Candidates vow more outreach to neighbors

SWAMPSCOTT – All three of the Board of Selectmen candidates vying for the two seats on the board agreed that Swampscott residents felt ignored by current and past board members.Naomi Dreeben, Laura Spathanas and Raymond Patalano, chairman of the town?s Capital Improvements Committee, sat down to an audience of about 40 people at Swampscott High School Wednesday for the annual Candidate?s Night, which allowed the candidates to share their positions on town topics before the election on Tuesday, April 29.Development, high property taxes and minimal open space in Swampscott had all three candidates expressing a need for town boards to reach out to community members and especially neighbors of proposed projects. Patalano said the town was too used to “trying to get the yes before we get to how,” especially concerning the proposed district-wide elementary school for Forest Avenue and the neighbors? concerns for school traffic. Patalano said in order to reach agreeable terms with neighbors, first the town needed to develop a traffic mitigation plan. “I would work with the neighborhood as a member of the Board of Selectmen to make sure that?s done before we break ground,” said Patalano.Dreeben said she supported the new elementary school in the hope that it would raise property values, but she agreed that many would balk at the high cost of a debt exclusion unless they were involved with the process from the beginning. “I would like neighbors to be surveyed for their input,” she said.Spathanas said the town should “learn from the Greenwood property” – referring to the proposed condominium site in which the town lost to neighbors in a suit over spot zoning – when she said the town needed to be more transparent in its process.When asked what their ideas were for the vacant Machon Elementary School property, the candidates were split in their opinions.Spathanas said while she wanted to “open it up to what is best for whole town,” she thought with the cost of an elementary school in the future, the site should be used for development to gain revenue to lower taxes.Patalano, who admitted being a neighbor of the site, said it should be used for open space, which could raise home values. “I understand we need tax revenue, but I?m not willing to sell our souls for it,” he said.Dreeben said no action should be taken with any vacant property in town until a plan could be drawn up on how to handle them as a group, so that way the town could balance the need for open space with the need for revenue. “I would like to look at the big picture before making the decision.”The three candidates are vying for the two seats that will be vacated by current Chairman Jill Sullivan and Vice Chairman Barry Greenfield.