NEW at 5:50 p.m.: The Select Board voted Monday evening to set July 8, 2-8 p.m., for a special election to decide the fate of the MBTA Communities Act multifamily housing rules approved at Town Meeting this month. Stay with the Current for more coverage…
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The Select Board was set to vote Monday at 5 p.m. on when to hold a special election for the MBTA multifamily zoning referendum. According to state law, the special election must take place at least 35 days after the Select Board’s vote.
“They don’t have the referendum language back yet, but I expect it by 5 p.m.,” said Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer. “(Town counsel) Lisa Mead is waiting for a response from the Attorney General’s Office.”
The decision follows local attorney John DiPiano’s submission of 1,204 signatures to the Select Board office May 12, far exceeding the 300 signatures required to call for a special election on Article 23, the MBTA Communities Act zoning article that Town Meeting approved on May 6.
The signature drive, launched immediately following the Town Meeting vote, was completed in just a few days. “We probably put in 20 hours total,” DiPiano said.
DiPiano and Yael Magen, a resident running for Select Board, are invoking Chapter 405 of the Acts of 1954, a Marblehead-specific law allowing binding citizen referendums on certain Town Meeting votes. This follows two years of heated debate over the town’s compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities Act, which culminated in a 951-759 vote favoring Article 23 on May 6.
According to Select Board Chair Erin Noonan, to overturn the zoning article:
— A majority of referendum voters must vote “no” on approving Town Meeting’s Article 23 decision.
— The number of “no” votes must equal or exceed 20% of Marblehead’s registered voters (approximately 3,315 votes from the town’s 16,576 registered voters).
Town Clerk Robin Michaud estimated the cost of running a special election at $12,000 and noted the referendum couldn’t be added to the June 10 municipal election, as ballots were sent to the printer on May 9.
Article 23 designated three areas — parts of Pleasant Street, Tioga Way and Broughton Road — as multifamily overlay zones, allowing up to about 600 additional units.
Marblehead is to submit its final compliance package by July 14, according to regulations from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. If Marblehead does not comply, town leaders say they are at risk of losing millions of dollars in state grants.
