Beverly Meeting Digest

Apartments at the Stop & Shop site: a first hearing, and a return November 17

Planning Board · Tuesday, October 27 · Middle School library

The owner of the Stop & Shop property at 37 Enon St, on Route 1A in North Beverly (Ward 5) next to the North Beverly train station, wants to replace the store with one building of 179 apartments and about 2,600 square feet of shops. On October 27 the Planning Board opened its hearing on the plan, heard from about a dozen residents, and voted 7-0 to continue it to November 17, when the applicant's traffic consultant is due to present. ▶18:35 ▶35:48 ▶1:52:08

What is proposed

• 179 apartments, 60% one-bedroom and 40% two-bedroom. Twenty-two of them, or 12%, would be affordable to households earning up to 60% of the area median income. ▶18:35
• Set back, with more green space. The building would sit more than 100 feet from the rear property line, where the store is now 20 feet away. Today about 90% of the lot is building or pavement. Under the plan that drops to just under 75%, so about a quarter of the site would be green space instead of a tenth, mostly around the edges, the applicant's engineer said. ▶25:39 ▶41:22
• Fewer parking spaces than zoning requires: 281, where 367 are required. That works out to about 1.5 spaces per apartment, where zoning asks for 2. Building fewer takes a special permit from the board. ▶38:29 ▶39:17
• Height already allowed. In September the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 to allow a sloped roof up to 46 feet 6 inches, where zoning allows 35 feet, according to its decision (p. 4).
• The store's lease. Stop & Shop has an option to extend its lease, and whether it will use it is not known. The owner is seeking permits in case it does not. ▶22:33

Traffic

The applicant filed a traffic study estimating that the apartments would bring fewer cars in and out than the store: about 730 trips on a weekday, compared with about 2,000 counted at the store in July, the applicant's engineer said. The study also finds that pulling out onto Enon Street at busy times means long waits, at these driveways and others nearby, because of the traffic already on the road. That is true with the store today and would stay true with the apartments (pp. 26-27). The study's author presents it November 17. ▶43:06 ▶43:49

What residents said

• Residents who opposed the plan or raised concerns described Enon Street traffic as already heavy, with left turns hard to make at busy times, and several expected the apartments to bring more traffic than the store, which they said is quiet most of the day. Some asked when the counts were taken; this past summer, the applicant's team said. Others raised school buses and class sizes, unsafe crossings near the tracks, and where guests would park. ▶1:10:22 ▶1:12:07 ▶1:12:21 ▶1:14:55 ▶1:05:49 ▶1:19:25 ▶1:32:29
• Supporters said a site next to the North Beverly train station suits housing for people who drive less, and backed the lower parking count. Two pointed to PlanBeverly, the city's long-range plan, which recommends reducing parking requirements near transit stations beyond Beverly Depot (PlanBeverly, p. 108). ▶1:01:54 ▶1:24:31 ▶1:27:36
• A letter from a Ward 5 resident who served on PlanBeverly's resident steering committee said the planning consultant's original draft imagined this stretch becoming a denser, walkable, village-like neighborhood around the station, with a new street grid and broader zoning changes, and that much of that detail was dropped from the final plan. The letter said this project arrives without those changes, trading a large suburban-style store for a large suburban-style apartment building. The adopted plan recommends a neighborhood planning study of the station area (p. 40). ▶1:32:55 ▶1:33:26

What the board decides

The chair laid out three separate decisions. ▶20:28 ▶21:03

• Site plan review. The board's look at how the project sits on its lot: the building's placement, driveways, parking layout, drainage, landscaping and lighting. The chair said it “cannot be denied except under extraordinary circumstances,” but the board can attach reasonable conditions.
• The parking special permit. Whether to allow 281 spaces where zoning requires 367. This is the decision where the board has latitude, the chair said: it weighs set factors and puts its reasons on the record.
• The affordable units. The city's inclusionary housing ordinance requires them. The board checks that the plan complies and cannot deny this part.

