by Lonnie Brennan
BOXFORD – Despite protests from new residents and old who are opposed to the stated-mandated MBTA multi-unit, high-density housing mandate, town meeting approved re-zoning of the new ‘The Willows’ development off Rte. 133.
For the new homeowners at The Willows, the threat is that their neighborhood could somehow be dramatically change from that which they purchased; in theory, they could see hundreds or more residents in multi-unit dwellings placed a mere 25 feet from their property lines.
The state mandate has been referred to as a method of essentially blackmailing communities into compliance under threat of losing state funding, or worse, having the state step in and impose their own zoning upon a town.
Town Meeting Highlights
Article 1: Discussion on the first article began 18 minutes into the meeting, , following opening instructions on how to use clickers to vote, and general remarks.
The article to approve wage increases was introduced by Selectman Peter Perkins and dispensed within two minutes. It approved a new wage contract for the DPW union and included two new titles for employees: one of a facilities supervisor, the other of a lead operator. It also allows GPS implementation in DPW vehicles in 2026. Moneys for the union contact negotiations had been previously included in the annual budget. The cost of the article was not discussed; no dollar amounts were discussed and there were no questions from the audience which approved the article by a simple voice vote.
Article 2: John Shirley, chair of the Council on Aging requested to reduce the number of members on the council from nine to seven. Their current active membership is just five members, so it has been difficult to enact business John related. Within three minutes the article passed on a simple voice vote.
Article 3: One-time sick-leave buy-back equal to 50% of their unused sick time and 100% of unused vacation time. An amount of $89,000 was allotted. Michael White, chair of the Finance Committee, stated that there was approximately $3 million remaining in free cash. He wished the employees were staying but urged approval. The article passed by a simple voice vote.
Article 4: Selectwoman Lindsey Crea motioned for the town to accept a two-acre parcel of land at Old Killiam Road. She thanked the Jenkins family “for this very generous donation.” Resident Joe Sivak asked if there would be any budget impact in the future on the town as a result of accepting this gift. A lady wearing a mask said that it was an isolated parcel, that the town could hold it for future placement of a cell tower, or it could be used for town water, or just for people to walk around and enjoy the field. It would cost us nothing she said. Article was approved on a simple voice vote.
Article 5: Licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages. This asks the legislature to grant a license to the West Village Café, as prior approval by the legislature had a sunset clause and needed to be re-applied. No discussion; approved on simple voice vote.
Article 6: Barbara Bisceglia, chair of Boxford Elementary School Committee advocated for $155,000 to be made available from ‘Free Cash’ to pay for a portion of a new English Language Arts curriculum. Resident Richard Garnick questioned what was needed with a new curriculum as English has been taught since the founding of the country and we’ve seen that most new innovations in curriculum have resulted in deteriorated results. Another resident, Domenic Paolini responded after a resident asked if this included English as a Second Language and others expressed unfamiliarity with the curriculum, why it wasn’t better summarized for voters? He also struck a nerve when he mentioned the elephant in the room coming up next (the MBTA zoning), when he asked “why should this town be held hostage by somebody on Beacon Hill who is willing to spend $3 billion dollars on illegal aliens and then have us beg for $150K?” Another resident also asked if the curriculum was available for review online, as she would like to take a look at it, noting that, as a former teacher she’s “seen a lot of curriculum come and go,” noting some were successful, some were failures. She was told to connect with the school committee reps. after the meeting.
Following an inconclusive voice vote which was determined to have passed, an objection was raised with a request for an electronic vote in the main room and a counted vote in the overflow room. The article passed 464 to 167 nays.
Article 7’s discussion began approximately 52 minutes into the meeting, to authorize $1,335,126 to pay for a portion of the Harry Lee Cole Elementary School roof. A portion of the expenditure is subsidized by state funds on a reimbursed basis. The article passed on a 589 yes to 50 no vote.
Article 8’s discussion began more than an hour into the meeting with a summary introduction of the state-mandated MBTA Multi-Unit housing mandate by Select Board Chair Charles Costello who explained approval of the bylaw zoning change would fulfill the requirements of the law, while making it “nearly impossible’ for any actual building to take place on the to-be-rezoned land.
Selectman Costello detailed how the town has worked for years to get the state to reduce their mandate of an initial new 750 housing units down to just 141 new units, and further that by offering up the specific parcel – private land, owned by the residents of Ingalls Farm Way, (‘The Willows’), nothing would change. (The town currently has approximately 2,800 housing units.)
