2005-01-18
Regular Meeting of Beverly City Council 8:00 PM January 18, 2005
Roll Call
: Councilors Present: John J. Burke, Ronald Costa, William Coughlin, Timothy Flaherty, Patricia
Grimes, Kevin Hobin, Donald Martin, Maureen Troubetaris, Paul Guanci . Councilor Burke arrived at 8:08 PM
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
: Led by Councilor Troubetaris
Appointments:
Mayor’s State of the City Mid Term Address
#17
STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - 2005
It is a pleasure to be here tonight to deliver the State of the City Address.
I wish to say I feel very privileged to be starting my 10 year as Mayor of our fine city. During that time and with much help from the City
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Council and from many of you in the community, we have overcome significant challenges, but as I stand before you tonight, we face several new
issues which will require our hard work and cooperation.
As you know I have been back on the job for a year, and tonight I intend to look to the past as well as to the future. First looking way
back to when I began in 1994, Beverly faced a huge deficit of $8.5 Million and a junk bond rating. No school had been renovated in the previous 30
years; our parks, playgrounds and our Common were dust bowls. Every time it rained many hundreds of homes flooded. For sale signs were
everywhere. Today the deficit is long gone; our bond rating has been increased 7 times to investment grade. Our Beverly Common is a thing of
beauty; we brag about our parks and playgrounds. Our six elementary schools are state of the art and flooding for many hundreds of families is a
thing of the past. We can all be justifiably proud.
Despite our many accomplishments, we are faced with new challenges. Today our High School is on probation for physical facility
deficiencies. None of our city unions whose members make up 98% of our employees is under a current contract. Our teachers have been out of
contract for more than a year while city side employees have been out of contract for over two years. In addition, our police station is totally
antiquated and our fire stations are not located so as to provide reasonable response times to all locations within the City.
Despite progress in controlling future medical costs while preserving excellent coverage for nearly 1,000 municipal retirees and their
spouses, the cost of our active employee coverage which extends to over 2,000 people, including dependents, remains out of control with 90% of all
costs generally borne by the City. These problems all demand and are receiving our attention.
Finding the money to deal with the problems I have just mentioned becomes an important task. It is important to understand where the
City gets its money and how these sources of funds grow.
Overall our annual budget for 2005 is about $83 million. We are required by law to match budgeted expenditures with anticipated
revenues. As we go through the budget process each year, department heads submit an expenditure budget for their department that reflects his or
her expected costs to deliver appropriate services to the community. To those departmental requests, we must add the costs for state assessments,
vocational school education for our children, employee and retiree benefits including pensions and health insurance and debt service among others.
Accumulating the proposed expenditure information is the easy part each year. What seems to be increasingly difficult in the nine years
that I have presented annual budgets to the Council is identifying the anticipated revenues that will be available to the City and then fitting the
expenditure requests within that available revenue.
By far the largest revenue source is real estate and personal property taxes. Tax revenues for 2005 were budgeted at approximately
$58 million or 70% of total anticipated revenues. By law, the City can only raise its annual base tax levy by 2.5% each year. Taxes assessed on
individual properties may change by more or less than 2.5% in each year, but it is indeed the law that the total base tax levy on all existing residential
and business properties cannot increase by more than 2.5%. While we have been fortunate that thoughtful planned development has contributed
healthy increases to the tax levy through “new growth” during most of my years as mayor, it is still a fact that growth in our most significant revenue
source is constrained by law. (As an aside, we will soon do a Cable TV show regarding real estate assessments and taxation featuring the Chief
Assessor and the Finance Director. I believe there are many questions, which we can help to answer during this session.)
The second largest source of revenue to the City is State Aid, which is expected to amount to $14.8 million, or 18% of the budget in
2005. These are funds distributed to all the cities and towns in the Commonwealth according to various formulas established by the Legislature.
These distributions are funded by your State income taxes and from Lottery revenues. It is no secret that the single biggest budgetary problem
facing municipalities in the past few years has been the reduction in State Aid levels. In Beverly alone, we have seen a $2.7 million reduction in
State Aid from 2003 to 2005.
The balance of the City’s annual revenues come from automobile and boat excises and departmental revenues based on fees for
services neither of which are subject to rapid growth.
