SAUGUS — In a letter submitted to the Board of Selectmen last week, Precinct 2 Town Meeting member Joe Vecchione called on the board and Town Manager Scott Crabtree to implement a variety of measures to address the traffic, traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and congestion issues facing Cliftondale Square.
Vecchione’s letter, which the board read into the record Tuesday, is prompted at least in part by the failure of the Cliftondale Zoning Overlay proposal he put forward, which would have permitted new housing in the area and implemented a variety of other measures aimed at revitalization. The former chair of the Cliftondale Revitalization Committee, Vecchione said he intends to step away from politics this November when his term concludes, but urged the board members as the town’s traffic commissioners and Crabtree to continue to make Cliftondale a priority, as they have indicated it is.
The letter lists 11 steps Vecchione would like to see the town undertake in the coming weeks, months, and years, including replacing the “decrepit and inaccessible” bus enclosure adjacent to Jackson Street, creating a signage plan, replacing outdated and damaged signing, installing new timed parking signs on Lincoln Avenue, and petitioning the state legislature to acquire additional flashing crossing beacons in the square.
“Zoning was and is one piece to a bigger picture, and while it may take a bit for some of you to see the big picture, let’s not just make the revitalization of Cliftondale a political talking point come November,” the letter reads. “Get something done.”
Vecchione’s letter prompted much discussion from the board, with members appearing split on the overlay proposal itself and expressing dueling opinions on the way forward.
Selectman Michael Serino, one of the chief opponents of Vecchione’s proposal, seemed to bristle at the notion that the board was responsible for solving the traffic issues in Cliftondale. He said it was his belief the town should rely on experts for traffic problems beyond the installation of no-parking signs or stop signs.
He also said at least four Town Meeting members voted the wrong way on the issue, voting no while thinking their vote was opposing the proposal. But because the Planning Board recommended against Town Meeting approval of the overlay, the motion on the floor was to reject the article, making a no vote a vote in favor of the overlay.
Vice Chairman Debra Panetta recalled her experience serving on the Charter Commission more than a decade ago, when she and the other eight members poured hours upon hours into the document only to see it fail before the voters, comparing that to the fate of the overlay. But, she said, Town Meeting took the “best ideas” out of the document that commission produced and incorporated them into the town’s charter.
“That’s what I see happening here,” she said. “There’s a lot of good information and we can use this framework to move forward.”
Corinne Riley, who read the entirety of Vecchione’s four-page letter at the start of the meeting, said the town should have a timeline under which many of the suggestions put forth by Vecchione can be implemented.
The lone member of the board not to speak on the overlay at Town Meeting, Jeff Cicolini, said he understood some of the concerns raised by residents and Town Meeting members, but indicated he would have voted to support the proposal.
“This was a tough call,” said Cicolini, who was born and raised in the square. “I know growing up in Cliftondale in the ’70s and going down there today, it’s sadly different.”
Cicolini said he hoped Vecchione’s proposal would not fall away because of its failure at Town Meeting, adding he wanted to see some aspects of the overlay “massaged” so it could secure the required supermajority vote of Town Meeting.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Anthony Cogliano, who backed Vecchione’s proposal throughout the runup to Town Meeting and on the floor, said the town “didn’t do the right thing” by voting down the proposal and indicated he would revive it in some fashion for the coming year.
“This in my eyes was a major defeat for the town of Saugus,” he said. “I won’t let this fall by the wayside.”
Crabtree also addressed the proposal for the first time publicly and, while he shied away from taking a specific stance, expressed the difficulty of pushing through change in Saugus.
“Saugus has sort of a unique style of how the sausage is made here,” he said. “Hopefully everyone can keep thinking about it because I think everybody in their heart that’s grown up here or even lives here now wants something to try to help revitalize it.”
“All this stuff is an experiment, we did the rezoning on Route 1 … everybody has a different opinion,” he added. “When you put a zoning together, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