Next. Of the approvals named at the hearing, the Zoning Board has already allowed the height, and the Planning Board's three decisions remain; they pick up November 17. Before then, the Parking and Traffic Commission and the Design Review Board review the plan and report back. They have it on their November 4 and November 5 agendas. The board also voted 6-1 to ask the Clean Energy Advisory Committee for comments, and the chair said that review would not hold up a vote. ▶24:52 ▶1:46:43 ▶1:50:27

Senior housing proposed off Boulder Lane, and a community meeting November 5

Not from a meeting: the Mayor's office, as reported by The Beverly Beat, and city records

A developer has proposed a 55-and-older development off Boulder Lane in Centerville, in Ward 6: a multi-story assisted-living building and a series of smaller two-story apartment buildings, 250 to 300 units in all, according to the Mayor's office, as The Beverly Beat reported. The land is privately owned, and its sale listing shows it under agreement. The developer has not been named. No plans or applications have been filed with any city board, and no board has acted.

The November 5 meeting. The Mayor's office invited residents to a community meeting “to discuss the proposal” on Thursday, November 5, at 6:45pm at Centerville Elementary School, moved from October 27. The start time is from a post by Ward 6 Councilor Matt St. Hilaire. It is not a board hearing. The zoning permits a project like this needs are granted by city boards after a public hearing, so nothing is decided at a community meeting.

The land. The property, 128 Boulder Lane, runs along the north side of Route 128 from Grapevine Road, at the Wenham line. It is 26 acres on the Beverly side, city records show, and the listing says it continues into Wenham. The Beat describes it as woods and wetlands; city maps show wetlands on about 3½ of the Beverly acres. The parcel is not conservation land. Its closest neighbors are house lots on Fieldstone Lane and Kennel Hill Drive, and conservation land held by the city's Conservation Commission and by the Essex County Greenbelt Association lies a few hundred feet away along Boulder Lane.

The zoning. The land is in the IR district, meant mainly for offices, research and light industry, where housing is not allowed without a special permit. The one housing use the district lists that fits a 55-and-older plan is what the zoning calls “subsidized elderly housing”: a development where at least 80% of the units have a resident 55 or older, at least 15% are deed-restricted as affordable, and at least 10% are built for people with disabilities. A state-licensed skilled nursing facility is also allowed by special permit.

Where the city decides. If the developer files plans for housing under the zoning as it stands, these city boards would decide, each after a public hearing:

• The Zoning Board of Appeals, on a special permit for the use.
• The Planning Board, on a second special permit, in addition to its standard site plan review. The whole parcel lies inside the city's Water Supply Protection Overlay District, which protects the drinking water supply for Beverly and Salem. Any multifamily housing there needs this permit, and the board may grant it only if the project does not harm water quality. The Conservation Commission, the Board of Health and the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board review the application first.
• The Conservation Commission, on any work in or near the wetlands.

Ward 6 Councilor Matt St. Hilaire told The Beverly Beat he had not seen plans, and named traffic, schools, and police and fire services as his concerns. The Beat said it had asked the Mayor about the proposal and had not heard back.

The Planning Board backs the data center pause, 7-0

Planning Board · Tuesday, October 27 · Order #250

The Planning Board voted 7-0 to recommend that the Council adopt the proposed pause on data center applications. The pause would run through November 30, 2027, or end sooner if the city adopts zoning rules for data centers. Planning Director Darlene Wynne said she knows of no data center project proposed in Beverly. ▶2:00:43 ▶9:07 ▶6:53 ▶11:29 Issue 5: the pause and the state's order

What counts as a data center. Beverly's zoning does not list data centers as a use today, so someone could try to build one under a use the code already allows, Wynne told the board. The order defines a data center as “a building or group of buildings, the primary use of which is to house computer systems, servers, data storage equipment, networking equipment, and associated infrastructure necessary for the processing, storage, and distribution of data and digital applications.” It sets no minimum size, unlike the state's order, which covers projects over 25 megawatts. While the pause runs, the city could not accept or approve building permits, special permits, site plan approval or any other zoning approval for one, in any part of the city. The board recommended the order as written. The order's text (p. 40) ▶7:09 ▶2:00:29

The Council holds its own hearing November 9 at 7:30pm in the Middle School library. Adopting the pause takes a two-thirds vote of the Council, six of nine. A resident at the October 27 hearing asked the city to publicize that date widely. ▶15:16

A bill to track and publish Beverly Airport noise passes the House

Not from a city meeting: the Legislature's record · House bill 5708

The problem it answers. For several years, neighbors of Beverly Regional Airport, many of them in Danvers and Wenham, have complained about noise from “touch and go” flights: practice landings in which a plane touches down and takes off again without stopping, often several times in a row during pilot training. In 2022 Senator Joan Lovely said interest in flight schools rose during the pandemic, that most of the noise came from these flights, and that the airport's operations are overseen largely by the Federal Aviation Administration rather than by the city or town governments, as Patch reported.

