Issue No. 4 · Week of October 5
Beverly Meeting Digest
Covering September 28 to October 4, 2026 · Independent, not a City of Beverly publication
The deficit committee made a first pass at its ideas, three weeks before presenting them. The Varian site cleanup gave its first public update since its main treatment began, and this year's MCAS results are out. Tonight's Council agenda is a full one: a proposed pause on data centers, a final vote on fines for private trees and shrubs that block the sidewalk, and two proposals for more Council say over travel and long contracts.
What happened September 28 to October 4
The deficit committee makes a first pass at its list
Deficit Reduction Committee · Monday, September 28
The committee starts sorting its listDeficit Reduction Committee, Sep 28 · from 1:18:20On September 28 the Deficit Reduction Committee went through the ideas it has gathered since July and put each one into one of four groups: yes, maybe, no and exploring. It is the first time the committee has sorted its full list. 2:00:30
Here is where things stood when the meeting ended.
- Yes, for now.
- Expanding the areas with paid parking, and raising parking fees generally. 1:23:50
- Parks and recreation fees, such as online sign-up with a fee for the summer program, and possibly more parks day camps, which have waiting lists. 1:27:18
- Forming a committee to seek more payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) from tax-exempt institutions. The recommendation is the committee, not a dollar figure. 20:27 1:29:25
- Reviewing every city fee every year or two, so fees keep pace with costs in small steps instead of falling behind. It grew out of the trash fee, which members said nearly quadrupled after years without an increase. 1:28:49
- Maybe.
- No, with an explanation.
- Changing the pension funding schedule to lower the city's yearly contribution. Members said there is no need: the city can already hold that contribution flat instead of raising it each year. 1:39:40
- More cannabis revenue: there is room for one more license and the market is crowded, with members noting the city should be easier to work with in general. 1:54:03
- Closing Beverly's own dispatch center to join a regional one, which has no room for Beverly. 1:58:10
- Selling the Farms branch library, whose land, a member said, can only be used for a library. 4:44
- Exploring. Longer-term ideas that need more research and public input.
The list carries no dollar figures. Members said bigger and harder choices need more research and public input, and that they expect to come back to them in the spring, after the city's financial forecast in November. 18:10
The first public presentation is planned for Tuesday, October 20, from 6:00 to 7:30pm, and BevCam is set to carry it. The committee has asked the Senior Center to host; the city calendar does not list it yet. Members talked about a short presentation followed by questions from a sign-up sheet, and about smaller listening sessions around the city, possibly starting in early November. 2:06:45 39:46
Disclosure: James Laurenti, who writes this digest, came up at this meeting. A member said she had met with him about the committee's benchmarking work and that he sent her information afterward, and another mentioned research he had shared. 49:24
The Varian cleanup, and where it stands
Varian site public meeting · Wednesday, September 30 · not a city meeting
Where the heating stands, and what has come outVarian site public meeting, Sep 30 · from 1:00:45For decades the plant at 150 Sohier Road used industrial solvents for cleaning and degreasing, and some got into the ground: TCE, PCE and TCA, which evaporate easily and sink in water. They were found in 1986. Varian, now part of Siemens Healthineers, sold the plant in 1995 and remains responsible for the cleanup; another company still makes microwave and radar products there.
The state environmental agency oversees the work, and residents petitioned in 1992 for public meetings like this one. The chemicals have moved west in groundwater toward Tozer Road. The cleanup's 2023 risk assessment, filed with the state, found no significant risk to residents or workers. A vapor removal system runs at one nearby home.
Heating under Building 3 began in late July, to turn the chemicals into vapor and catch them in carbon filters. By September 30 the ground averaged about 50°C, halfway to its 100°C target, and a little over 3,200 pounds had come out, up from about 850 in August. The heating is slow on purpose because people work in the building above; the team says the result is the same, just later. 57:14 1:02:31 1:04:00
Is it on schedule? It is running behind the original plan. The first schedule, in June 2023, had heating starting that winter. Buried asbestos debris, contamination at the edge of the work area and extra vapor protections for the occupied building pushed it back. The most recent schedule, published in May 2026, had heating starting that month; it started in late July. All were labeled estimates.
