Beverly Meeting Digest

The Coast Guard houses on Laurel Street are headed to auction

Not from a meeting: a councilor's public post and the federal sale listing

Sixteen houses on Laurel Street in North Beverly, owned by the Coast Guard and empty since about 2023, are headed to auction. Ward 5 Councilor Kathleen Feldman wrote on her public Facebook page last week that the city looked further into buying them and is “not moving forward.” The General Services Administration (GSA), the agency that sells surplus federal property, lists the property for online auction, marked “Coming Soon.” No auction dates or bidding documents are posted yet.

What is for sale

Sixteen detached one-story ranch houses, each with three bedrooms and one bath, on one 5.36-acre lot half a mile from the North Beverly train station. GSA is selling them together, not house by house.

How it got here

• Built for a missile battery. The Army built the houses in 1958 for soldiers at Beverly's Nike missile sites, part of a national air-defense system. The missile site closed in 1963, but the housing stayed in use, and in 1990 it passed to the Coast Guard, which housed members stationed in Boston, Gloucester and Newburyport.
• Empty since about 2023. The Coast Guard moved its families out around then. To prepare the site for sale, it had an environmental review done, and in January it told The Beverly Beat the review was complete and found “no concerns.”
• The state and the city passed. Federal law gives state and local governments the first chance to buy surplus federal property. The state did not apply. The city filed an expression of interest in August, which gave it 60 days to look into a purchase, and the Mayor said then that he did not expect the city to buy. Councilor Feldman's post last week says it is not moving forward. With no government buyer, the property goes to auction.

What a buyer could do

GSA markets the property as a “turnkey” compound, 16 houses ready to use as they are. A buyer with bigger plans would work under the city's zoning. The land is in the R-10 district, which allows only single-family houses, and each new house would need its own lot of at least 10,000 square feet with 100 feet of frontage on a street. Anything denser would need a special permit or other approval from the city.

How the November 3 election could matter here

This is one place where a statewide vote could change the local rules. Question 7 would let a single-family house be built on any residential lot of at least 5,000 square feet with 50 feet of frontage and public water and sewer, without a special permit, even where local rules require more. Cities and towns would still set rules such as height, setbacks and parking. If it passes, it takes effect about a month after the election, with state regulations to follow. GSA has not set an auction date, so it is not yet known which rules bidders would be weighing. The state's voter guide has the full text and the arguments for and against; WBUR explains it here.

The deficit committee's ideas, sorted by how soon and how much

Deficit Reduction Committee · Tuesday, October 20 · Council on Aging

After months of working through ideas in its regular meetings, the Deficit Reduction Committee presented them to residents last Tuesday, then took questions. It was the first of several community meetings planned for this fall and winter. Most of the slides followed the run-through we described last week. Issue 6: the run-through Below, the ideas are grouped by how soon they could take effect, with members' early estimates of how much each would save the city or bring in, which they called preliminary. ▶5:14 ▶6:33

Could take effect within about a year

• Who pays health premiums. This is the city's own health plan for people who work or worked for the city; it does not touch anyone else's insurance. The city pays 80% of premiums for its employees and retirees. Members looked at the city paying 70% for employees, and the state minimum, 50%, for retirees. By members' estimates, each would save the city $1 million to $2 million a year. The employee change has to be negotiated with the unions, most of whose contracts, a member said, are up in July 2027. ▶13:45 ▶14:31 ▶14:52
• A different health plan. Joining the state's Group Insurance Commission, or a pooled plan for cities and towns that leaves the city more control. The state plan would save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. ▶15:34 ▶17:02
• Parking. Two ideas. First, doubling the rate at today's meters from $1 to $2 an hour, which a member said could be done quickly. Second, new meters on the roughly 180 free spaces along Lothrop Street, from Independence Park to Dane Street Beach. Each would bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in new revenue, depending on the rate. ▶26:35 ▶27:49 ▶28:53
• Fees. Registration fees for the free summer park program, or more paid day camp spots, starting summer 2027; and raising mooring fees, now $7 a foot after going up from $5.50 last year. Each would bring in tens of thousands of dollars a year. ▶23:19 ▶25:04 ▶34:25

