Issue No. 3 · Week of September 28
Beverly Meeting Digest
Covering September 21 to 27, 2026 · Independent, not a City of Beverly publication
Beverly has banned cryptocurrency machines, and the ones already here have thirty days to go. Property owners whose trees or shrubs block the sidewalk could soon be billed for the city to cut them back, with a lien if the bill goes unpaid. People who speak at Council no longer have to say their home address out loud. A 179-unit building has been proposed for the Stop & Shop site on Enon Street. And $2.46 million in preservation grants is open, with first applications due October 8.
What happened September 21 to 27
Crypto kiosks are banned, and a thirty-day clock is running
City Council · Monday, September 21 · Order #187, final passage, submitted by the Mayor and Councilors Rotondo and Sonia
Councilors Sonia and Rotondo, then the final voteCity Council, Sep 21 · from 45:52Beverly has banned cryptocurrency machines. The Council gave Order #187 its second reading on September 21 and passed it, three weeks after the first.
The ordinance has teeth. No store or place of business may install, operate or maintain one. Any machine already running has to be removed within 30 days of the Council accepting the ordinance, and after that a business that keeps one faces a fine of $300 a day, for every device. 43:35
The kiosks turn cash into cryptocurrency, which is what makes them useful to scammers: once money goes in, it is effectively gone. Councilor Sonia called these sophisticated scams and said that ideally the state legislature would act, since some neighboring towns already have. 45:16 By Councilor Rotondo's account the ordinance started with Councilor Crowley, and he credited the solicitor's office with the drafting and the police chief with his support. 45:52
Rotondo and Sonia are also planning a morning presentation on scams in October, with the district attorney's office and the Council on Aging. 46:20
Let trees or shrubs block the sidewalk, and the city may bill you
City Council · Monday, September 21 · Order #221, first reading, submitted by the Mayor
The vegetation ordinance, read into the recordCity Council, Sep 21 · from 1:33:08Beverly already requires property owners to trim trees and bushes that obstruct the street or the sidewalk. Order #221 sets out what happens when they do not.
An owner who lets trees or shrubs block a street or sidewalk would face warnings and fines. If it still is not cut back, the Department of Public Services can remove it and send the owner the bill. If that bill is unpaid after 60 days, the city can put a lien on the property.
It passed its first reading without discussion. 1:33:54 Ordinances need two, so the final vote is expected on October 5. If you have trees or shrubs along a sidewalk, now is a good time to look at them.
Speakers at Council no longer have to say where they live
City Council · Monday, September 21 · Order #239, filed by Council President Flowers
The president on why the rule changedCity Council, Sep 21 · from 1:58:38Until now, anyone speaking at public comment had to stand at the podium and give their name and home address for the record, on a meeting that is broadcast and archived on the internet. The Council changed that on the 21st.
Under the new rule, you give your address to the city clerk when you sign up. At the podium you say only which ward you live or work in, and the posted agenda lists your ward rather than your street address. Flowers said the Council had been hearing for a while that saying a home address out loud does not feel safe for everyone, and that it wanted to lower that barrier. Because this changes the Council's own rules rather than a city ordinance, it needed a single two-thirds vote instead of two readings, and it passed. 1:41:05
The rest works as before. There are five speaking slots at each regular meeting, three minutes each, first come, first served. You sign up with the city clerk by 9:30 on the morning of the meeting. 16:14
Putting the Human Rights Committee back together
City Council, Monday, September 21 · Commission on Disabilities, Thursday, September 24
The quorum change, read into the recordCity Council, Sep 21 · from 1:34:12The Human Rights Committee has eleven seats. Its own September agenda lists a chairperson and four members, and a committee that size, measured against a quorum calculated from eleven, has trouble doing anything at all.
Two fixes are underway, in a sensible order. The Mayor and Council President Flowers jointly filed Order #222, which lets the committee count a quorum from the members actually seated rather than from the number of seats. It passed first reading and comes back on October 5. 1:34:48 The money comes second. Order #213, Councilor Houseman's request that the Mayor put $20,000 toward the committee, is still in Finance and Property. Houseman filed it after what his letter calls supportive discussions with the Mayor and the committee's chair, then asked that it wait until he knew how the Mayor wanted to structure it. He was not at the meeting on the 21st. Finance and Property met during the recess, away from the microphones, so what was said about it is not on the record.