When will it be done? No end date has been published. The 2023 cleanup plan estimated about a year and a half of heating, three years of biological treatment and two of natural breakdown for the Building 3 area, about six and a half years in all. 1:04:36
What comes next. February's Phase IV completion statement is not the finish line. It certifies that the systems are built and opens a public comment period. Years of running them and testing groundwater follow, until the state's standard for a permanent solution is met. The next public meeting is expected in April or May. 1:31:22
This year's MCAS, and how to read it
State results, released September 22 · School Committee curriculum subcommittee, Wednesday, September 23, posted September 28
This is the second spring of MCAS since Question 2 ended the requirement to pass it to graduate; students still take it, and the state still uses it to rate schools. Statewide, grades 3 to 8 held roughly steady and grade 10 fell, and experts disagree about how much of that is effort rather than learning.
Beverly's grades 3 to 8 held or rose and stayed 5 to 10 points above the state. Grade 10 is close to the state, with math up four points and science down eight. The share of students meeting or exceeding expectations:
| Test | Beverly 2025 | Beverly 2026 | Change | State 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 3–8 English | 45% | 45% | 0 | 40% |
| Grades 3–8 math | 51% | 51% | 0 | 41% |
| Grades 5 and 8 science | 43% | 48% | +5 | 41% |
| Grade 10 English | 45% | 43% | −2 | 45% |
| Grade 10 math | 39% | 43% | +4 | 44% |
| Grade 10 science | 49% | 41% | −8 | 41% |
The state also rates each school on progress toward its own targets. The district and the Middle School made moderate progress. All five elementary schools made substantial progress, and Cove Elementary was named one of the state's 2026 Schools of Recognition.
Beverly High is listed as requiring assistance or intervention for one reason: students with disabilities took 165 of their 177 tests, 93%, short of the 95% every group must reach. The state requires a school flagged this way to identify the causes and address them this school year. Students with disabilities can take MCAS with accommodations or in an alternate form, and the state's guidance says each student's education plan should spell out how, not whether, the student is tested.
The district presents its own results to the School Committee's curriculum subcommittee: the elementary schools in October, the middle and high schools in November. 45:21
Stop & Shop site: the Planning Board takes it up
Planning Board agenda, Tuesday, October 6
The proposal for 37 Enon Street, 179 apartments and about 2,600 square feet of retail in place of the North Beverly Stop & Shop if the store does not renew its lease, is now before the Planning Board, which sets its hearing dates on October 6. The board's agenda adds detail: 60% of the apartments would have one bedroom and 40% two, and 22, or 12%, would be affordable to households at or below 60% of the area median income. The developer is asking for a special permit to build 281 parking spaces where zoning requires 367, or 1.5 per apartment. The Zoning Board of Appeals' decision on the building's height has not been posted yet. Issue 3 has the full story.
Go deeperPlanning Board agenda, Oct 6
Also met, without video: the Council's budget analyst screening committee, in closed session to interview candidates, on Monday; an Airport Commission subcommittee on its rules of order, online, on Tuesday; the Open Space and Recreation Committee on Wednesday; and the License Board on Thursday. For those, the record is the posted agenda now and the minutes once they are approved. Agendas
Tonight Monday, October 5
The City Council meets at 7:00pm in the Beverly Middle School library, 502 Cabot St, its first meeting there while City Hall is renovated. To speak at public comment, sign up with the city clerk by 9:30 the morning of the meeting.
A proposed pause on data centers
City Council, tonight · Order #250, submitted by the Mayor and Planning Director Darlene Wynne
Beverly's zoning code does not list data centers as an allowed use or restrict them. Order #250 would pause them while the city writes rules. Until the Council adopts a zoning ordinance for data centers, or through November 30, 2027, whichever comes first, the city would not accept, process or approve any application for one, from building permits to special permits and site plan approval.
The draft defines a data center as a building whose main use is housing servers, storage and networking equipment. The letter says the time would go to studying the effects on public safety, electrical demand, water, sewer, roads, noise, the environment and the character of the community, with the draft adding the school district, and then to writing rules. It does not mention any specific proposal.
Tonight is a first step, not the vote. A zoning change goes to the Planning Board, and both the board and the Council must hold a public hearing within 65 days; the board's October 6 agenda already lists setting a date. Adopting it takes a two-thirds vote of the full Council, six of nine.
Overgrown trees and shrubs on private property: the final vote
City Council, tonight · Order #221, final passage, submitted by the Mayor
Tonight is the final vote on the ordinance about trees and shrubs that block a street or sidewalk, unchanged since its first vote. An owner would get a warning, then a $100-a-day fine. If the growth still is not cut back, the city could trim it and bill the owner, with a lien if the bill goes unpaid for 60 days. Issue 3 has the full story.
