Swampscott OKs green articles

SWAMPSCOTT – The special Town Meeting, which got under way Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Swampscott High School auditorium, went green.The special Town Meeting warrant had 10 articles, several of which are routine and are included on all Town Meeting warrants and those were all passed unanimously with no discussion.The special Town Meeting was called primarily to address four articles the town needed to pass so it could continue pursuing a Green community designation from the state.Articles four through seven were all related to zoning changes the town needed to adopt in order to receive the Green Community designation and zoning changes required a two-thirds majority vote to pass.Tara Gallagher, who is on the Renewable Energy Committee, explained there is a set of five criteria the town must meet by Nov. 19 in order to become a Green Community and the town has already met for of them. She said the four warrant articles are the final piece of the puzzle and would allow the town to meet the requirement for as of right siting for renewable energy research and development facilities in the industrial zone in town.Gallagher said if the town passes the articles and becomes a Green community, she expects it would be eligible for at least $136,000 in energy grants.She explained the four articles are very similar to what was passed at the annual Town meeting but wording had to be changed so the town could move forward with the Green Community process.Planning Board Chairman Patrick Jones explained as of right siting simply means if a proposed facility met the zoning requirements, it would not have to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals for a special permit. All four articles were passed with little or no discussion.Article 8 on the warrant was also a zoning article but was not one that was related to the Green Community designation. Attorney Carl Goodman of Marblehead, who drafted the article on behalf of Dr. Ronald Plotka, explained there are several business in town that are located in residential districts and predate the existing zoning bylaws.”It’s just a historic accident,” Goodman said. “That this (property) is not zoned business.”Jones said the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend passage of the article at Town Meeting. He explained when the zoning bylaws were reviewed and revised a couple of years ago, the section addressing non-conforming existing signs in a residential district was not revised.”This allows businesses that are grandfathered in to replace signs,” he said.The article, which was passed, gives the Zoning Board of Appeals explicit authority to grant special permits for commercial signs in residential districts in town. Plotka, who has been in business in town for more than 40 years, has been battling with the town for more than a year over signage restrictions.