Swampscott ZBA approves project for Cap’n Jack’s site

SWAMPSCOTT – The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a 15-unit, approximately 30,000 square-foot condominium project to replace Cap’n Jack’s Inn in a meeting heated with accusations of “extortion” concerning an impact mitigation fee for the approval and issues raised about improper procedure that could lead to an appeal.”I’m really upset with what is extortion,” said attorney William DiMento, who was representing another client at a later hearing. “This town is worth millions of dollars, we don’t need $50,000 from a developer to have our reputation sullied in the commonwealth.”Developers including Bruce Paradise Construction and Barry Turkanis proposed replacing the three buildings on Humphrey Street that make up Cap’n Jack’s Inn with a single building containing 16 condominiums. The designs have been modified several times in response to concerns about the proposal’s size and scale, but discussion Wednesday focused on which members could vote on the proposal.At their July meeting, board Chair Marc Kornitsky constituted a board to vote on the proposal that consisted of himself, board members Peter Spellios and Daniel Doherty, and associate board members Andrew Rose and Douglas Dubin. Board member Harry Pass – who, along with Doherty, registered opposition – was disqualified, Kornitsky said, because he had missed a meeting on the matter.The vote was delayed to the next meeting, however, because of the complexity of the motion.Wednesday night, Pass asked Kornitsky to reconstitute the board with himself as a voting member. He said that state law specifies that a regular board member “shall be allowed to vote,” if he had missed no more than one meeting and certified that he had listened to the recorded discussion. Without him as a voting member, any vote could be open to appeal, he said.Kornitsky and Spellios objected to insinuations that the board was constituted to essentially approve the project and argued that reconstituting the board on Wednesday could also lead to an appeal.Kornitsky caused further debate by proposing that the developers pay the town $50,000 for an unspecified improvement on Humphrey Street as a condition of approval.Rose first mentioned the word “extortion” when he said he was “taken aback” by that request. Paradise ended the debate by saying he would “be glad to donate” the money, use of which would be determined by a committee. The board as constituted in July approved the proposal 4 to 1.