By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – As 2023 got underway, a January Special Town Meeting drew 1,325 to vote on a plan to build a new $274 million Wakefield Memorial High School. The meeting start time was delayed by 45 minutes to allow late arrivers to check in and be seated, but in the end 1,231 voted in favor of the plan with just 42 opposed.
Earlier in the month, 1958 Wakefield High School graduate and award-winning author of “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” Russell Banks died at age 82 in Sarasota Springs, New York.
Firefighters had to spend almost three hours and used 20,000 gallons of water on Jan. 19 to extinguish an electric car fire on Route 128 in Wakefield after the Tesla’s lithium-ion battery went into “thermal runaway.”
The first significant winter storm of the season hit Wakefield on Jan. 23.
In February, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a 36-unit 40B affordable housing project on a North Avenue site just north of the Knights of Columbus building. An earlier proposal for this site had called for three two-family homes. But at Town Meeting in 2020, anti-development forces defeated a minor zoning change that was needed to allow the three duplexes. The developers then came back with the proposal for a 40B project with 36 units in one large building.
In March, Jon Pinkney was named publisher of the Wakefield Daily Item, succeeding longtime publisher Glenn Dolbeare, who retired.
At a March 11 Special Election, voters overwhelmingly supported a plan to build a new Wakefield Memorial High School.
Also in March, ground was broken on the construction of a new First Baptist Church. The old church at the corner of Common and Lafayette streets was destroyed by fire in 2018.
After a heated debate at its March 27 meeting, the Town Council approved a request from the Wakefield Human Rights Commission to fly the Pride Flag and the Juneteenth Flag at the Americal Civic Center during the month of June.
The April Town Election saw the reelection of Town Councilors Edward Dombroski and Mehreen Butt. Pete Davis was elected to the School Committee and former School Committee chairman Kevin Piskadlo was returned to the board by voters.
Also in April, the Wakefield Post Office announced that all functions except for the front desk retail operations would be moved to Woburn.
In May, the Albion Cultural Exchange Committee was disbanded amid concerns over the management of the ACE Center on Albion Street and fundraising practices employed by the ACE Committee. The town has since moved the ACE Center toward a form of management similar to the Americal Civic Center, which is managed by a town employee as opposed to a committee.
A four-alarm fire caused serious damage to a building at 340 Main St. in the downtown business district on Sunday afternoon, May 14. Firefighters from multiple surrounding towns battled the blaze at Charlie’s on Main, a popular pizza restaurant. The building was home to two businesses, Charlie’s on Main and Dough Boys. The second and third floors contained two apartments. Four residents displaced by the fire received aid from the American Red Cross. There were no injuries to building occupants, although two dogs reportedly perished in the fire. One cat was rescued by firefighters.
The Annual Town Meeting in May voted to approve a Fiscal Year 2024 town budget of $121.5 million.
In May, the renovation and expansion of the Public Safety Building was completed. Most of the work was done on the police side of the building.
On May 30, after seven months of public hearings, the Conservation Commission voted unanimously to deny Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School’s Notice of Intent for the construction of a new $317 million-school in a wooded area off Hemlock Road that is owned by the school district. In its denial decision, the ConCom stated its belief that the project could not be conditioned to meet the requirements of the Wetlands Protection Act.
Environmental activists hailed the ConCom decision, maintaining that the area proposed for the new school is a “core habitat” for various wildlife species.
Northeast Metro Tech immediately appealed the ConCom’s denial decision to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Wakefield Memorial High School graduation exercises were held on Saturday, June 3, during a cold, misty and blustery commencement ceremony at Landrigan Field. Nearly 200 seniors and their families were full of pomp and circumstance even as they sat in weather more suited to early April than early June.
The Wakefield Center Neighborhood Association continued a long tradition with its annual Festival by the Lake on Saturday, June 10.
On June 12, the Town Council rejected a request from the Veterans Advisory Board asking that for one day only, on Flag Day (June 14), only the American Flag and the POW-MIA flag be flown from town-owned flag poles. The Pride and Juneteenth flags fly at the Americal Civic Center during June.
The vote was 4-2 rejecting the veterans’ request, with Town Councilors Michael McLane, Mehreen Butt, Julie Smith Galvin and Jonathan Chines opposing the veterans. Supporting the Veterans Advisory Board were Councilors Edward Dombroski and Robert Vincent.
[Tomorrow: Part 2 of our 2023 Year in Review.]