SWAMPSCOTT — Town Meeting members gave the green light to allowing the town to directly set 20-miles-per-hour safety zones without state review and approval on Tuesday night, six months after voters chose not to approve the measure.
The approval to allow the town to establish 20-mph safety zones comes a year after the town lowered its speed limit to 25 mph.
Town Meeting members voted 137 to 79, after a standing vote, to accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 90 Section 18B, allowing the Board of Selectmen to “establish safety zones with a speed limit of 20 miles per hour on, at or near any way in the town that is not a state highway, and if a state highway, with the approval of the Department of Transportation.”
Last November, the motion to approve the article was defeated, 111-84, after a standing vote.
Officials said last fall the safety zones would be where there is the most pedestrian traffic, with the change aimed at improving pedestrian safety.
Ronald Mendes, town treasurer and assistant town administrator, said the town has received many requests over the years to reduce the speed limit to 20 mph in some particular neighborhoods, including Nason Road, Puritan Road and Stetson Avenue.
He said the requests typically come from neighborhoods with residents concerned about the safety where they live.
Mendes said safety zones don’t replace school zones — they augment them. The safety zones would only apply to streets adjacent to land that is likely to attract pedestrians, or parts of town where there is heavy pedestrian traffic, especially children, seniors and families with young children. That could include streets near parks, playgrounds, senior housing and centers and daycares.
“I support it wholeheartedly,” said Police Chief Ronald Madigan. “I think that pedestrian safety is paramount in this town … I really think that it makes sense to have this tool in our toolbox when it comes to trying to make changes to calm traffic in areas that need to be addressed, primarily as a result of serious pedestrian accidents that we’ve seen over the years.”
Not everyone was in favor of the change.
Stephen Iannaccone, a Town Meeting member, said the same request was turned down in the fall because the 25 mph speed limit for the town had just been enacted, which is a relatively slow speed for most areas that need it.
He said he didn’t understand why Town Meeting members were voting for the measure again so soon after it was defeated.
“I really feel like even a 30 mph speed limit is not being regulated,” said Town Meeting member Gail Rosenberg. “I think the problem that we have is one of enforcement … The way to get people to slow down is to enforce the speed limits we have.”
But Madigan said the speed limit in town is enforced — last year, he said the police department wrote 1,650 speeding citations.
Also aimed at improving pedestrian safety, Town Meeting members opted to allow the town to establish a sidewalk snow removal bylaw.
Cheryl Barker, a Swampscott resident, had filed a citizen’s petition that proposed the town adopt the bylaw, which will require property owners to clear snow and ice from their sidewalks following a storm.
Residential property owners will be required to clear snow within the 24 hours that it has fallen and within 12 hours for non-residential, or commercial property owners and/or tenants, according to the Town Meeting warrant.
Violators would be given a written warning for the first offense and subsequently fined $50 for each additional offense.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said Town Meeting members also opted to approve a minor amendment to the bylaw, which would provide a waiver for the disabled. The waiver ensures that the bylaw will not penalize people who are unable to clear their sidewalks because of physical limitations.