Knowing that revenues can only grow slowly, it becomes readily apparent that expenses can only grow slowly also. When we add to
this the fact that salaries are our largest expense, it is obvious that there are limitations on the size of salary increases possible for our employees.
I would like now to turn the discussion to some key accomplishments in 2004. I see it as a year in which City government was quiet, yet
productive.
?With the help of the City Council, we rezoned the Edwards School and as a result increased its value by more than a half million
dollars. The former zoning would only have allowed 16 residential units to be built. These would have been too large to be readily marketable.
Now, there will be 28 units (some of them set aside as affordable) with sufficient off-site parking and landscaping to complement the neighborhood.
Over $100,000 in new tax revenue will be realized annually from the site once redevelopment is completed. The City officially sold the building to
Symes Development last week for $1.8 million and renovation work is already underway. We expect the Edwards School project, along with
redevelopment of the former Pisani’s Market site will serve as a catalyst for positive redevelopment of that part of Rantoul Street. Tina Cassidy’s
work on the rezoning and the RFP was outstanding.
?We finally brought an end to the litigation on the golf course and were able to increase the amount of money that will flow to the City
from its operation. The City’s annual revenue from the golf course operation has increased nearly tenfold as a direct result of our efforts, from
$70,000 per year in 1997 to over $600,000 in 2005.
The hard work of John Dunn and Roy Gelineau in bringing closure to this issue is much appreciated.
?We passed legislation to help control future medical costs and ensure that all retirees are treated equally in terms of medical coverage.
In adopting M.G.L.
Chapter 32, Section 18, the City avoided a major annual liability of as much as $1.5 million in future years while continuing to provide high quality
medical coverage to all retirees.
?We did get Ladder One and its crew back into continuous service during the winter months when conditions for fighting a fire are at
their worst. Thus, at this moment we have two fire vehicles with ladders in service. We will shortly be accepting bids for a new fire engine to replace
our oldest one.
?We did restore the library book budget to an acceptable level, and I will soon put to the City Council a request for an appropriation from
the Reserve for Unforeseen Account which when combined with funds promised from private donations will guarantee that Beverly’s libraries will be
certified for calendar 2006. This action will restore our citizens’ privileges in surrounding cities and towns. I will add that so long as I am Mayor, we
will find a way to fund the library sufficiently each year to retain certification.
?With limited City funds and donations of money and materials from several sources, we markedly improved the appearance and
condition of the North Beverly Fire Station. New doors, windows and a bathroom were added, interior improvements were made and the exterior
masonry restored and the building painted. Mr. Henry Swanson, the owner of Henry’s Market, deserves a special thank you for paying for the cost of
painting the building. Thanks too to Lee Tapper of Home Décor Work for donating the paint and to the contractors and Public Services Department
personnel for their hard work.
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?71 Beverly High School seniors were awarded full-tuition scholarships at the Massachusetts state university of their choice, based on
their superior performance on MCAS tests. Isn’t that great! Congratulations to the students, the parents, the teachers and the school administration.
?The City made progress on a number of construction projects in 2004 including a new water line on Lothrop Street, a sanitary sewer
line on Boyles Street and Cross Lane, the Chubbs Brook Drainage Project, and the sanitary sewer extension to the Manchester line. A detailed
review of these projects in terms of cost, percentage completion, expected time to complete, etc. will be made to the City Council in February.
?We completed in 2004 the Beverly Farms Library project. It is a tribute to the community that $1,000,000 was donated by private
citizens to this project. We also received significant voluntary financial contributions to the City from Endicott College and Northeast Health Systems,
which as you may know, is the parent company of Beverly Hospital.
?In 2000 we began a five-year program to install state of the art, externally readable water meters in every building in the City and
completed that project ahead of schedule last year. That action, along with adoption of a strong leak detection program, allowed the City to reduce
its share of the total output of the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board to 42%. That is down from more than 50% a few years ago.
Let me turn our attention to the upcoming year and highlight a number of projects and issues we will be undertaking in 2005:
?Reconstruction of the Route 128/Brimbal Avenue interchange: In cooperation with the State, the City is developing plans to
reconstruct this interchange by reconfiguring the current highway ramping system, adding an overpass to the north side of Route 128, and making
improvements to a stretch of Brimbal Avenue. The project will alleviate traffic on local roads by providing direct access and egress to the commercial
portion of Dunham Road from Route 128. It will reduce accidents, cut traffic congestion and fuel consumption by reducing time spent in long lines of
traffic and improve air quality. I see this project as being similar to the Airport Industrial Road project of the 1990’s in that it is a project with benefits
for nearly everyone in the community. This major transportation project will be funded entirely with State and Federal money.
