Published May 27, 2020

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The Planning Board unanimously not to recommend a proposed zoning change appearing on the Annual Town Meeting warrant during a recent meeting.

Former Planning Board Co-Chairman Alan Dresios submitted Article 14 for the spring session of Town Meeting. The proposed warrant article seeks to ensure that any changes to the Zoning Bylaw still require a two-thirds vote in order to pass Town Meeting.

“Regardless of any provisions to the contrary, any amendment, adoption or change to the Zoning Bylaws, town of Lynnfield shall require a two-thirds vote of a Town Meeting,” states Article 14.

The Planning Board held a virtual public hearing on Article 14 via Zoom teleconference recently. Planning and Conservation Director Emilie Cademartori said Dresios declined participating in the public hearing about his warrant article.

“He chose not to participate via Zoom and had planned on calling in, but then recently emailed us and indicated he would not be joining because he didn’t want to be charged for the phone call,” said Cademartori.

Planning Board Chairman Brian Charville requested land use assistant Sue Lambe to call Dresios in order to discuss the warrant article. He did not answer, but Lambe left a message.

Dresios sent an email to Cademartori explaining his reasoning behind crafting Article 14. He said the warrant article seeks to ensure Town Meeting is still in charge of zoning changes as opposed to the state.

“Without the proposed text, the state could just roll over Lynnfield and change zoning to what they wish,” Dresios claimed. “With the added text, Town Meeting may accept what the state wants. It’s discussed by Lynnfield citizens and voted upon to accept or not — our choice not theirs. So with text, any new legislation from the state must be accepted by Lynnfield voters.”

Charville said he believed Dresios’ warrant article originated from proposed legislation seeking to address the state’s housing crisis that has yet to be approved. He noted several bills “would do away with the two-thirds requirement to pass zoning bylaws at the local level in some cases.”

“The rationale is to encourage housing and for housing to be passed by a simple majority rather than a two-thirds vote,” said Charville. “With this proposed warrant article, Mr. Dresios’ attempt is to ensure that two-thirds remains the requirement in Lynnfield even if state law changes.”

Charville reached out to Town Counsel Tom Mullen to see if Article 14 was unconstitutional. Mullen stated in a memo that he believed, “The proposed amendment, at least as applied for its apparent purpose, would be unconstitutional on the ground that it was inconsistent with state law.”

Mullen noted state law currently stipulates that all zoning changes must be approved by a two-thirds vote. If the law changed, he said the attorney general would “void” the zoning amendment.

“I would expect that if the attorney general approved the Zoning Bylaw amendment sought under Article 14, it would be with the express caveat that the same would be enforceable only so long as state law continued to require a two-thirds vote for all zoning amendments,” Mullen stated.

Charville, an attorney, concurred with Mullen’s viewpoint.

“Reiterating two-thirds at the local level right now is not a problem because that is consistent with state law,” said Charville. “But once state law changes, then we would be inconsistent.”

Planning Board member Charlie Wills said he opposed Article 14.

“It seems clear that state law would override whatever we might do,” said Wills.

Planning Board Vice Chairman Michael Sheehan agreed.

“I don’t see any benefit seeking to enact this amendment because the current law is already two-thirds,” said Sheehan. “If town counsel thinks it’s unconstitutional, I don’t see how it moves forward.”

Planning Board member Kate Flaws also said she didn’t support Article 14.

There were no members of the public who weighed-in on the proposed zoning change. After the discussion, the Planning Board voted not to recommend Article 14.