PEABODY — The City Council held off on Casco Road decisions, after returning from its six-week recess on Thursday.
This came after a discussion regarding the legal implications laid out by the City of Lynn’s assistant city solicitor to Peabody’s City Solicitor, Attorney Don Conn.
Prior to its recess, at its meeting on July 11, the council voted unanimously to amend, draft and advertise a section of the city ordinance to prohibit vehicles from making a left turn from Lynnfield Street onto Casco Road and from Casco Road onto Lynnfield Street.
More recently, Mayor Ted Bettencourt presented the city’s plans for addressing the traffic concerns at the Lynnfield Select Board meeting on Monday. Seven residents of Tree Top Lane, representing four of the five houses on the street, attended the meeting and spoke about the traffic concerns and the safety of the 11 children who live in their neighborhood.
Councilor Anne Manning-Martin asked Councilor Craig Welton, who attended the Lynnfield Select Board meeting with Bettencourt and Conn, if Conn had provided an interpretation of the letter from Lynn’s assistant city solicitor.
Councilor Thomas Rossignoll, chair of the Legal Affairs Committee, said he spoke with Conn regarding the matter.
Rossignoll said Conn did not want to provide any written communication to the council without the council holding a public hearing to discuss the ordinance change.
“The reason why we’re doing this is for public safety,” he said. “Whether we end up in litigation or not is really up to Lynn and their interpretation of what we’re trying to do.”
“I’m glad that this council moved forward and I think we should continue to move forward,” Manning-Martin said.
Bettencourt said, “it would be a terrible mistake and a disservice to the citizens,” to have the city solicitor speak on this issue without first holding a public hearing and an executive session for the council.
The council did not vote on the ordinance change and agreed to schedule a public hearing, which will be scheduled at a later date, to allow residents from Peabody and neighboring communities to discuss it.