What the bill does. It does not limit flights. It sets up a yearly cycle of data, public questions and guidance, for this airport only, starting January 1, 2027 if it becomes law (bill text):

• Collect and publish. Every year from April 1 to October 1, the state's aeronautics division would collect every noise complaint made to the airport, by website, phone, email, letter or in person, and post them monthly with the day and hour of each. It would also post monthly counts and times of touch-and-go flights from the control tower. The data stays online permanently, and each December the state sends it to the Legislature's transportation committee leaders and the state transportation secretary. The bill does not say why it covers only April to October.
• A public meeting. When at least two airport commissioners ask, the Airport Commission must hold a public meeting on the noise reports, where anyone can question the commissioners and the airport manager. The commission is a City of Beverly board: nine members appointed by Beverly's mayor with City Council approval, two of them Danvers residents, Danvers says.
• Better practice. Every year the state would give the airport guidance on a “Good Neighbor” policy, to help flight schools and pilots understand the noise touch-and-go flights make for neighbors within three miles of the runways. The airport would post the policy and give a copy to every pilot, student pilot and badge applicant.

For and against. At a July 2025 hearing, residents and officials from Danvers and Wenham asked the state to collect and publish the noise data. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a national pilots' group, said it supports voluntary “fly neighborly” programs but opposed the bill as then written, warning that federal law limits what states can require of pilots, according to a summary of the hearing. The version filed in 2025 had badge applicants sign a promise to follow the policy (H.3713); the version that passed has the airport hand them a copy.

Where it stands. The House passed it October 26, and the Senate sent it to its Rules Committee October 29. Representative Sally Kerans of Danvers first filed it in 2023 with Senator Lovely (H.3358) and again in 2025 with Representative Hannah Bowen. The House passed a version offered by Representative Thomas Walsh of Peabody, with Kerans, Lovely and Bowen as cosponsors.

No essay on the elementary MCAS, and a rule for e-bikes on school grounds

School Committee: curriculum and student life subcommittee, and Committee of the Whole · Wednesday, October 28

A shorter writing test. Students in grades 3 to 5 will no longer write an essay on the state's English test this spring. They will write shorter and longer responses instead, and no grade will be tested on narrative writing, district staff told the committee. The state's education department confirms the change for the tests given in spring 2027. ▶47:50

Why the state changed it. The state's reason is testing time. The changes come from educator feedback over several years, and shorter testing was “one of the main concerns we continue to hear,” especially for English, its director of test development said in a May 11 webinar. Reading passages get shorter, and the new extended responses ask for one to two paragraphs instead of an essay. The state gives no separate reason for dropping narrative writing, saying only that schools should keep assessing it themselves. The test also adds questions on grammar, which district staff said has not been a focus on the MCAS in a very long time, and the district is adjusting its curriculum for both changes. ▶46:56

Principals also presented last spring's results school by school, and Cove Elementary's principal said the state named it a “school of recognition.” ▶27:15

E-bikes and scooters. A proposed policy on powered bikes, scooters, skateboards, hoverboards and similar devices would apply across school grounds, including athletic fields and tracks. Wheelchairs and other devices used by people with disabilities are excluded. Any discipline would need a separate change to the discipline code, staff said. One member asked for room for students who rely on a scooter to get to school. The subcommittee voted 7-0, with one abstention, to move it forward, and the full committee takes it up for a vote November 18, along with a policy for school trips abroad. ▶1:00:21 ▶1:01:14 ▶1:02:50 ▶1:04:56 ▶1:06:43 ▶2:16:15

Nine affordable condos for buyers 55 and older on Balch Street

Not from a meeting: the city's affordable housing page

Beverly Landing, a new 60-unit condominium building for buyers 55 and older at 50 Balch St in Ward 3, is taking applications for its nine affordable units: one one-bedroom at $333,400 and eight two-bedrooms at $375,900. They go to the first eligible households to apply with a mortgage pre-approval. Household income can be at most 80% of the Boston-area median, assets at most $275,000, and at least one member must be 55 or older. Limits on the resale price keep the units affordable for future buyers. An affiliate of Cummings Properties is building it, and the Regional Housing Services Office handles the applications, according to the application (p. 1).

