 James Slemming, Precinct 3, article proponent. These are two pictures of the Aeronaut beer garden hosted in Arlington Center, taken in 2018 and 2019. The town allowed the use of Whittemore Park for the event, and it was a hit. Over a thousand people attended the beer garden when it opened in 2018 and 600 when it opened in 2019. Local restaurants sold food to ice cream, musicians played, and residents enjoyed themselves. To me, this is a great example of the town using its public space to create a fun place to live and support local businesses. This is an excerpt from the zoning bylaw that describes some of what is allowed to happen in the open space district, which includes all parks and some other spaces in town. According to the director of Parks and Rec, this table is used to determine what is not allowed in the parks. This proposal would allow two new rows, one to allow outdoor recreation, such as a fitness class, and one to allow cultural arts and entertainment activity, such as live music or a theatrical performance, both for and not for profit. This is similar to the temporary rules the town adopted to allow businesses to use town parks during COVID. This proposal would more or less make them a permanent feature of the town bylaws. Another thing to note is that some of the rows in this table were labeled as SP but changed to Y. An SP means that the use is only allowed by a special permit, which is administered by zoning boards. By way of example, if an event were to request a special permit, it would take about two months, which can be useful if a permanent change is being considered like adding a parking lot to a park, but it seems like an unreasonably high bar for a temporary event. The outcome of this process is also not determined by Parks and Rec who control the land. Why was this not a problem for the beer garden? The beer garden was possible because Whittemore Park is controlled by the select board, which voted to allow it. Changing the SP to a Y means that a special permit would not be required for temporary uses here. Removing the special permit requirement and allowing these new uses does not mean these events would be unregulated. This is a summary of Title IV Article 1 of the town bylaws, which describes regulation on activity in town parks. In a park, you cannot have alcohol or make an enormous amount of noise and advertising is allowed only with permission from Parks and Rec. According to the Parks Department, someone who wants to host an event would be able to go to Parks and Rec for permission and the Parks and Rec Commission would determine the rules for the event. In general, there would be no circumstances under which someone could do something without permission from the associated department. In summary, this proposal would allow more types of activity in parks with the Parks Department determining the what, where and when of events including prioritization of uses and any fees. You should support this because the town has successfully used public space to foster community and support local businesses and we should do more of that. Thank you.