“Highly Unlikely, and Frankly, Near Impossible”
Selectman Costello shared that he recognized that it is a “very emotional issue” here and throughout the state and told the audience that while the new MBTA-mandate might work elsewhere, “it’s not for Boxford.” He went on to detail how this particular 14.88 acre parcel is “protected by a Master Deed, a Declaration of Trust, and Mass. General Law Chapter 183A – Condominium Law, which would require any changes, any new developments in the parcel, to receive approval by 75% of the people who live there. He also said any development in this designated land offered up to the MBTA-mandate would be financially unfeasible, that the land cannot be sub-divided, in essence there can be no new housing placed there.
Costello explained that other sites in the town would be too easy to develop, but ‘The Willows’ would not. So, while the town comes into compliance, no development needs to be made. He stated that if this area was not allowed, then Democrat Attorney General Campbell would initiate civil action against the town, withhold funding, and then could impose a state-mandated zoning overlay to the West Village, the East Village, wherever she wanted to impose new zoning, which would allow development by right.
Chairman of the Planning Board, Bob Gore, talked about their November 11th Zoom run public hearing on the proposal, and the Planning Board approved and recommended adoption. Four yes, and one nay, he being the nay vote on principle, because he thought it was one of the worst pieces of legislation he has ever seen, so he didn’t want the board to vote unanimously for it. He summarized that when all was said and done, the probability of anything actually being developed there is approaching zero, or almost negative.
Selectman Costello cautioned that if the state came in, a section of land in the northwestern part of the town could be re-zoned, with water and utilities coming in from Haverhill, and it would be one heck of a large development.
Resident Laura Sapienz-Grabski shared that she looked at the law and the regulations and could not find how the Town could be in compliance by just designated an area of zoning while not allowing any building to take place in that zone. She asked for clarification.
Resident Domenic Paolini said that “the purpose of the law was to address the housing crisis – that mean to build housing. So why do you think that the state is going to say ‘OK, you have an overlay zone on a place that can’t be built at all?’ They’re just going to walk away and say that satisfies the compliance?” He added a second question, noting that while residents are being told the area could not be built, if the states offers up enough money to developers, the area could easily be re-developed.
Resident Janet Swartz pointed out that approval of the MBTA law zoning appears to override the town’s restrictions on ‘The Willows,’ which are currently 55+, maximum two bedrooms, and no children under age 18.
New Taxpayer/Landowner Silenced
Nancy Linhoff who stated she owns one of the new homes on Ingalls Village Way, but is not registered to vote, asked to address the audience. By a vote of 395 yes to 213 no, she was silenced, as a 2/3rds approval vote is required to allow non-voters to speak.
Resident Jeff Cipher from ‘The Willows’ asked: “What happens when the state comes back and says, you’ve zoned it, now you have to build it?” Selectman Costello replied that “the state can’t force anybody to build anything.” He was loudly laughed and jeered for his response by what appeared a large number of audience members, until he went on to detail that it would be like a forced land taking. Cipher said “yes, they could do it.” It was argued that new legislation would have to be passed to allow such takings.
The lines at each microphone continued to lengthen with those seeking answers to questions regarding the rezoning. Approximately 10 minutes after the initial denial of Nancy Lindhoff’s request to speak, Mathew Nadworny of Precinct 2 got his turn at the microphone and stated “I move to reconsider whether Miss Lindhoff is allowed to speak. She’s a resident, she’s a taxpayer, and we’re voting to re-zone her land. We should all be ashamed.” He received thunderous applause. However, he was told that the measure voted on was not subject to a motion of reconsideration.
One member of the audience who repeatedly questioned the response he received from a selectwoman, was eventually called out of order, and a member of the police force walked to his side to escort him away from the microphone. It was an unusually somber moment in the meeting, as the resident struggled to get what he sought – a straight answer.
Too Easy to Be Developed
One new resident asked why a particular other parcel that had been identified was not chosen for the overlay district, and instead, all the risk, anguish, uncertainty were being placed on ‘The Willows’ residents. Selectwoman Lindsay Crea replied “because it was too easy to be developed as multi-family housing.”
Move the Question
With just four residents remaining in line at the microphones waiting to be heard, resident Greg Netland ‘moved the question’ (called for a vote to cut off any further discussion). His motion passed 473 yes to 142 no. The final vote of the MBTA zone then proceeded, resulting in approval, 438 yes to 186 no. ♦
