biggest town on Buzzards Bay and we have the smallest personnel roster," the harbormaster said. "We really have a very big town and we've got a lot of stuff that we're doing between maintenance on the waterway and shellfish and day to day" tasks.

Wareham has 54 miles of coastline, more than any other town in Buzzards Bay.

Another Harbormaster Department request is for the transfer of $38,000 from the waterways account for maintenance and general improvements.

"We're going to get some nice signage in our public access areas," Buckminster said. "There's a lot of positive investments we're hoping to make."

The department is also hoping voters will pass a revamped version of the waterways bylaws.

"A lot of the stuff that was in the original bylaw we transferred over," Buckminster said. "We had a lot of loopholes in the original bylaw that we wanted to close."

According to Buckminster, the changes will more clearly define the mooring application process and extend harbor permitting rules to freshwater ponds.

"Basically it's an update from what we originally had," he said. "We looked into what other towns had and applied it to us."

Multi-Service Center roof update

Town Meeting voters will be asked to OK the use of $110,000 of Community Preservation funding to repair the roof on the Multi-Service Center at 48 Marion Road.

The building is a historic building, which is one of the purposes for which Community Preservation funding can be used. The money is generated by a 3% property tax surcharge. The funds can only be used for recreation, affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space projects.

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan says the work will also replace three rotted air conditioning units on the building.

Withdrawn agenda items

High school roof

Voters will not weigh in on some items appearing on the Town Meeting agenda, including a study for repairs to the high school roof and a Planning Board proposal.

The School Department will front the money for a "feasibility study" of the high school roof. Because the school is part of a state program that will reimburse at least 68% of the cost of the study, the town and the School Department will split the remaining tab after the reimbursement.

Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood said the decision was made after budgetary discussions with town officials. The study is estimated to cost up to $60,000.

Wareham High School was one of six schools in the state that the Massachusetts School Building Authority chose over the summer for its "accelerated repair program."

The first step to getting a project approved by the state is to complete a "feasibility study." Without the feasibility study -- which is essentially a scope of work for how the project will be completed -- the state will not approve a project for the repair program.

Transfer of development rights

After listening to concerns from citizens voiced at a public hearing Monday, October 22, the Planning Board voted to hold a Transfer of Development Rights zoning bylaw until spring Town Meeting.

The bylaw has been in the works since 2005.

The bylaw would allow the owners of land in two environmentally sensitive areas of town to sell their “development rights” to landowners in less sensitive areas who want to develop areas more densely than current zoning allows.

The long term goal of the bylaw is to protect the more environmentally vulnerable areas of town, while at the same time allowing more intensive development in areas that could benefit from development.

It would allow for higher density development in some areas, while leaving other areas undeveloped.

Engineer Charles Rowley pointed out a couple of flaws in the bylaw that the board will revisit before spring.

"I think you're looking at some serious issues...In its present form I think you've got some problems."

One such issue, he says, is that "receiving parcels" are not specifically defined.

The bylaw designates some pieces of land “sending” areas, where owners would be encouraged to sell development rights and thus allow the property to remain undeveloped.

This would allow the development rights to be transferred to the "receiving parcel", would then be able to develop more densely than it was previously able.

Rowley pointed out that in its current form, the bylaw describes the parcels by neighborhoods, for example, Wareham Village, Onset Village and East Wareham along Cranberry Highway.

"These have no specific definitions," Rowley said. "Where is the border of East Wareham? Tihonet? Parker Mills? It's got to be by streets, or it's got to be by metes and bounds."