A crackdown on shopping carts, a potential windfall on marijuana taxes, and funding for Old Southworth Library restoration plans are among the items Town Meeting voters will take up at the June Town Meeting.

At its May 6 meeting, members went through the Town Meeting agenda line-by-line, voting to recommend articles and finalized the list of items voters will be asked to approve. All but two items on the agenda were voted favorably by the Select Board.

Abandoned shopping carts littering Route 6 have long angered the Select Board, which was the motivation behind a shopping cart abandonment bylaw.

Last year, after watching Route 6 become what Select Board member Shawn McDonald described as “a pigsty” due in part to abandoned shopping carts, the Select Board ordered the Department of Public Works to begin collecting and holding the offending carts.

As of last check, the DPW is holding 70 shopping carts at the DPW yard. McDonald said 75 percent of them are from Walmart.

“We have one business that just doesn't seem to care about losing their shopping carts,” McDonald said.

Efforts to talk to Walmart’s manager about the issue have not yielded a solution, prompting the board to propose fining offending businesses. The bylaw would require all shopping carts to be labeled by its owner, and establish a $100 fine if the shopping carts are confiscated by the DPW. If the shopping cart are not collected in ten days, the town could sell it for scrap.

“I am sick and tired of driving up Route 6, trying to drive in one lane because I have a rolling cart down Route 6 from Walgreens,” McDonald said.

Voters will also decide on several community preservation projects, including a proposal to spend nearly $90,000 in community preservation funds on planning and design for a historic restoration of the Old Southworth Library. The Finance Committee had voted to not recommend the article’s passage.

“The conversation was tricky because people have been out and have seen the work the cultural organization is doing,” said Finance Committee Chair Teresa Hamm “They’re doing some good work out there.”

Hamm said the Finance Committee had concerns with investing in a property that had been recommended to be sold at one point, and worried that there were no further estimates on just how much money the overall project will cost.

The historic 404 Elm Street property is owned by the town. Its previous long-term tenant, Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, vacated in 2015 to move into its new headquarters on Chase Road. An initial proposal to sell the property that year was voted down. A newly formed non-profit arts center was granted a lease to the property last year, and opened last October.

The Select Board voted 3-2 to not recommend passage of the article, and a separate article regarding historic preservation funding tied into it.

The board did vote to recommend passage of two other community preservation projects. One would preserve Dike Creek. Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, Buzzards Bay Coalition, and the town's Conservation Commission are working together to protect 121 acres of land along the creek. The other would continue a program to help first-time homebuyers buy a home in Dartmouth.

Another article on the agenda, which the Select Board unanimously voted to recommend, would impose a three percent local tax on marijuana products sold in town. Three percent is the maximum tax rate local communities can impose. This would be in addition to state taxes.

In the town’s capital plan, which contains big-ticket projects, Memorial Stadium could gain nearly 70 new parking spots under a plan to build a new parking lot. The lot would be located on a field behind the stadium.

Select Board member David Tatelbaum said he also hopes to meet with neighbors in the area to include them in the process of addressing parking in and around the stadium, especially along side streets.

There is also a citizens’ petition zoning bylaw article on the agenda. The petition, forwarded by a project developer who plans to build a prototype Dunkin Donuts on Faunce Corner Road near the medical offices with multiple drive-thru windows, would seek to eliminate a ban on drive-thrus in the office industrial zoning district.

The Planning Board had voted 2-2-1 to recommend the article, effectively voting against it. The Select Board recommended its passage with a 3-0-2 vote.

Remaining articles, including the town’s $88.7 million fiscal year 2020 budget, various housekeeping items, and the full capital plan were also recommended by the Select Board to pass at Town Meeting.

The Spring Town Meeting will be held on June 4, 9 a.m. at Dartmouth Middle School. Town Meeting Members may vote on each article item. The meeting is open to the public to observe.