Planning Board hopefuls stress town involvement

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott voters will have a choice for the open seat for Planning Board in this year?s election, and they were able to meet the two candidates at an open forum Wednesday.Clinton Bench, a professional planner from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and Bill Travascio, a 21-year-old student and Town Meeting member, both felt that the community needs to be more involved in the planning process in Swampscott.Travascio said if he were elected, he would want to share information with the town and give them more access to the board. “A lot of people don?t know what the Planning Board does,” said Travascio. “By putting someone like me on the Planning Board, I would clear it up a little bit.”Travascio also said the board should be “more accessible” to the Town Planner and reasoned that the current schedule of once-monthly meetings was not enough to provide the planner support. “I would want to be more available ? to fix issues as quickly as they arrive,” he said.Travascio said he wanted to prevent the “animosity” felt over the former Temple Israel?s housing project by listening to what neighbors want. “It affects them more than anybody else in the town, and you can?t disagree with that,” he said to moderator Joseph Markarian.Bench agreed that residents seemed to “be on the short end of the stick” when it came to past developments, like the Concordia. “But it doesn?t have to be that way,” he said.Bench said by encouraging residents to be engaged on a master plan for the town, development would reflect the vision of the people who live there. “Planning can make a difference, but plans can only go so far if it?s not engaging the people that you serve,” said Bench. “More dialogue means a better future for this town.”Travascio said a big problem in Swampscott was providing more places for younger residents to go in town. Referring to the recent incident in which more than 50 students were arrested for underage drinking in town, Travascio said there would be less underage drinking if there was a community center for them to go to.Bench said the number one problem was a financial constraint in creating the vision that residents want, but he said he would use his experience to bring in grant writers.?It?s a tough time for the Planning Board and for the town. We?re at a transformative place,” said Bench.The town election is on Tuesday, April 29.