By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Select Board closed the Fall Town Meeting warrant during last week’s meeting.
Fall Town Meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 14, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium. A quorum of 175 registered voters is needed for Fall Town Meeting to proceed.
The 13-article warrant is headlined by Article 8, which pertains to the $63.5 million public safety buildings and Town Hall project. The project entails constructing a new Fire Headquarters that would have four bays and would be three-stories next to the existing South Station. The project also involves renovating and expanding the Police Station, the current Fire Headquarters and Town Hall.
The Town Hall component of the project will make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by installing an elevator. A new meeting room will also be built in the Town Hall addition for municipal boards and community groups to use.
“This is the first of two steps,” said Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin. “This would require a two-thirds vote. If it prevails, there will be a Special Town Election on Dec. 6.”
Two articles pertaining to the Sagamore Spring Golf Club over-55 development project will be appearing as Articles 6 and 7 on the warrant. The Sagamore Spring Real Estate Trust and luxury development company Toll Brothers have come to terms on a purchase-and-sale agreement that would allow the firm to construct 66 detached two-bedroom homes as part of an over-55 development on 36 acres on the golf club’s eastern side that encompasses the driving range and adjacent undeveloped land near the first and second fairways. The proposed development would also include a clubhouse containing an outdoor swimming pool, fitness center and a common area for residents to use.
Under the proposed plan, the 18-hole golf course will be staying put.
The Select Board is sponsoring Article 6 on behalf of the trust. Article 6 seeks to update the Zoning Bylaw’s definition for an Elderly Housing (EH) District to allow detached units and amenities such as a clubhouse.
“Buildings which contain one or more dwelling units consisting of a room or suite of rooms, its own bath and toilet facilities and its own kitchen facility,” states the updated Elderly Housing Bylaw definition appearing as Article 6. “A building may also include central kitchen and dining facilities for providing meals to residents thereof and their guests but not to the public and may also provide lounge rooms and recreational facilities for the common use of residents and their guests. In one of such buildings, a unit may be included for occupancy by the manager of the project and his immediate family, one room of which may be used as an office, and except for the unit to be occupied and used as aforesaid by the manager, no unit in such building shall be occupied unless at least one person is 55 years of age or over. No housing for the elderly development shall contain more than 136 independent dwelling units. Children under the age of 18 years of age are prohibited from occupying or residing in any of the elderly housing dwelling units on a permanent basis.”
Sagamore Spring Real Estate Trustee Richard Luff submitted Article 7 as a citizens’ petition, which seeks to rezone the eastern side of the golf course from Residence D to Elderly Housing.
“Since these are zoning changes, a two-thirds vote will be required for passage,” said Curtin about Articles 6 and 7.
Curtin recalled that the Planning Board recommended that the order of the two Sagamore development articles be flipped. As a result, he said the EH Bylaw definition change will be appearing before the citizens’ petition submitted by Luff.
“The Planning Board made a good point that flipping the two zoning articles would make sure we did not open ourselves up to unwanted development,” said Curtin.
Select Board Chairman Phil Crawford said he agreed with the Planning Board’s recommendation.
Remaining warrant articles
Curtin gave an overview of the remaining 10 articles appearing on the Fall Town Meeting warrant.
Article 10 will ask Fall Town Meeting to approve the construction of the King Rail Reserve Golf Course clubhouse, which has been put on the back burner for the last several years. Crawford informed the Villager that the $900,000 project will be funded by a $500,000 donation that National Development gave the town a number of years ago for golf-related expenses as well as $400,000 from the Golf Enterprise Account.
Curtin called the clubhouse project a “reasonably affordable solution.”
“We previously had significant site costs in previous iterations of the project,” said Curtin. “We have moved the building and downsized it at a reasonable expense.”
Article 1 will request Fall Town Meeting to pay any overdue bills from a prior fiscal year. Article 2 will ask Town Meeting to vote to transfer funds to supplement certain accounts in the town’s current fiscal year 2023 operating budget.
Curtin said Article 2 will include a request to transfer $75,000 to the Select Board’s consulting account that would be used for design serves related to a Massachusetts Department of Transportation Complete Streets grant request that will seek to overhaul the Summer and Salem streets intersection.
“We didn’t contemplate moving so quickly on this because we thought the public safety buildings and Town Hall project would be done in phases,” said Curtin. “To get this project done, we need to pony the money up now to match the state’s funds. That is why we decided to move that forward.”
Curtin said Article 3 seeks to supplement the town’s FY23 capital budget. He said Article 3 will ask Fall Town Meeting to transfer funds from the Golf Enterprise Account’s retained earnings that would be used to finalize the purchases of a Groundmaster 4700 Rough Cut Mower and a Workman HDX-4WD vehicle for the town’s two golf courses.
“Town Meeting voted on these in the spring, but as most people know, the prices for vehicles have gone up,” said Curtin. “This will put money into those line items so the town can purchase those vehicles.”
Article 4 will ask Town Meeting to transfer available funds to upgrade the public safety fiber optic network.
“This is a match for a grant that the town is receiving,” said Curtin. “The grant is quite lucrative, but we have to appropriate a match.”
Curtin said Article 5 will request Fall Town Meeting to appropriate funds to repair and make improvements to Lynnfield High School’s septic treatment system.
“This is for an unforeseen circumstance,” said Curtin. “We need to make those repairs to that building sooner rather than later.”
Curtin said Article 9 will ask Fall Town Meeting to authorize the Select Board to enter into a lease agreement with the United States Postal Service for the rental of the Salem Street Post Office. He said the current lease expires in 2026. He said the town wants to develop a long-term lease with U.S. Postal Service before the public safety buildings project moves forward.
The Select Board submitted Article 11 on behalf of the Health Department.
“This would revise the General Bylaws regarding the Health Department in two ways,” said Curtin. “It would eliminate the section of the General Bylaws entitled Board of Health fees. Under state law, the Board of Health is empowered to create its own fee system. This would allow the Health Department not to come to Town Meeting every time it wants to introduce a new fees category as things come up. Sections B and C included in this article would wipe out old smoking bylaws that predate the state’s smoking in public buildings ban.”
The Planning Board submitted Article 12, which seeks to update the town’s Scenic Roads Bylaw.
“There are no substantive changes to this, but it does clear up a lot of ambiguities that came about after it was first passed,” said Curtin.
The Conservation Commission submitted Article 13. Planning and Conservation Director Emilie Cadematori said in an interview with the Villager that the warrant article will ask Fall Town Meeting to petition the State Legislature to approve changes to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act that would allow the Conservation Commission to have alternate members similar to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
“It’s done town by town,” said Cademartori. “The commission decided to submit the article because it isn’t fair to make an applicant wait. We are trying to better serve the public.”