Swampscott Town Meeting denies zoning restrictions article, preserving historic property

SWAMPSCOTT – When Town Meeting convened on Monday evening, it had a new town moderator for the first time in more than a decade.Newly elected Town Moderator Joseph Markarian gave a brief history of the importance of town meetings and urged Town Meeting members to “be engaged, be thoughtful and be informed.”After hearing the reports of town committees, an article allowing the town to select a cellular telephone provider to erect light poles containing internal array antennas was passed with no discussion from the floor.An article that if passed would have loosened zoning restrictions for the former middle school on Greenwood Avenue was defeated after a passionate discussion.The article asked Town Meeting to remove the requirement currently in place that any developer purchasing the property must retain and preserve the 1895 portion of the building. Selectman Jill Sullivan explained the article was put on the warrant because removing the restriction could make the parcel more attractive to developers.Town Meeting member Angela Ippolito spoke against allowing developers to tear down the oldest portion of the former middle school, which she said is a landmark in town.”It’s integral to the character of the neighborhood,” she said. “Once it’s gone it’s gone.”Sylvia Belkin, who is a newly elected member of the Planning Board, spoke about the importance of adaptive reuse of historic properties and said tearing down the 1895 portion of the school would do a disservice to residents. The overwhelming majority of residents voted against allowing the building to be torn down so the portion failed by a wide margin.Town meeting voted to adopt a stretch energy code, which is more stringent than the state building code requirements. Neal Duffy, who is on the town Renewable Energy Committee, said the new energy code would increase the initial costs associated with new construction and renovation projects, but would save money in the long run.Town Meeting also approved bonding almost $1 million to make town buildings more energy efficient. Renewable Energy Committee Chairman Tara Gallagher said the town is guaranteed to recoup the costs of the improvements through energy savings.Town Meeting voted to join a new vocational technical school district, which would be a merger of the North Shore Technical High School, Essex Aggie and Peabody Vocational High School. The new school is expected to cost $132 million and it required a Town Meeting vote to join because Swampscott would be required to assume a percentage of the costs associated with construction of the school.Capital improvement articles totaling $1.8 million were passed with little discussion. Town Meeting approved funds for paving projects, asbestos abatement, school technology, a police cruiser and fire alarm replacement.One of the last articles was the annual budget, which was also passed.