Published in the October 18, 2017 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The American Legion will soon have its own space to call home.

On Monday, Town Meeting approved Article 13, which authorizes the Board of Selectmen to petition the state Legislature for special legislation so the town can convey the old South Library, 630 Salem St., to the Lynnfield American Legion for $1.

Local attorney Jason Kimball, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Iraq War, said the American Legion will be using the building in order to hold its meetings.

“The American Legion provides a home for our veterans,” said Kimball. “This building has been vacant for as long as I can remember. When I became the town’s veterans’ services officer, I remember meeting with a couple of American Legionnaires at Town Hall. I realized that if we were going to have a real American Legion that supports our veterans in town, we need to have a spot where we can meet to better serve our veterans in Lynnfield. This building is the perfect fit.”

Kimball said the American Legion will not be requesting a liquor license and the building will not be rented out to different organizations. He said the American Legion will be undertaking a fundraising campaign to repair the building.

Dick Shafner inquired how the American Legion would pay for the maintenance of the Old South Library building.

Kimball said, “We are not seeking any town funds here.”

“I am more than confident we will be able to raise funds for materials,” said Kimball. “As far as what the annual costs will be, we will have utilities and insurance assuming we meet the tax-exempt entity. I would say we would be able to raise $3,000 per year, which would help sustain it.”

Lynnfield Art Guild President Beth Aaronson, 7 Durham Dr., said she respects the American Legion and local veterans. However, she noted the LAG and other organizations are using the old South Library as a storage facility.

“We and other organizations such as Lynnfield Rotary and Lynnfield Rec are storing some of our important equipment in this building,” said Aaronson. “I would like all of the town to know that the town should be interested in supporting these cultural endeavors such as Rotary’s Summer Concerts by providing proper storage for all of us and not just removing this last piece of storage that we have relied on for a half dozen years, which we are grateful for.”

Selectman Dick Dalton said local officials have begun discussing the storage issue.

“We recognize the issue,” Dalton said. “That will be addressed in the near future.”

LAG member Kendall Inglese inquired if the town’s storage issues will be addressed in the revised Master Plan. Master Plan Committee Chairwoman Heather Sievers said storage was not included in the previous Master Plan, but said she will look into the matter as part of the process to update the plan.

“It sounds like it’s needed,” said Sievers.

Additional articles

In addition to Article 13, the following business was acted upon by Town Meeting.

Town Meeting was delayed by just over a half hour due to a lack of a quorum. After Town Meeting reached the 175 quorum requirement, Town Moderator Arthur Bourque gave an overview of how electronic voting works at Town Meeting. He also instructed residents to turn in their electronic clickers at the end of Town Meeting.

“It will not open your garage door,” Bourque joked.

Town Meeting approved Article 1, which will raise and appropriate $2,252.04 to pay overdue bills from fiscal year 2017.

Article 2 was passed by Town Meeting. Selectman Phil Crawford said Article 2 will raise and appropriate $50,000; transfer $322,500 from Free Cash; and transfer $82,920 from the existing FY’18 appropriation accounts in order to balance the FY’18 budget.

Town Meeting voted to indefinitely postpone Article 3, which would have allocated funds in order to construct a clubhouse and equipment storage building at the King Rail Reserve Golf Course.

“The town is continuing to work on reducing the cost of the proposed clubhouse and maintenance building at King Rail,” said Selectmen Chairman Chris Barrett.

Town Meeting approved Article 4, which will appropriate $25,000 from Free Cash for engineering and permitting work related to the Beaver Dam Brook culvert project.

Patrice Lane resident Pat Campbell inquired if the town purchased insurance as part of the project. She also inquired if the State Legislature approved a similar article that was passed at last year’s October Town Meeting.

“I am particularly concerned about the potential release of hazardous materials into Reedy Meadow and surrounding homes,” said Campbell.

Town Administrator Jim Boudreau said, “The legislation was not passed because the MBTA opposed it because it would indemnify the town for any environmental issues.”

“However, in a meeting with State Rep. Brad Jones and the MBTA, it was agreed that the town would do the engineering work and the MBTA will do the work,” said Boudreau. “The MBTA would be responsible for anything that happens down there. We just need to do the engineering.”