All of this is live because of the budget. The city's diversity, equity and inclusion director post was cut in July, and all five residents who signed up for public comment on the 21st came to talk about it. Several said a volunteer committee cannot absorb what a staff position was doing, and asked who owns that work now. 17:46
For one part of it, there is an answer on the record. The former director was also the city's ADA coordinator and held the seat on the Commission on Disabilities that goes with that work. Both have passed to Amelia Boivin, whose appointment to the commission the Council approved the same night. 54:50 12:50
$2.46 million in preservation grants, first applications due October 8
City Council, Monday, September 21 · Community Preservation Committee launch meeting, September 10
What is in the pot for this roundCity Council, Sep 21 · from 1:05:45Beverly joined the state's Community Preservation Act in 2012. It is a pot of money for four kinds of projects: affordable housing, open space, recreation and historic preservation. A nine-member Community Preservation Committee reviews applications and recommends grants, and the Council has the final vote. 3:54
Most of the money comes from property owners, through a surcharge voters approved in 2012 and that has been on tax bills ever since. It is 1 percent of your property tax, not 1 percentage point. The tax on the first $100,000 of a home's value is left out, and the surcharge is 1 percent of the rest. In an example the city publishes using 2022 figures, a home that paid $4,160 in property tax paid $29.43 toward the CPA. It is not a new charge, and nothing about this year's grants changes what you pay. 28:18
The state then adds money of its own, from a statewide trust fund rather than from your bill. It is worked out as a share of the total Beverly raises: more than 20 cents on the dollar in the program's early years, about 7 cents now. 28:55
The upshot: about $2.46 million is available to award this year. That is this year's new money, about $1.34 million, whose budget the Council approved on the 21st, plus what was left from earlier years. About $1.5 million of it can go to any eligible project; the rest is reserved by law for particular categories. This is the program's fourteenth yearly round, which is why you will see it called round 14. 30:42
In those fourteen years it has put about $12 million into 100 projects. Examples include $825,000 to install fire sprinklers in Garden City Towers, a six-story housing authority building home to 130 people that had none; $1 million toward turning the old Briscoe school into housing, including homes for income-restricted seniors; work on the Cabot's lobby and the Larcom's marquee; and renovations at 20 city parks and playgrounds. 5:54 9:53
Anyone can apply. The city, nonprofits, and private and for-profit organizations have all won grants. The money is for capital projects, like buying, building or restoring something, not upkeep or programs, and projects that bring some funding of their own tend to do better. 48:15 Pre-applications, a short form, are due at noon on October 8. The form, instructions and schedule are on the city's Round 14 page. Those that pass are invited to apply in full by January 13, and the Council votes on the committee's picks around May. 53:54 The committee answers questions from would-be applicants at the start of every meeting. 52:08 One project that may apply is in the next item.
Who pays for school playgrounds? So far, the PTOs
School Committee · Wednesday, September 23
A barrier-free playground for the McKeown preschoolSchool Committee, Sep 23 · from 2:01:01A barrier-free playground at the McKeown preschool, where the ground is now wood chips, may be among this round's preservation grant applications. Superintendent Cushing said he will more than likely ask the Community Preservation Committee for help, since recreation is an eligible use and Beverly's students are Beverly residents. 2:02:29
It would not be the only source. Two staff members have already applied for a Cummings Foundation grant, and the superintendent thanked them by name. The Woburn-based foundation is giving out $35 million in its current round, mostly to local nonprofits, and it also funds public schools in communities where it owns commercial property.
That one grant opened a bigger conversation. As far as she can remember, President Visnick said, the district has never bought a playground as a capital expense, because its PTOs have always raised the money. 2:09:48 Capital planning for the schools sits with the city. And any new playground, even one a PTO pays for, has to come to the committee for a vote, because its long-term maintenance comes out of the school budget and its yearly safety inspection falls to the city's recreation department. 2:03:58
Making them accessible would mean at least six playgrounds, at a cost described at the table as very high. 2:09:09 The superintendent added that playground costs have risen sharply since the pandemic, and that he worries PTOs cannot keep covering them. 2:05:24 Vice President Harnden put the point plainly: PTOs raise money for a lot of things people might expect the schools or the city to pay for. 2:11:08
The committee also approved the high school music program's spring trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, its first five-day trip since 2019, at $1,170 a student. It asked the music director to find out whether families can buy cancellation insurance, which the district has never offered. 1:39:25
Go deeperFull recording
179 units proposed for the Stop & Shop site on Enon Street
Zoning Board of Appeals agenda, Wednesday, September 23 · City Council, Monday, September 21
Councilor Feldman on the Ward 5 zoning itemsCity Council, Sep 21 · from 2:00:52A company called Beverly Tre LLC has proposed 179 residential units and 2,600 square feet of commercial space at 37 Enon Street, where the North Beverly Stop & Shop is now. The store is not going anywhere yet: Stop & Shop has until December to decide whether to renew its lease, the Salem News has reported. If it renews, the apartments wait; the owner is seeking approvals now so it is ready if not.
