Swampscott selectmen focus on tax revenue

SWAMPSCOTT – Selectmen focused on future tax revenue for the town-owned Temple Israel and Greenwood Avenue School properties, selecting the two redevelopment proposals for the sites that offered the highest bids for each property.”One thing we hear more than any other thing is why are our taxes so high and we need more revenue for the town,” said Matthew Strauss, the Chair of the Board of Selectmen, Thursday.The town received two proposals each for redeveloping the town-owned Temple Israel site and the former school on Greenwood Avenue in their second round of requesting proposals for the sites.Town Building Oversight Committee Chair Martin Grasso told the selectmen at their Wednesday evening meeting that the committee had evaluated and scored the proposals and recommended three options – two for the Greenwood Avenue site and one for the Temple Israel site – for the board’s approval.Most of the discussion at the meeting centered around the competing proposals for the Greenwood Avenue school site.Stratford Capital Group proposed an “adaptive reuse” that converts the circa-1895 school building into 41 one- and two-bedroom affordable apartments for residents 55 and older.Groom Construction Company submitted a proposal for the same number of market-rate rental housing units, but called for demolishing the school.Several members of the historical commission voiced support for the Stratford proposal, arguing that the town was losing its historical heritage and any opportunities for preservation should be embraced.But the anticipated tax revenue from the sites were very different – $26,000 for the Stratford Capital proposal and $157,000 for the Groom proposal, according to Grasso.”The revenue to be generated was just so much lower than Groom for one thing ?” Selectman Jill Sullivan said Thursday.She also noted that the Groom proposal “literally conformed in every single solitary particular to the [planned development district – special zoning for the site that, if a developer conforms to, allows expedited permitting]. “They got what the town wanted and said, we’re going to give that to them.”The proposal selectmen endorsed for the Temple Israel site, however, could require a more lengthy zoning process.Charring Cross development plans to construct 19 single-family, three-bedroom detached homes that range from 1,950 to 2,300-square feet in a “village-type” development, according to firm president Phil Singleton. Grasso said the homes would be “starter” homes, which Singleton added was “much needed and not found” in Swampscott and the area.Singleton didn’t say what the homes would sell for.Singleton bid $2.2 million for the Temple site.The proposal will require some zoning variances, but several selectmen agreed with Singleton and Grasso when they felt that the proposal would be more compatible with the nearby neighbors than the other proposal – a single, building containing 64 units of affordable senior housing. That proposal was made by B’Nai B’rith Housing New England.”I really like the village concept of the Charring Cross proposal,” Sullivan said. “The individual homes look charming and like they’ll fit in with the neighborhood.”