We will soon be broadcasting an informational show on local cable explaining the project and the on-going planning process in greater
detail. 2005 will be a year of study, planning, analyses, and responding to public questions and issues related to the design of this project.
?Waterfront: After several false starts over the past few years, the City will be issuing in the next few months a new Request for
Proposals for its waterfront parcels. The RFP will encourage a better, more productive and more enjoyable use of the City’s waterfront assets
consistent with the conclusions of the Master Plan adopted in 2003. The RFP will likely involve the long-term lease of the former McDonald’s
property and improvements to other city-owned sites in the immediate vicinity.
Additionally, the City has secured approximately $80,000 in grant funds through the Seaport Bond Council to design and construct
improvements to the City’s commercial boat facility at the waterfront. Part of this work will include an evaluation of the feasibility of creating
additional boat slips, which if completed would increase revenue to the City for reinvestment in the waterfront.
?Industrially zoned land at the airport: The City will be issuing a series of RFP’s for redevelopment of several lots near the airport.
Some of these parcels are on the new industrial road near the airport (Sam Fonzo Drive) and others are existing parcels on L.P. Henderson Road
owned by the airport. The prospective use of one site is as a skating facility that would be built by the private sector but which would provide low
cost ice time at preferential times of the day for Beverly citizens as well as youth and school programs. Other potential uses for these sites include
office, manufacturing and warehouse space.
?Storm drainage in North Beverly: We intend to bring a project forward that would improve storm drainage in a large area of North
Beverly along both sides of the train tracks to Newburyport. We hope to obtain funding assistance from the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) for the undertaking. With the Chase Street, Lawrence Brook, and soon Chubbs Brook flooding problems solved, the North Beverly
project becomes the priority infrastructure project as the worst unresolved flooding issue in the City affecting scores of families.
?Master Plan: The City formally adopted its new Master Plan in mid-2003. That document listed over 100 recommendations for zoning
changes, new ordinances and policies related to land use. A number of recommendations of the Master Plan have been addressed or are in
process through the adoption of City Ordinances to date. The pending proposal to adopt an Open Space Conservation Design Ordinance is but one
example. The work will continue throughout 2005, including major zoning revisions to the waterfront districts, the downtown and a new inclusionary
Housing Zoning Ordinance.
?Police Department Evaluation: During 2005 we will move forward steadily to implement the recommendations contained in the
recently completed study of the Police Department. Chief Cassola and his leadership team are currently establishing key goals and objectives. The
main thrust of the consultant’s report is to shift the department from being reactive to being pro-active. Part of the development of these goals
involves community outreach. An extensive survey is being developed to determine community attitudes toward the department and elicit
community recommendations on service level improvements. Endicott College is assisting us in the development of that survey, which we expect to
complete and distribute soon.
?Trash Fees and the Trash and Recycling Study Committee: As you know, the City implemented a one-year trash fee in July 2004 to
cover the increasing costs of trash collection and disposal. At the same time, I appointed a Study Committee to review the trash fee concept and
possible alternatives to it. The Committee has met regularly twice a month, investigating options and programs in place in other communities. It will
soon be releasing a community opinion survey and conducting public meetings to present the results of its work to date. Following that, the
Committee will formulate a recommendation for our collective consideration during the upcoming fiscal year 2006 budget deliberations. The decision
on whether the trash fee should continue or be replaced (in part or in whole) with a pay-as-you-throw, per-bag system will be made at that time.
?Employee Contract Negotiations: The City will continue its best efforts to negotiate a new contract with each of its municipal unions
early in 2005. More than twenty such negotiating meetings were held in 2004. You may know that we are currently engaged in a mediation process
with the teachers’ union, Beverly’s largest municipal union. Two mediation meetings have been held this month and more are scheduled. My
administration is committed to making every effort to reach contract resolution.
