SWAMPSCOTT ― Any action or discussion on a controversial development on Elm Place, off Paradise Road, is a long way off.
The Zoning Board of Appeals met via Zoom Tuesday night, and the first item on the agenda was to be devoted to the development. However, it was strictly administrative, according to Land Use Coordinator Marissa Meaney. The board has engaged in a peer-review process ahead of the official hearing, which opens Nov. 30.
Chairman Marc Kornitsky made a motion to allow for further peer review for public works and utility studies, if needed, pending the opinion of Public Works Director Gino Cresta.
There will be three meetings with the Planning Board, on Nov. 4, 8 and 15 with various town officials ahead of the Nov. 30 hearing.
The plan, which would be managed by Winn Development, requests a Chapter 40B comprehensive special permit for the construction of a 120-unit, mixed-income apartment building.
With the decks cleared of the Elm Place project, members of the board devoted a considerable portion of Tuesday’s meeting to a proposal to turn a vacant bank building in Vinnin Square into a full-service branch of the Chase Bank. Though Kornitsky said that he wished that there could be other uses for the building, and that he felt the town had enough banks ― especially in the Vinnin Square area ― he didn’t think there was enough justification for the board to turn the proposal down. He also said he felt that this might be a better issue for Town Meeting to tackle.
“The advantages to the town have to outweigh the drawbacks,” member Daniel Doherty said. “That’s really the question. This board has to determine that having this bank in there gives benefits to the town that outweigh the adverse effects.”
Others thought that the plans for the bank, including a sidewalk that would front the building, were at odds with the proposed master plan.
I don’t see a mechanism to saying no,” said member Anthony Paprocki. “Clearly there is an economic benefit, and a community benefit. For me, I can’t get there to see it’s adverse enough to refuse.”
After lengthy discussion, the board passed the proposal, 4-1.
Also discussed was a proposed parking lot for the medical staff at Family Doctors at 250 Paradise Road. Attorney Kenneth Shutzer said that the long-standing plan calls not only for doctors’ parking ― which would free up spaces on both sides of the facility for patients, thereby providing relief to abutters who see patients park in front of their houses ― but extensive landscaping as well.
“This type of landscaping is the same type that we use around our parking lots,” said Dr. Peter Barker of Family Doctors. “We get a lot of nice comments about it.
The site is an old Sunoco station on Paradise Road.
After questions about the landscaping and other issues, the board voted to continue the hearing until the Nov. 16 meeting. Kornitsky assured Barker that, in the meantime, medical staff can park at the facility.
