Swampscott OKs school study cash, Temple zoning

SWAMPSCOTT – Town Meeting members voted unanimously to approve both the funding for the School Building Committee?s feasibility study and the amendment to the zoning by-law for the Temple Israel property.Both articles passed well beyond a two-thirds majority vote needed, with only a few hands raised in the opposition at the meeting in the Swampscott High School auditorium Monday evening.The article for the feasibility and schematic design study created a brief moment of drama when member Martin Goldman asked for a motion to table the article until the Town Meeting in May because the School Building Committee hadn?t gone before the Capital Improvements Committee.Goldman accused the School Committee as having “tunnel vision” for thinking school building issues were more important than others, such as the town being able to pay for drainage and flooding issues. “There may be other capital issues that we should know about,” said Goldman. “We shouldn?t rush into this. We will have money down the road.”Goldman?s thoughts gained momentum when they were seconded, but Chairman Joe Crimmins told voting members that the town needed to respond favorably by Nov. 7 in order to stay in the program. Finance Committee Chairman Michael McClung told members that their taxes would not be effected by the $500,000 for the study, but added that the question of whether it would effect funds for other town issues like drainage was for a future Town Meeting body to decide.With the $500,000 approved, the study will go forward. Crimmins said Swampscott will stay in the “highly competitive program” where the state can reimburse the town for almost half the price of a new school. Crimmins went as far as to offer an estimated cost of a new elementary school of $25 million, though he said the study will give a more exact number.The Temple Israel property was successfully voted to be re-zoned from a 42 mid-rise condominium down to 14 single-family lots.Neighbor Charles Donoghue?s opposition to the proposal because he said it would “drive down the property value of the direct abutters,” was shot down by Selectman Jill Sullivan when she reminded members of the five years the Temple Israel proposal had been in and out of meetings. “This hasn?t been a quick process,” she said. “It?s really time to get going on revitalizing that property.”Kait Taylor may be reached at [email protected].