There can be no doubt that the proper education of our children is our most important obligation as a community. On that I believe we
all agree. And as mentioned earlier tonight, last fiscal year teachers went with no general increase. But that does not mean that teacher salaries
stood still. All those teachers below Step 11 in the progression chart receive automatic increases annually until they reach Step 11 in recognition of
experience gained each year in the classroom. And since all teachers are strongly encouraged to earn Master’s and Doctor’s Degrees, they also
receive automatic increases at predetermined steps along those paths. Indeed the Superintendent informs me that more than half a million dollars
was added to the payroll last year for such increases and another amount of more than half a million dollars is being added this year. These
amounts are entirely separate from any contract settlement.
The impact of these increases, of course, repeats annually. Resorting to asset sales which can only occur once to fund such annual
expenses makes no long-term sense. One simply runs out of assets. Yet for the past three years, that is the way the school budget has been
balanced, first by the sale of the Centerville and Ryal Side fire stations, then by sale of the Edwards School.
?Evaluation of municipal assets: The City has a number of building needs—high school improvements, a new police station, additional
playing fields and fire stations that are better sited to respond to every Beverly neighborhood effectively. Some buildings may have outlived their
useful life as a municipal asset, and the City must periodically evaluate its resources to respond to changing needs of the community, shifts in
population, the increasing age and utility of buildings, and a host of other factors. We did just that in 2004 with the Edwards School, and we will be
facing the same question this year with the McKay School and, perhaps, other facilities. I am pleased that the Facilities Committee is looking at
municipal facilities in an attempt to find excess assets to help fund the high school construction and renovation project.
With respect to the McKay School, we asked a professional architect specializing in public safety facilities to evaluate the feasibility of
renovating the school into a police station. His conclusion was that it would not be financially advantageous to convert the building for that purpose.
The likely future use of the McKay School is as condominiums. The McKay site should prove more valuable than the Edwards site, so that when
SBAB (School Board Assistance Bureau) assistance is factored in, the school sale and resulting tax revenues could cover about $10 million of the
high school renovation cost. I believe we should use a process similar to that employed for the Edwards School, including an RFP process to select
the successful bidder.
?High School construction and renovation: This is the most critical project facing the City at this time. How do we find a way to fund
this project when we are struggling to provide raises to our employees and cover the increasing costs of running the City? How do we deal with the
change in SBAB reimbursement rates that have occurred since we undertook the elementary school building program several years ago? Back
then, the SBAB reimbursement rate was $2 in State funds for every $1 of local funds; since then the rate has dropped twice and is now at a $1 to $1
rate.
One part of the answer is that, while I am very much against selling assets to fund annual expenses for the reasons I stated before, I am
willing to consider selling excess capital assets to fund capital improvements such as the high school project. A second part of the answer is the
expiration of the Tax Increment Financing Agreement between the City and Cummings Properties in June of 2006. The TIF has been enormously
successful in that it induced Cummings to maximize its investment on the site. As of July 1, 2006, all of Cummings’ facilities will be fully taxed at
their fully assessed values. That will bring significant new growth to the City which can only increase as the six-story building overlooking the pond is
fully built out and a new hotel is constructed on the site.
Thus, I intend to pursue the High School project in the following way: Later this quarter, I will approach the City Council requesting
approval to bond the development of detailed drawings and all preconstruction work for the new high school addition and
renovations. (This work has an estimated cost of approximately $3,600,000 and the borrowings will have an estimated annual cost to the City on an
interest only basis of $90,000 prior to the time of SBAB reimbursement.) I have received comfort from State officials regarding SBAB reimbursement
on the project even though the Council will be asked to approve monies for the two phases separately. While there are no guarantees, the new
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system for SBAB reimbursement gives very high priority to projects aimed at removing probationary status brought on because of physical facility
deficiencies.
We will then interview a series of architectural firms interested in designing the new academic wing. This process will lead to the
selection of a design architect for the project.
The design phase will take a number of months, and the length of the design phase will determine whether construction begins in June
2006 or June 2007. It is obviously very important to get the design right and to also base the school building size and design on carefully developed
student population projections.
It is too early to have a close estimate of the total cost of the project. It is also premature to predict interest rates at the time we would
need to borrow. Lastly, the new growth at Cummings Center will be driven by the pace of lease activity, which is not easily predictable. As we go
forward, these numbers will firm up, and we can determine if there is any gap between the cost of the project and our ability to fund it.