The only question before the Zoning Board of Appeals on September 23 was height. Zoning there allows 35 feet, and the developer wants 46.5 for a sloped roof that it says would hide rooftop equipment. The meeting was not recorded, so the outcome is not yet known. Councilor Feldman said the project goes to the Planning Board in October, with another neighborhood meeting to come. 2:01:41
Where crews want to dig next
City Council and its Public Services committee · Monday, September 21
Utilities need the Council's permission to dig under city streets, and several requests came up on the 21st. The Council usually attaches conditions: whoever digs repaves the street curb to curb, rebuilds any sidewalk it disturbs, and replaces any shade tree it damages.
Street names open in Google Maps.
- Bow, Wallis, Cabot and Abbott streets: National Grid wants new conduit for new cable, to cut outages. The Council has not acted yet and continued the hearing to October 5 at 7:30pm, while the city sets up a meeting with National Grid about how long the work would take. 1:46:06
- School Street: new conduit to a property at One School Street. Approved. The street was repaved last year, and opening a newly repaved street carries a $5,000 fee. 1:27:49
- City Hall and Bridge Street: temporary power for the City Hall renovation, and street lighting for the temporary bridge off Bridge and River streets. Both approved. 1:16:24
- Ashton Street, and more to come: GoNetSpeed, a fiber internet company, was approved for Ashton Street. Four more of its requests, starting near 76 and 129 Colon Street, 2 Balch Street and 92 Boyles Street, are on hold until the city's engineers and the Mayor meet with the company about its plans across the city; they are expected in October. 1:21:28
Go deeperCouncil agenda, Sep 21Full recording
Also met, with no public recording: Library Trustees on Tuesday; the Airport Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the South Essex Sewerage Board on Wednesday; and on Thursday the Board of Assessors, the Housing Authority, the Economic and Community Development Council, the Veterans Advisory Committee and the Retirement Board. For those, the posted agenda and any minutes are the whole public record. Agendas
Tonight Monday, September 28
The deficit committee starts recommending
Deficit Reduction Committee · Monday, September 28, 6:00pm · carried live on BevCam
Since the summer, the Deficit Reduction Committee has been gathering: members researching ideas on their own, and at its last meeting, questioning the finance director, the state representative and others about a city-run electric utility, paid parking, the health insurance split and regional dispatch.
Tonight's agenda has a different verb in it. Item three reads “discussion on each idea as committee for first round recommendations.” This is where the committee starts saying what it thinks the city should do. Also on the agenda: benchmarking Beverly against comparable cities, and scheduling more community outreach meetings.
“First round” is doing real work there. Nothing tonight is final and nothing the committee recommends is binding: the Mayor writes the budget and the Council votes on it. The agenda lists the meeting for Council Chambers, but the Council itself has moved to the Middle School while City Hall is renovated, so check the city calendar before you go. BevCam is carrying it live either way.
Further out through November 3
- Sep 29How state money reaches Beverly, with Rep. Bowen6 to 8pm in the Conrad Room at the Farms branch library. Rep. Hannah Bowen was the deficit committee's guest on September 14. Hosted by her office, so it is not on the city calendar.
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- Sep 30Update on the Varian site cleanupThe former Varian facility at 150 Sohier Road is being cleaned of chemical contamination in the ground, under state oversight, with public briefings on its progress. This one covers January to June. Since then, crews have started heating the ground under one building to draw the chemicals out, removing about 850 pounds by the end of August. 7:00pm (doors 6:30) at the Beverly Middle School library, 502 Cabot St, with an online option and a BevCam livestream. Not a city meeting, so it is not on the city calendar.
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- Sep 30School Committee policy subcommitteePlanned for this date under its new chair, Catherine Frost. Topics she has raised for the year include e-bike safety, international travel and AI in the classroom. Time not yet posted.
- Oct 4Bark in the ParkA Beverly 400 event for the city's dogs, Sunday at Beverly High School, with a rain date.
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- Oct 5City Council, first meeting at the Middle School7:00pm in the Beverly Middle School library, where the Council meets for the length of the City Hall renovation. Final votes due on the ordinance about overgrown trees and shrubs, and on the Human Rights Committee quorum change. At 7:30, the continued hearing on National Grid's work under Bow, Wallis, Cabot and Abbott streets.
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- Oct 8Community Preservation pre-applications dueFor grant round 14, about $2.46 million across historic preservation, housing and open space. Full applications are due January 13.
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- Oct 19Flock cameras: Legal Affairs and Public Services, jointThe joint review of the city's automated license plate reader contracts, 6:00 to 6:55pm, before the regular Council meeting.
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- Oct 20Deficit Reduction Committee: first public presentationThe full list of revenue and savings ideas, and public input.
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- Oct 26FY2028 budget recommendations duePer the Deficit Reduction Committee's own published timeline.
- Oct 29Retirement BoardTentative, 6:00pm. The board that sets the city's pension funding schedule.
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- Nov 3State election, with 14 days of early votingThe Council approved the election warrant and 14 days of in-person early voting on September 21. The city clerk sets the early voting dates and locations.
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