Swampscott board rekindling Master Plan

SWAMPSCOTT – Members of the planning board voiced support for developing a work plan to identify and complete the unfinished steps from previous community-development initiatives, starting with plans to revitalize Humphrey Street.”We’re trying to look at and come up with a work plan – a master plan of the (2004) Master Plan, if you will,” explained Planning Board Chair Patrick Jones in the board’s meeting Monday night. “A lot of work has been done? but we need to come up with a game plan to really get through” the recommendations.Jones said that Swampscott’s planning efforts have been marked by fits and starts in the past. The town completed a master Community Development Plan in 2004. A subcommittee extended on this effort by focusing on recommendations to improve Humphrey Street, presenting their report in 2007.Two years later, a committee revised the zoning bylaws. Meanwhile other town committees were working on specific projects such as building the high school, or deciding what to do with Temple Israel. But in almost every case, Jones said that the committees “got maybe halfway there” in implementing all of their recommendations.”I’m proposing picking up where (previous efforts) left off,” Jones explained. He recommended that the board begin their efforts by focusing on Humphrey Street and Swampscott’s downtown, which he identified as essentially “bookended” by Phillips Park and the site of the new police station and the commuter rail station.He added that it was an appropriate time to investigate these issues with the development of the police station, plans to develop condos on Humphrey Street and on Burrill Street, and the inclusion of a town planner position in the 2012 budget. (The town planner position was cut in 2007 after only two years).He said the board will begin by updating a matrix designed by member Angela Ippolito, which identifies the areas to be addressed, community goals for these areas, steps on how to accomplish these goals, and measurable outcomes that demonstrate the goals have been accomplished. To do this work, he said that the committee will recommend forming subcommittees focused on addressing specific areas of town.He offered no timeline for accomplishments but said that the committee would have to increase the frequency of its monthly meetings to accomplish this effort in addition to their review of petitions submitted for site plan reviews.Member Sylvia Belkin was enthusiastic about the proposal.”We need as a board and a community to be proactive,” she said. “If we could get community input, it could be a really dynamic process? I think it’s the most exciting idea in a long time.”