With this and other projects my objective is and has been to make each project a reality without resorting to overrides. In the year to
come I will pay close attention to solutions to close any financial gap which may exist without resorting to an override. Beyond the High School, we,
as you know, will need to address the Middle School and Police and Fire Station issues. While the funds to build these facilities are not yet in
sight, discussion of priority and location is appropriate. The citizen Facilities Committee will be considering these issues. The Capital Expenditure
Plan submitted annually will be modified to include discussion of projects reaching beyond the 5-year time horizon defined in the Charter.
As you know, I have been at this job for some time, and as you might suspect, one thing Mayors do is worry--Worry about what might go
wrong. A few years ago the worry that some poor unfortunate soul might freeze to death led to the creation of the first homeless shelter in Beverly,
and now we have River House.
Recently I have attended two seminars put on by District Attorney, Jon Blodgett who is worried about young people dying from drug
overdoses, and if he is worried, I am worried. The number of deaths from drug overdose has tripled in Massachusetts in the past four years. The
Mayors of Salem and Peabody are concerned about this problem which clearly knows no borders.
We have received an offer from Paul O’Shea, President of Health and Education Services, which is affiliated with Beverly Hospital, to
help establish a community-wide committee for substance abuse prevention. I intend to accept this offer. I believe we must shed as much light as
possible on this ugly subject and take all the steps in our power to help our youth deal with this issue. I know that I will have the full support of the
School Superintendent and the Police Chief in developing this group.
In closing let me first thank all the volunteers who serve on our Boards and Commissions, who number more than 200 active, interested
citizens. It is our volunteers who make Beverly special. The need for volunteers never ends, and I would welcome any of you who can to step
forward and offer your time. The best approach is to send me a letter expressing your interest and your background.
I would also like to thank the department heads, most of whom are here tonight for their hard and thoughtful work. They too have gone
without raises for a long time, but the effort they have put forth is exemplary.
It is clear we have come a long way, but there is more to be done. The City Council, the School Committee and I will work hard in the
upcoming year to move the City further forward.
Thank you.
Acceptance of Minutes of Previous Meeting:
Meeting of January 4, 2005
Communications from His Honor the Mayor
:
#18
January 14, 2005
The Honorable City Council
City Hall, 191 Cabot Street
Beverly, Massachusetts 01915
Dear Councilors:
Attached for your information is a copy of Beverly’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan that was recently submitted to the
Metropolitan Area Planning Council on the City’s behalf.
The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 required municipalities to adopt a Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan in order to
remain eligible for federal disaster mitigation funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The
attached plan was drafted for the City by its Engineering, Public Services, Health and Planning Departments with input
from Civil Defense Director Mark Foster and a host of other departmental representatives. It includes assessment of
risk levels and vulnerability and identification of hazards related to floods, wind, fire and geology, among other things.
The plan will be updated every five years to keep it current with Beverly’s needs. If you have any questions about the
plan in the meantime, please feel free to contact Roland Adams at 921-6000, extension 405.
Sincerely,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Public Services
#19
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby reappoint, subject to your review and recommendation, the following to serve as members of the Board of
Trustees of the Beverly Public Library:
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Mr. Neil B. Olson
133 Valley Street
Mr. Todd E. Balf
189 East Lothrop Street
Their terms to be effective until January 31, 2008.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Public Services
#20
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby reappoint, subject to your review and recommendation, the following to serve as members of the Parks and
Recreation Commission:
Mr. Mark Casey
16 Chapman Street
Ms. Patricia Adams
189 East Lothrop Street
Ms. Lauren Young
32 Lothrop Street
Their terms to be effective until December 31, 2007.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Public Services
#21
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby reappoint, subject to your review and recommendation, Mr. Stephen Pike, 291 Essex Street, Beverly, MA
01915, to serve as a member of the Cable Television Advisory Commission.
His term to be effective until January 31, 2008.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Public Services
#22
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby appoint, subject to your review and recommendation, the following to serve as members of the Emergency
Management Department:
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Drew Lyons, 33 School Street, Danvers, MA 01923
Jesse Mazzie, 1 Kent Street, Danvers, MA 01923
Tim Migneault, 22 High Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Attached is a communication from Mark Foster concerning these appointments.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Public Services
#23
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby appoint, subject to your review and recommendation, Mr. Scott Frank Lanes, 126 Shore Drive, Peabody, MA
01960 to serve as a Constable in the City of Beverly for the sole purpose of serving Civil Process.
