SWAMPSCOTT — Town Meeting members from all six precincts — 324 in total — will vote to deny or enact 32 articles on the town’s largest warrant since 2019 at Town Meeting Monday night at Swampscott High School.
Town Meeting members will decide on a number of proposed changes, from the construction of a boutique hotel at the Hadley School site, to the purchase and development of veteran housing on Pine Street, and the adoption of zoning changes to allow multi-family residential development in Vinnin Square.
Since his election in 2016, Town Moderator Michael McClung has been in charge of conducting and mediating Town Meeting. With a number of large development projects and rezoning proposals on the table, McClung said he suspects there will be “some powerful debate” this year.
McClung held a series of informational sessions Monday through Saturday last week to answer the public’s questions on Town Meeting articles. He said those who attended seemed primarily focused on big-ticket projects such as the Hadley School development, which would create an overlay district on the former Hadley School site to allow for the construction of a 60-room boutique hotel with at least 20 parking spaces.
“You have the one-off articles — projects that we’ve never had before we will likely never have again. I’d say that’s where people are most focused. We want to make sure people understand the articles in principle,” McClung said.
McClung said Articles 10 and 11, which authorize the town to purchase a housing development from 12-24 Pine St. and use the land for affordable veteran’s housing and the construction of a new VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 1240 are expected to draw public focus and debate. He added that Article 13, which extends the Select Board’s right to determine temporary uses for the town’s Hawthorne-by-the-Sea property until 2025, was a frequently-discussed issue during the informational sessions.
This year’s warrant includes five zoning articles, two of which — Articles 17 and 20 — relate to housing.
Article 17 amends zoning bylaws to allow for the creation and by-right of use of accessory dwelling units (ACUs) in single-family homes. If approved, the by-law change would allow homeowners to convert rooms, sheds, or other appendices into separate units, as long as they are up-to-code and share an entrance with the primary home.
Article 20 would amend Swampscott’s zoning laws to allow mixed-use development and multifamily housing containing more than eight units in the B4 district surrounding Vinnin Square. The proposed article would help the town gain compliance with the state’s Section 3A housing-development mandate while also paving the way for mixed commercial-residential development in the area.
“This is probably the largest set of zoning appendices we’ve had in years, so we’re definitely asking Town Meeting members to do their homework and understand what they’re voting on,” McClung said.
McClung said he looks forward to moderating Monday night’s meeting, and is grateful to see the town gather in-person again for a second consecutive year.
“It’s a pleasure to be able to help the town I grew up in — to help do something that will have an impact on myself and my neighbors,” McClung said. “Last May was our first time back in person — I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but it went just fine. Now, we’re still back in-person and I’m excited about it.”
