Marblehead board names alternative member

MARBLEHEAD – The Planning Board has a safety valve for those occasions when an elected board member cannot be present for zoning issue deliberations.Three board members and four members of the Board of Selectmen named 20-year litigation Attorney Russell Beck as an alternate member of the board last week, on a 5-2 vote. He will serve through 2012.Beck, who has also served as town counsel for several towns on Martha’s Vineyard, was one of two applicants for the alternate seat. Local real estate Attorney Donald Rousseau also applied.On Oct. 8 both men were candidates for a seat on the Zoning Board of Appeals with David Tubridy. Selectmen, who appoint the appeals board members, chose Tubridy but Beck and Rousseau each got a vote and were encouraged to try again.Both candidates were asked their opinion of Chapter 40R, the so-called Smart Growth law that Marblehead is becoming involved with, and both were favorable.Rousseau saw it as a way to protect Marblehead. Beck called it "a wonderful approach to zoning."All three of the Planning Board members – James Bishop, Kurt James and Edward Nilsson – supported Beck on the first poll and they were joined by Selectmen Judy Jacobi and Jackie Belf-Becker. Selectmen James Nye and Harry Christensen supported Rousseau.