Attached is his application which has been approved by Police Chief John Cassola.
Mr. Lanes’ term will be effective until February 1, 2008.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Legal Affairs
#24
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
I hereby reappoint, subject to your review and recommendation, Mr. James Danforth, 16 Wentworth Drive, Beverly, MA
01915, to serve as a Constable in the City of Beverly for the sole purpose of serving Civil Process.
Attached is his letter of application for reappointment which has been approved by Police Chief John Cassola.
Mr. Danforth’s term will be effective until February 1, 2008.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Legal Affairs
#2A
January 18, 2005
Honorable City Council
City Hall
Beverly, MA 01915
Dear Honorable Council:
You have before you my recently proposed appointment to the Beverly Salem Water Supply Board Advisory
Committee.
Our State Representative Mary Grant has proposed legislation on Beacon Hill calling for permanent voting members to
be added to the Water Supply Board. Thus far that legislation has not been passed.
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I am in full support of the legislation Representative Grant proposed but in the meanwhile pending its resolution, I
believe that the appointment before the Council to the Advisory Committee should go forward at your first opportunity.
A copy of the Water Board’s action to create the Advisory Committee is attached. Thank you for your prompt
consideration of this matter.
Very truly yours,
William F. Scanlon, Jr., Mayor
Refer to Receive and Place on File
Communications from other City Officers and Boards
#25
Dec. 23, 2004
Honorable City Council
191 Cabot St.
Beverly, MA 01915
RE: Street Acceptance for Tall Tree Drive Extension-Thomas Carnevale
Dear Members of the Council:
At the meeting of the Beverly Planning Board on December 21, 2004, members voted unanimously, on the recommendation of
the City’s Engineering Department, to accept the As-Built and Street Acceptance Plans for the above referenced subdivision.
Therefore, the Board recommends that Tall Tree Drive Extension be accepted.
Sincerely,
Richard Dinkin, Chairperson
Referred to Legal Affairs
#26A
January 18, 2005
Mr. Paul Guanci, President
Beverly City Council
City Hall, 191 Cabot Street
Beverly, MA 01915
RE: PROPOSED OPEN SPACE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN ORDINANCE
Dear Paul:
I would like to provide you with important information regarding the Council’s future action on the OSRD ordinance.
Two unusual things have happened with respect to this Order. First, the Planning Board left its segment of the public
hearing open after the Council closed its hearing (in the past, the two hearings have been closed simultaneously).
Second, the Legal Affairs and Accounts Committee broke with longstanding practice last week and voted to refer the
proposed ordinance back to the full Council without waiting for the conclusion of the Planning Board’s public hearing
and receipt of that body’s recommendation on the zoning change.
We need to carefully observe certain deadlines for action on this proposed zoning amendment, particularly in light of
the Committee’s vote to forward the matter back. Attached is a copy of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A,
Section 5 which spells out the process for considering and adopting zoning changes. The law requires two things that
councilors should note.
First, the City Council must act within 90 days of the close of its hearing, which occurred on January 4, 2005. Second,
the City Council cannot act on the proposal until at least twenty one days after the Planning Board’s public hearing is
closed. As you know, the Planning Board’s hearing on the OSRD ordinance was continued until this evening (January
18, 2005) and may in fact be continued again. There are many issues remaining to be discussed, as well as additional
public comment to consider on this ordinance. Given the comments heard to date, it is very likely that the Planning
Board will recommend at least some changes to the proposed ordinance.
The Planning and Development Department will keep track of the Planning Board’s deadline as well as the City
Council’s deadline for action to ensure that the Planning Board’s report is delivered as soon as it is completed and
within the appropriate time frames.
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Finally, and on behalf of the Planning Board, I would appreciate clarification of the City Council’s process for
considering zoning amendments in the future. Will the Legal Affairs and Accounts Committee no longer be making
recommendations on proposed zoning changes? Should future Planning Board recommendations be sent to the full
Council instead?
Please feel free to call me if you have any questions regarding this matter.
Respectfully,
Tina P. Cassidy, Director
Planning & Development Department
Receive and Place on File
Communications, Applications and Petitions:
#27
Application Class II MVDL-David St. Peter d/b/a USA Motor Cars
Refer to Legal Affairs
#28
Request permission to place 2 Storage PODS, 8X 16 Feet on City Property at 20 Wilson Street for a period of two weeks
during move.