Would take longer. The longer-term ideas match last week's preview: a committee to seek payments and services from tax-exempt owners, a city-run electric utility, a recycling center for hard-to-recycle items, and several ideas still at an early stage. None has an estimate yet of what it would save or bring in, and the utility and the recycling center would cost money up front. ▶18:03 ▶37:14 ▶42:32 Issue 6: the longer-term ideas

What residents said

• One said cities that ask tax-exempt owners for payments usually ask for a quarter of what the property would pay in taxes, and receive far less; services in place of payments are the better prospect, the resident said. ▶50:21
• One said meter enforcement ends in the evening, so theatergoers can park for free in permit areas downtown, and suggested wider permit parking and zoning changes, such as to parking minimums. ▶54:00
• A Lothrop Street resident asked that any rate increase be phased in, that beach parking fees fall on non-residents rather than residents, and that side streets be protected from overflow, and said the core of the deficit is salaries and benefits. ▶1:01:01

Four other councilors attended. With the two on the committee, six of the nine were in the room, a quorum of the Council. Under the state's Open Meeting Law, a quorum discussing city business counts as a Council meeting that needs its own posted notice, so the four only listened. ▶1:08:42

Next. More meetings this fall and winter, possibly focus groups or listening sessions, with dates to be posted, and recommendations to city leaders by spring 2027. Questions can go to any committee member, or to the two councilors on it: Kathleen Feldman, kfeldman@beverlyma.gov, and John Mullady, jmullady@beverlyma.gov. ▶47:46 ▶49:48

A month before the Flock contract expires, the decision is the Mayor's

Legal Affairs and Public Services committees, with the Committee of the Whole · Monday, October 19 · Order #120, filed by Councilors Rotondo and Spang

The city's contract with Flock Safety, the company behind Beverly's license plate cameras, expires in mid-November, the Mayor said. With that a month away, two Council committees held their second meeting on the cameras. No decision on renewing has been made, the police chief said. Councilor Rotondo, who chaired the meeting, said the decision is the Mayor's, as the city's chief procurement officer, and the Council's role is to hear residents and press their concerns. The committees took no vote. ▶26:31 ▶47:45 ▶53:57

A quick recap. Beverly still has four cameras. The one on Brimbal Avenue has been down since the windstorms, and Flock would replace it. Issue 6: the cameras and the rules ▶31:52 ▶33:44

How police say they use it. In this month's thefts of used cooking oil from two Cabot Street restaurants, police used the cameras to find a second vehicle acting as a lookout and alerted other departments. Police also described a home invasion on Payne Avenue solved quickly, a man who had threatened to drive off the Salem-Beverly bridge found and helped, a hit-and-run driver located, and a child who had taken off in a vehicle without permission found and brought home. ▶23:40 ▶17:53 ▶18:30 ▶22:58

What's new on the data. The department is discussing cutting how long it keeps plate data from 30 days to seven. It shares data only with Massachusetts law enforcement; federal or out-of-state agencies have to ask Beverly police directly. Besides Flock's automated audit, which has flagged three or four searches, all within policy, the lieutenant who administers the system reviews the search logs at least monthly. ▶46:26 ▶24:21 ▶22:24 ▶37:35

Public comment. About 14 residents spoke, all asking the city to end the contract or let it lapse. They cited privacy and constitutional rights, data security, misuse in other places, and a wish for more public discussion before any renewal. One more spoke at the Council meeting that followed. Councilors read from a list of questions sent ahead of time, as the city charter requires, to the police and the Mayor. Councilor Rotondo said residents submitted them to Councilor Spang, who wrote the list with him. ▶1:59 ▶27:04 ▶15:32 ▶31:14

Millbrook Road becomes a public street, and the Council next meets November 9

City Council · Monday, October 19

The Council voted 8-0 to accept the private stretch of Millbrook Road, past Hickory Lane, as a public street. The Mayor submitted the change, and the owners along it donated the easements, according to his letter (p. 38). The easements let the city maintain the road and the utilities under it. ▶53:02 ▶56:28

Councilor Houseman's request that the Mayor fund the Human Rights Committee with $20,000 was put off so the Mayor and the committee's chair can meet first, with the aim of taking it up before the November 9 meeting. ▶25:50

