Three issues face Swampscott Special Town Meeting
Jun. 12—SWAMPSCOTT — Tuesday night will be a Town Meeting years in the making, with the purchase of open space properties and a housing overlay zone on the agenda.
Elected representatives throughout the seaside town's six precincts will come together at a Special Town Meeting Tuesday June 14 to consider just three articles on the warrant. But for Sean Fitzgerald, five years of work as town administrator are coming to fruition, he explained.
"The nuts and bolts of this really have to do with the town's financial position," Fitzgerald said. "We've never had a stronger financial position. We've been building the town's financial position to help Swampscott really identify the goals of the master plan, meet those goals, make the investments, preserve open space, and balance the financial priorities in the town."
The first article seeks to buy about 9 acres of open space on Archer Street, and the Hawthorne by the Sea property at 149 to 169 Humphrey St. for a combined $8.875 million.
The Hawthorne by the Sea property juts out from the eastern end of King's Beach, giving the town a golden opportunity to secure a scenic piece of property for future public use.
"Swampscott people are voting with their feet. They want to move to Swampscott. They want to build in Swampscott," Fitzgerald said, "and we don't want to see Swampscott lose another iconic piece of our waterfront. Swampscott's history and connection to the maritime history of Massachusetts is extraordinary, and that property can help us celebrate that."
The push for the open space is to give residents an invaluable space to unwind and escape in nature, according to Fitzgerald.
"Go walk through a park or sit by the ocean and try not to feel better. It's almost impossible," Fitzgerald said. "There's something about open space that's medicine to a healthy community, and Swampscott doesn't have enough of it. We're essentially built out and have just so few limited areas that are left, and they're tiny."
The purchases are easier to manage at this time after five years of efforts to improve the town's financial situation. After a decade of climbing tax bills, the average single-family tax bill has continuously fallen since 2018, according to Fitzgerald.
The second article will rezone Swampscott's portion of a proposed Glover Multifamily Overlay District at Vinnin Square. The proposal targets the General Glover House, a famed New England restaurant that closed in the 1990s and has been targeted by Swampscott leaders as a blighted property for some time.
"That property straddles Marblehead, little pieces of Salem, and the most significant piece is in Swampscott," Fitzgerald said. "This new zoning would allow just multifamily. It would build 96 units in Swampscott, (and the project would build) 44 units in Marblehead."
The third article tackles several dozen capital improvement projects totaling $4.3 million. They include requests for a $250,000 infusion into cemetery cleanup efforts, $715,000 for seawall repairs and $465,000 for street paving.
"We're in a position to catch up," Fitzgerald said of the street paving, which was more than doubled by the Capital Improvement Committee beyond Fitzgerald's initial request of $215,000. "When we have a few more dollars, we can actually build those roads up and really help ensure we're meeting the empirical standards for road preservation."
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