Refer to Legal Affairs
Reports from Committees:
#8
The Committee on Finance and Property to whom was referred the matter of naming of Concession Stand at Hurd
Stadium have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption
Ordered: That the Beverly City Council and the School Committee, jointly name the concession stand at Hurd
Stadium the Robert McHugh Concession Stand, in tribute to Bob’s recruitment of volunteers to work and also
contribute building supplies and equipment free of charge.
With Bobs leadership, this concession stand with public facilities became a reality.
Order read once and Referred back to Committee 9-0 Vote back to committee
#10 04-360
The Committee on Finance and Property to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Commissioner of Trust
Funds-Ellen Dunn have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council Approve the Appointment
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
#1
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Airport Commission Paul Vitale and
Anthony Dettorre have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council approve the appointment
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
#11 04-204
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of Communication re BEVCAM broadcasting of
meetings have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption
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Ordered: That the City Council approve the budget presented by BEVCAM and further request that the Mayor provide
funding for this archival project.
Order read once and Adopted 9-0 Vote
#3
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Conservation Commission, Linda
Goodenough and William Squibb have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council approve the Appointments
Order read once and Adopted 9-0 Vote
#4
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Planning Board Donald Walter,
Joanne Dunn and John Thomson have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council approve the Appointments
Order read once and Adopted 9-0 Vote
#5
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Airport Commission-Leo White, Paul
Barnico, William Mahoney and Karen Nelson have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council approve the Appointments
Order read once and Adopted 9-0 Vote
#12
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of amended Ordinance – Administration ECDC
have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Submit the accompanying Ordinance and recommend its adoption
In the Year two thousand and four
An Ordinance amending an ordinance entitled Administration relative to ECDC
Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Beverly as follows:
Section 3-215 Economic and Community Development Council
(a) Composition
DELETE: eleven (11)
ADD: twelve (12)
1. DELETE: The Mayor, the chairman of the Industrial Development Financing Authority(or the
Chairman’s Designee), a representative of the Beverly Housing Authority, and a representative of the
Conservation Commission
2. DELETE: a member at large from the community, and member at large with
commercial experience
ADD: two members from the community and a representative of the
Chamber of Commerce
4. ADD: The Planning Board and the Conservation Commission shall amend to read May each elect
by a majority vote a member from its own number in an Ex Officio capacity
These changes to take effect as per charter provisions
Amendment passed 6-3 with Troubetaris, Coughlin and Costa voting against
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Order read once and held for final passage as per Charter Provisions 9-0 Vote
#28
The Committee on Legal Affairs to whom was referred the matter of request to place storage PODS on City Property
have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption:
Ordered: That James West be allowed to place two 8X 16 Foot storage PODS on City Property at 20 Wilson Street for
a period of two weeks, provided that they are property insured.
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
#13 04-275
The Committee on Public Services to whom was referred the matter of Request for live tree removal 11 Glidden Street
have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Submit the accompanying order and recommend its adoption
Ordered: That the City Council Approve the request for a Live Tree Removal at 11 Glidden Street. It is further ordered
that the removal be at the City’s expense.
Order read once and referred back to the Committee of the Whole 7-2 Vote Guanci & Flaherty Against
#2
The Committee on Public Services to whom was referred the matter of Appointment-Salem/Beverly Water Supply
Advisory Committee-Anthony Kline have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Recommend the Council approve the Appointment
For a one year term
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
#14
The Committee in the Whole to whom was referred the matter of request to invite Engineering to discuss the contract
with JRM have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Refer to Public Services
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
#15
The Committee in the Whole to whom was referred the matter of communication from K. Griffin relative to Comparison
of Beverly to other communities have considered said matter and beg leave to report as follows, to wit:
Refer to Finance and Property
Order read once and adopted 9-0 Vote
Unfinished Business:
#335 Ordinance Administration Board of Assessors of Taxes
Resolutions:
Motions and Orders:
#16
By Councilor John Burke
Ordered: That the Beverly City Council appoint Mr. Richard J. LaFave of 5 Highland Terrace as
the Council’s representative to the Beverly Parking and Traffic Commission, filling a vacancy to
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run coterminous with the Mayor’s appointee.
Refer to Legal Affairs
Meeting adjourned: 10:30 PM Frances A. Macdonald, CMC
City Clerk
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