Lynch Park: the city asks for its share of the seawall design

Not from a meeting: the city's Community Preservation application

The state's $430,456 grant for the Lynch Park seawall covers 80% of the cost to finish its design and permits. The city has now applied to its Community Preservation Committee for the other 20%, $107,614, for a total of $538,070. The work takes the design of 2,000 feet of seawall and revetment, the sloped stone along the shore, from 50% to 90% complete and secures the local, state and federal permits, through June 2028. Issue 5: the state grant

Who else is asking. The city filed Lynch Park outside the committee's regular cycle. The regular round, Round 14, drew seven pre-applications by its October 8 deadline, asking for about $1.45 million in all, according to the committee's page:

• First Parish Church bell tower, 225 Cabot St: up to $500,000 to stabilize and restore it. (pre-application)
• Beverly Golf & Tennis clubhouse windows, first floor: $278,000, with a second phase planned for next year. (pre-application)
• Cooney Field, from the Recreation Department: $200,000 toward new lights and stands. (pre-application)
• O'Bear Park playground, Recreation Department: $175,000 to replace the city's oldest play structure. (pre-application)
• McPherson Youth Center, Recreation Department: $150,000 to power and replace the lights on the basketball courts and skate park. (pre-application)
• 39 Bow St, from Albanian Boston Community: $120,000 for a fire sprinkler system in a building the Historic District Commission found historically significant. (pre-application)
• YMCA fitness trails, 254 Essex St: $25,000 toward about three-quarters of a mile of free public trails. (pre-application)

A pre-application only asks the committee to rule a project eligible. It announces eligibility November 30, full applications are due January 13, and its recommendations go to the City Council in mid-April, according to the schedule.

Coming up through November 23

• Nov 3State electionTomorrow. Polls open 7:00am to 8:00pm. The superintendent said it is also a professional development day for the schools.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• Nov 4Parking and Traffic Commission: 37 Enon St, Essex and Cole Streets8:30am at the temporary City Hall, 195 Cabot St, first floor conference room, and online. Its recommendation to the Planning Board on the 37 Enon St plan and parking special permit, continued from an earlier meeting. It also starts a review, asked for by the City Council, of eight spots along Essex Street and Cole Street in Centerville, beginning with which to take up first.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• Nov 4School Committee6:00pm in the Middle School library, 502 Cabot St, and online.
• Nov 5Design Review Board: 37 Enon St6:30pm at the temporary City Hall, 175 Cabot St, first floor large conference room. Site plan review of the Stop & Shop site's apartment building, plus three sign applications.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• Nov 5Boulder Lane community meeting6:45pm at Centerville Elementary School, called by the Mayor's office on the 55-and-older proposal. Time from Ward 6 Councilor Matt St. Hilaire.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• Nov 5Parks and Recreation Commission7:00pm at the Senior Center, 90 Colon St. Updates on Community Preservation projects, among them Balch Playground phase 2, the Holcroft Park splash pad and the Gillis Park pavilion, and on this round's applications from Obear Park, Cooney Field and the McPherson Youth Center.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• 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.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• 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. No renewal decision had been announced.
• Nov 17Planning Board: 37 Enon St and Waring School7:00pm in the Middle School library, 502 Cabot St. The 37 Enon St hearing continues, with the traffic study. Then a public hearing on Waring School's plan for 38 Standley St.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download
• Nov 18School Committee: policy votesSecond reading of the policies on powered e-bikes and scooters and on school trips abroad. The Clean Energy Advisory Committee also meets this day.
• 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.
  + calendar▼

  Google CalendarOutlookApple, or download

Design Review Board notice (p. 1)Parks and Recreation notice (p. 1)Agendas