At the annual town meeting on May 13, Hanover residents passed a petition Article 23 that advised the Selectboard to prohibit Hanover Police from entering into agreements that would allow the department to be trained and deputized as immigration officers. Earlier in the day, residents voted to amend its zoning ordinances to allow for duplexes to be built on each unit in town.
190 people attended the meeting, where townspeople also passed all other 21 articles, which included amending town documents to include gender-neutral language and allowing virtual participation in Selectboard meetings.
Residents pass petition against ICE program, amending “sanctuary city” status
The article calls on the town manager and police chief to not enter into agreements with ICE’s 287(g) program, which allows ICE to train and delegate duties to designated local police officers.
The petition amends the Welcoming Ordinance, a set of standards that makes Hanover a “sanctuary city” — where municipal laws protect undocumented immigrants despite federal immigration law.
According to the petition, critics of the 287(g) program have raised concerns about the program’s “civil rights abuses” since its launch in 2006. 287(g) “has long been criticised for perpetuating and legalizing racial profiling,” the petition reads. “Studies have shown that towns with 287(g) agreements spend more money on less effective policing.”
Many residents voiced support of the petition at the meeting.
One resident said 287(g) agreements “can only serve to create increased fear and distress with police in general.” She said the proposed petition “reassure[s] the community that Hanover police are here to protect everyone.”
Hanover resident Deborah Nelson said Immigration Customs Enforcement is “behaving with horrifying impunity” and urged the audience to take the “opportunity to make a statement.”
Susan Holcomb, who lives at the Kendal Retirement Community in town, agreed that “it is time to make a statement” because Kendal employees who are immigrants are “fearful.”
“This [petition] is a way of saying to our workers that we stand behind them,” Holcomb said.
Hanover resident Kesaya Noda, who identified herself as Japanese American, said the petition was “imperative” because “silence equals assent.”
“Every single member of my family was put in a prison camp during World War II,” she said. “These are really extreme times so it is imperative that we not imply assent … We really have to say ‘no.’”
In the secret ballot vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. the same day, residents cast 1,296 ballots for elected officials and zoning measures. Election results were tabulated and announced halfway through the meeting.
Zoning amendment called a ‘game changer’
The town passed Article 2 which amended the zoning ordinance to allow for duplexes to be built on all units, which may increase the housing supply, bringing costs down. The town also passed Article 3, which builds nonprofit workforce housing for town employees.
Both articles passed by wide margins, with Article 2 passing 702-375 and Article 3 passing by 748-525. In a written statement to The Dartmouth, Gerson called the zoning amendments a “game changer for making Hanover a town affordable for people of all economic means.”
“While I didn’t win my race for Selectboard, I’m honored that our campaign brought enough supporters to vote at more than double the margin that this essential zoning amendment passed by,” Gerson wrote.
Hanover resident and former vice chair of the Hanover Bike Walk committee Nicolás Macri ’24 agreed that Articles 2 and 3 will make it more affordable to live in town, where the average home price is $1.1 million.
“There’s two ways to build housing,” Macri said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “You can either sprawl into nature, farms and cut down the ecologically-integrated, continuous forests. Or you can use the land that the town has already developed.”
Some townspeople opposed Articles 2 and 3, including Randy Mudge who said during the meeting that he is concerned the new zoning amendments will create too much density.
“You can’t concentrate everything in one small area of the town,” he said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “I know people who came [to Hanover] from [higher density neighborhoods] because they didn’t want the traffic.”
Incumbent Rassias wins reelection for selectboard, budget passes
The town re-elected incumbent Athos Rassias to Selectboard. Evan Gerson ’27 received 259 votes and Rassias received 916. Gerson — the vice chair of Hanover Bike Walk committee — campaigned on increasing housing density and improving the walkability and bikeability of Hanover.
At the business meeting, the town vocally passed a $32.9 million budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, which included appropriations for ambulances and improvements to parking, roads and the wastewater treatment plant. The municipal tax rate increased from $4.64 to $4.77 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The town also passed three other petition articles.
The first was to advise making Selectboard meetings accessible for virtual participation. The second was to mend town documents to include gender neutral language — including changing “selectmen” to “Selectboard” in some town ordinances and the town charter. Most town documents already use inclusive language, according to Macri. The transition will be done by “in-house staff at a reasonable timeframe,” Houseman said at the meeting.
Finally, a petition article against expanding tax-payer responsibility for vouchers to send students to private schools also passed.
According to town manager Rob Houseman, federal law stipulates that budget measures and petitions are voted on at the meeting to allow residents to “stand up and submit amendments,” whereas electing officials and zoning ordinance amendments are decided by secret ballot. All petitions brought this year were advisory, and not binding, which means it is not a legal requirement.
To get on the Town Warrant, petitions with 25 or more signatures are presented to the Selectboard, who gives it to the relevant committee for a public hearing. This process occurs three to four months before the meeting.