Town Meeting approved Article 5, which will allocate funds in order to purchase and equip a new ambulance for the Fire Department. Selectman Phil Crawford said the new ambulance would cost $257,000, which will be paid for by transferring $67,000 out of Free Cash and $190,000 from the EMS account’s retained earnings.

“The replacement of the town’s oldest ambulance was on the town’s capital plan for the April 2017 Town Meeting,” said Crawford. “It was not recommended at that time as there were not sufficient funds in the EMS account to pay for the new ambulance. With the closing of the 2017 fiscal year, we ended up with $239,000 in retained earnings in the EMS account. The recommendation is to take most of the funds needed from the EMS account without draining it completely and supplementing those funds with Free Cash. The plan is to pay the town back from the EMS account next year when retained earnings are recalculated.”

Town Meeting approved Article 6, which overhauled the town’s Personnel Bylaw. Personnel Board member Mike Griffin gave a brief overview of the bylaw’s proposed changes. He said the bylaw was reviewed and approved Town Counsel Tom Mullen, and was endorsed by the selectmen. He said the bylaw changes are in compliance with state and federal law.

“The Personnel Bylaw is the policies and procedures that the town uses for managing its employees not governed by collective bargaining agreement,” said Griffin. “Most town employees are, but this impacts about two dozen employees who are not in a collective bargaining agreement.”

Town Meeting approved Article 7, which was submitted by the Planning Board. Article 7 re-codified the town’s Zoning Bylaw by deleting sections 1-15 in the existing bylaw, which would be replaced by the re-codified bylaw.

“What we are attempting to do here is to re-codify the Zoning Bylaw by updating it to current legal standards and simplify it,” said Planning Board Co-Chairman John Faria. “We have taken the old Zoning Bylaw and maintained as much of it as possible.”

After Attorney Mark Bobrowski gave an overview of the re-codified Zoning Bylaw, a discussion ensued after a resident asked if the zoning changes would still prohibit recreational marijuana from being sold in town.

Mullen explained April Town Meeting voted to prohibit recreational marijuana from being sold in town.

“However, a town may not prohibit medical marijuana,” said Mullen. “This re-codified bylaw will permit medical marijuana subject to reasonable regulations. It does not allow recreational marijuana, which we have forbidden.”

Articles 8 and 9, which were also submitted by the Planning Board, were indefinitely postponed by Town Meeting. Article 8 sought to “amend the re-codified Zoning Bylaw by amending the section entitled ‘commence of construction or operation by changing the words six months to 12 months.’” Article 9 sought to amend the re-codified Zoning Bylaw by amending the section regarding the lapse of special permits by changing the words “24 months” to “36 months.”

Town Meeting approved Article 10, which approved switching the date of the April town election from the second Monday in the month to the second Tuesday. The vote will authorize the Board of Selectmen to petition the State Legislature to approve special legislation that would amend the Town Charter in order to hold the annual town election on a Tuesday.

Article 11 was approved by Town Meeting, which authorized the Board of Selectmen to sell town-owned land on Witham Street for $10,700. Crawford said the small parcel of landlocked land abuts Route 128 and is behind the homes on Witham Street. He said there are residents interested in purchasing the land.

“The town would place restrictions on the sale of the property that would prohibit anything such as billboards and cell towers from being built on the property and would prohibit the joining of this parcel to an adjacent parcel to create a buildable lot,” said Crawford.

After a brief discussion, Paul Scott, 9 Witham St., said his family is looking to purchase the land.

“The land is behind our house,” said Scott. “We have a septic system that we can’t upgrade to a three-bedroom, so we are trying to buy the land so we have more septic space in order to grow our family and live in town for a long time.”

Town Meeting voted to indefinitely postpone Article 14, which was a citizens’ petition submitted by former Planning Board co-Chairman Alan Dresios. Article 14 would have amended the town’s Zoning Bylaws’ portion pertaining to radio telecommunications facilities. The proposed change was included in the re-codified Zoning Bylaw.