The question readers asked most was about trees along the sidewalk that may belong to the city. The bill and the lien apply only to vegetation on private property. Trees in the strip between the curb and the sidewalk are street trees: public, and cared for by the city at its own cost. If one is causing a problem, report it on the MyBeverly website (it asks you to create a login) or call Public Services at 978-921-6053.
For trees and shrubs on your own land, the standard is 8 feet of clear space above the sidewalk and 14 feet above the street, and nothing taller than 30 inches within 30 feet of a corner, where drivers need to see.
Two proposals for more Council say over travel and long contracts
City Council, tonight · Orders #259 and #260, filed by Councilor St. Hilaire
Councilor Matthew St. Hilaire, who represents Ward 6 and is the Council's vice president, filed two draft ordinances. Under the Council's rules, new business goes to a committee before any vote.
Order #259 would require a Council vote, requested 14 business days ahead, before city money pays for out-of-state travel by the Mayor or anyone in the executive branch. Each person would be capped at two trips a year and would report back after each one. Emergencies are exempt.
It follows June's budget votes. St. Hilaire moved to zero out the Mayor's office expense line, $13,500 that pays for travel among other things, saying the Mayor should not travel out of state while police, fire and school jobs were being cut. 24:01 The Council instead adopted Councilor Houseman's amendment cutting the line to $10,000, 9 to 0. 35:14 The Mayor said conferences bring value home, and that the same line also paid this year for a restroom trailer at the high school field and for a nonprofit program whose participants painted about 300 fire hydrants. 27:58 30:32
Order #260 would require a majority vote of the Council before any city official, including the Mayor, signs a contract, lease or agreement for services, supplies or equipment that could run longer than three years, counting renewal options. St. Hilaire writes that it mirrors state procurement law. His letter points to the five-year trash and recycling contract with Casella that the Mayor announced in June, which he says was signed without the Council's approval.
Today, Beverly's charter makes the Mayor the city's chief procurement officer, and we found no rule on contract length in the city's own code.
Nearby communities handle it differently. Salem writes a council-vote rule for contracts over three years into its ordinances, as #260 would, and used it in 2024 to approve a 20-year energy contract. Peabody and Gloucester vote on each long contract as it comes up; Peabody did so in 2023 for a fire engine lease. Ipswich goes the other way: in 2025 its Town Meeting gave the town manager blanket permission for contracts of up to five years. Those are four communities we checked, not a survey.
Also on the agenda
- Human Rights Committee quorum, final vote. Order #222 would let the committee count a quorum from the members it has, rather than from its eleven seats. Issue 3 has the full story.
- $20,000 for the Human Rights Committee. Councilor Houseman's request, Order #213, is still in Finance and Property. Issue 3 has the full story.
- Flock cameras. The review of the city's license plate reader cameras, Order #120, stays in committee ahead of the joint meeting on October 19.
- Help with home repairs. The city's Homeowner Rehabilitation Program, run with Essex County Habitat for Humanity, offers no-interest, no-payment 15-year forgivable loans to low-income owners for code and accessibility repairs, on one- to four-unit homes they live in. The program says funds remain. Call 978-605-2346 or see Habitat's page.
Further out through November 3
- Oct 6Planning Board7:00pm in the Police Department community room, 175 Elliott St. Sets hearing dates for the Stop & Shop site and the data center pause, and adopts this year's fee in lieu of affordable units.
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- Oct 8Community Preservation pre-applications dueBy noon, for grant round 14, about $2.46 million across historic preservation, housing, open space and recreation. Full applications are due January 13.
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- Oct 8Parks and Recreation Commission7:00pm at the Senior Center, 90 Colon St. Updates on Balch Playground phase 2, the Holcroft Park splash pad and the Gillis Park pavilion, plus the parks budget and enterprise fund.
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- Oct 19Flock cameras: joint committee meetingLegal Affairs and Public Services review the city's license plate reader cameras together, 6:00pm at the Middle School library, before the regular Council meeting.
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- Oct 20Deficit Reduction Committee: first public presentationPlanned for 6:00 to 7:30pm, and BevCam is set to carry it. The committee has asked the Senior Center to host; the city calendar does not list it yet. A first pass, with time for questions.
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- 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 city clerk sets the early voting dates and locations.
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