The next regular meeting is November 9, a week later than usual because of the election. The Council set November 23 hearings on National Grid's petitions for underground lines on Woodbury and Dane streets, and received the formal retirement letter of its budget analyst, whose successor it interviews tonight and tomorrow. ▶27:48 ▶57:58 ▶21:59

Camp Paradise: what the city plans for its 12 acres on Cole Street

Public Services committee, with the Committee of the Whole · Order #061, filed by Councilors St. Hilaire and Mullady

A Council committee holds a public meeting at 6:00pm in the Barnet Gallery at the library, 32 Essex St, on how the city uses Camp Paradise, the former Girl Scout camp at 44 Cole St, and what it plans for the site. Councilors St. Hilaire and Mullady asked for the meeting (p. 60) in a January letter, writing that residents see the camp as underused, and asked the Mayor, the recreation director and the city solicitor to explain what uses are allowed there. It was put off while members of the Mayor's staff were on medical leave. The agenda lists no vote. ▶29:44

What it is. The city bought the 12 acres from the Girl Scouts in 2015 for $950,000, with Community Preservation money, state grants and recreation department funds. The purchase limits the land to “conservation, scientific study, and nature recreation.” A 1,000-square-foot building sits among a red maple swamp, woods, a pond and vernal pools. The recreation department runs classes and rents the building, and the Girl Scouts reportedly kept a set amount of use under the sale.

Background. Kestrel Educational Adventures, a Beverly nonprofit that already runs school and club programs at the camp, has proposed a free public nature center in the building. In January the Mayor told The Salem News the city is satisfied with the current programming and not interested in changing the use of the space. Tonight is the first public discussion of what the city plans for the site.

Coming up through November 23

• Oct 26City Council: budget analyst searchSpecial meeting, 7:15pm at the temporary City Hall, 175 Cabot St, first floor. The screening committee reports, with a recommendation letter from Councilor Houseman, and the Council interviews a candidate at 7:30pm.
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• Oct 27City Council: budget analyst voteSpecial meeting, 6:00pm at 175 Cabot St, first floor. Two more interviews, then discussion and a possible vote to elect the Council's new budget analyst. The current analyst, Gerard Perry, retires by the end of the year.
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• Oct 27Planning Board: data center pause and 37 Enon St7:00pm in the Middle School library, 502 Cabot St, and online. A public hearing on the proposed pause on data centers (#250). A zoning change gets a hearing before both the Planning Board and the Council; the Council's is November 9. Then the Stop & Shop site at 37 Enon St: 179 apartments, 22 of them affordable, about 2,600 square feet of retail, and a special permit for 281 parking spaces where 367 are required.
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• Oct 28Zoning Board of Appeals7:00pm at the Police Department community room. Includes a change to the design of the City Hall addition, and the continued hearing on a 124-foot Verizon cell tower at 12 Tozer Road.
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• Oct 28School Committee subcommittees6:00pm at the Middle School: Finance and Facilities, with the athletic department report, and Curriculum, Instruction and Student Life. Committee of the Whole at 7:15pm.
• Oct 29Downtown trick-or-treat4:00 to 6:00pm downtown, Councilor Sonia announced at the Council.
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• Nov 3State electionPolls open 7:00am to 8:00pm. The city's election page lists each ward's polling place.
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• Nov 4School Committee6:00pm in the Middle School library, 502 Cabot St, and online.
• Nov 9City Council: data center hearingThe Council's next regular meeting, a week later than usual because of the election. The public hearing on the proposed data center pause is set for 7:30pm.
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• Nov 11Veterans DayTrash and recycling run one day late for the rest of the week.
• Mid-NovThe city's Flock contract expiresPer the Mayor on October 19. Whether to renew had not been decided.
• Nov 23City Council: National Grid hearingsPublic hearings on National Grid's petitions for underground lines on Woodbury Street, 7:30pm, and Dane Street, 7:40pm.
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Oct 26 Council notice (p. 1)Oct 27 Council notice (p. 1)Planning Board notice (p. 1)The city's election pageAgendas

Corrections

• Issue 6 linked to a BevCam video for the October 19 Council meeting that BevCam later made private. The meeting's recording is here.
• Issue 6 listed the October 27 Planning Board meeting at the Police Department, before its notice was posted. The notice puts it in the Middle School library, 502 Cabot St.