SWAMPSCOTT — When Town Meeting opens Monday night, members will be asked to approve a $750,000 feasibility study for a new consolidated elementary school, a ban on plastic bags and an appeal process for the demolition delay bylaw.
Town Meeting convenes at 7:15 p.m. at Swampscott High School.
School feasibility study
The study is for a new consolidated K-5 elementary school, which would replace the town’s three neighborhood elementary schools.
The school district was accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program in December for replacement of Hadley Elementary School, which was built in 1911.
Superintendent Pamela Angelakis later submitted statements of interest for the district’s other elementary schools, Clarke and Stanley, which were built in 1952 and 1929 respectively.
Site determination for the new school would come as part of the study. Once the study is completed, architects would be hired to design the building and Town Meeting would have to approve funding for the school. Officials plan to ask for that funding in either the fall of 2019 or spring of 2020. A ballot vote would also be needed.
Several years ago, Town Meeting members approved a $500,000 feasibility study for a district-wide elementary school that was rejected in 2014.
Appeal to Demolition Delay Bylaw
Another item that should prompt debate is an amendment, that if approved, would add an appeals process to the the town’s demolition bylaw.
The bylaw change would allow developers to appeal a demolition delay imposed by the Historical Commission to the Board of Selectmen.
The recommendation for the appeal comes in the wake of the Historical Commission’s decision to place a nine-month demolition delay on White Court, the former Marian Court College, which halted a development team’s plans to build 18 oceanfront condominiums on the property.
The development team said the delay may have taken away their incentive to save the property, and recreate it as a replica. It once served as the summer White House of Calvin Coolidge
Ban on Plastic Bags
A new bylaw, if adopted, which would ban plastic bags. Shoppers, including at grocery stores, would have to bring their own reusable bags into the store if they don’t want paper bags.
Officials said the ban reflects the town’s concern about the environmental impacts of plastic bags on the seacoast and habitat areas. Plastics have been getting into the ocean after floating up into the atmosphere and washing out into the water.
State Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead), who has championed legislation for the last six years on Beacon Hill to ban plastic bags statewide, said oceans are straining from the amount of plastic being dumped into them, which also harms marine life.
The town’s neighbors on both sides, Marblehead and Salem, have passed bans on plastic bags.
Sidewalk Snow Removal Bylaw
A citizen’s petition asks that Town Meeting adopt a sidewalk snow removal bylaw.
Cheryl Barker, a Swampscott resident, proposes that the town adopt the bylaw, which would require property owners to clear snow and ice from their sidewalks following a storm.
Officials say the bylaw is intended to improve pedestrian safety.
Residential property owners would be required to clear snow within the 24 hours that it has fallen. Commercial property owners and/or tenants would be required to remove snow within 12 hours, according to the Town Meeting warrant.
Violators would be given a written warning for the first offense and then subsequently fined up to $350 per winter season.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said officials may want to have some waivers and programs put in place, which would help ensure the bylaw, if adopted, wouldn’t penalize people who are unable to clear their sidewalks because of physical limitations.
Three zoning changes
One proposed change is aimed at reducing the number of housing units allowed in two residential neighborhoods.
The zoning change, which proposes creating a new residential district, would affect 118 properties and reduce the potential of further density in two neighborhoods: the Winnepisekitt Hill neighborhood, which includes King Street and Rockland Street, a portion of Highland Street and a portion of Redington Street; and the Fisherman’s Beach neighborhood, which runs from the Fish House on Puritan Road down to Sandy Beach, which are all properties on the waterfront of Puritan Road and in the middle of Sculpin Way, according to Peter Kane, director of community development.
Those two neighborhoods are currently zoned as part of the A-3 residential district, which allows for up to eight housing units per parcel. The properties in those two neighborhoods would be retained as part of the new A-3 district, but the change would be that the district would only allow multi-family properties up to three units.
The allowed uses for the new A-4 district would be the same as the current A-3 district, with multi-family developments allowed up to eight units. The rest of A-3 zoned properties would become part of the new A-4 district.
Another zoning change, which calls for the creation of a new commercial B-4 district, is meant to encourage further development in Vinnin Square.
The article seeks to rezone the commercial properties in the Vinnin Square area that have frontage on Essex Street/Loring Avenue. The proposed new district would have modified dimensional regulations that would encourage mixed-use and multi-family development that relates better to the street and de-emphasizes large parking lots.
The change would encompass six properties in the Vinnin Square area that are currently commercially zoned as B-3 properties, which are located on Essex Street, including the Stop & Shop; Loring Avenue and Paradise Road. Those properties would be recognized as the new B-4 district.
Kane said the intention is to encourage additional housing unit development, which is an initiative of the governor. He said officials want focused development and are modifying dimensional elements to allow for additional housing units.
He said the change also ensures existing commercial properties aren’t demolished and completely replaced by residential units — if developers wanted to demolish a commercial property and put in residential units, they would have to replicate the same amount of commercial square footage with the new property.
A third zoning change could bring a hotel or inn to the historic downtown.
Last May, Town Meeting approved a new Tourist Lodging Overlay District, which was meant to encourage the development of hotels, motels, inns and bed & breakfast establishments and make Swampscott more of a tourist destination again. Part of the zoning change included revising the regulations and definitions of those tourist lodging establishments.
Town Meeting members will be asked to extend those uses within the historic downtown. The overlay district includes Humphrey Street, considered the historic downtown, from the Monument all the way east almost to Commonwealth Avenue. It also includes properties on Blaney Street and Blaney Circle.
If the zoning change is approved, hotels, inns and bed & breakfast establishments would be allowed anywhere in the Humphrey Street Overlay District by special permit. Motels would not be allowed on residential properties in the overlay district, but would be allowed on commercial properties by special permit.
There is currently only one bed & breakfast in town, which is on Humphrey Street, and there are no hotels, motels or inns.
Town Budget and Recommended Capital Projects Appropriation
As far as large financial figures, Town Meeting members will be asked to approve a $67.13 million budget.
Also up for possible approval is $4.018 million in capital projects, which includes a $25,000 study which would plan for smart growth in the train station neighborhood and $2.16 million for the ongoing Stacey Brook Sewer Rehab project, which is meant to clean up sewage discharging onto King’s Beach from Stacey Brook.
The four-phase sewer rehab project, which began last year, is projected to cost, when adjusted for inflation, $10.7 million over eight years.
Town Meeting members, who first approved a $2 million appropriation for the project in November 2016, will be asked to approve approximately $2 million every other year.
Town Meeting is expected to continue into Tuesday night.
