SWAMPSCOTT — Months after Town Meeting voted to rezone portions of Vinnin Square to allow multi-family housing and mixed-use development in the spring, town officials seek public input in determining the kinds of developments to allow in the commercial district.
Feedback garnered from a community meeting in the Swampscott High School cafeteria at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29 will help the Planning Board and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) create design guidelines to regulate and direct the architectural, landscape, and pedestrian considerations for the redevelopment project.
The Vinnin Square rezoning article passed by a vote of 152-13 following a lengthy discussion and a proposed amendment for indefinite postponement at Town Meeting in May. The article’s proponents, including Select Board members Peter Spellios and David Grishman, and Planning Board Chair Angela Ippolito, presented the rezoning project as an avenue for commercial tax-base growth and housing expansion.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that the town of Swampscott can either grow its commercial and its residential tax base and spread the tax burdens across a greater population and with a greater value of commercial and residential properties, or it will simply have to heavily tax those who remain in town to address our numerous needs,” Grishman said at Town Meeting.
At the May meeting, Ippolito said the town planned to work with the parcel’s current owner, Andrew Rose, to design an outdoor mall-like space in Vinnin Square containing mixed-use complexes comprising retail ground floors and 250 housing units. She said the rezoning would increase annual revenue earned from the area from roughly $1.62 million to $2.2 million.
Proponents of the redevelopment project also argued that by rezoning the commercial district to allow multi-family housing, the town would be closer to compliance under Section 3A — a state law requiring communities in close proximity to MBTA stations to develop multi-family housing.
“We simply cannot choose to not comply with the 3A law,” Grishman said. “We have to be and we should be proactive.”
Those interested in finding out more about the process are invited to contact the MAPC at 617-933-0760 or [email protected].
