Brimbal Rezoning Gets Council OK

The much-debated rezoning of a 2.5-acre parcel of land off Brimbal Avenue near Route 128 got the OK from the City Council on Monday night.

The move clears the way for the state Department of Transportation and a neighboring property owner, CEA Group, to pursue a land swap. The swap would give the transportation department the land it wants to build a new connector road between Brimbal Avenue and Sohier Road as part of work to the exit 19 exits ramps on Route 128 and Brimbal Avenue.

CEA would then get the property where the connector road currently exists and combine it with land it already owns to move ahead with plans for a $20 million shopping plaza.

The vote was 7-2, with City Council President Paul Guanci and Ward 5 Councilor Don Martin voting against the rezoning, which extends the existing industrial overlay district in the area to the land where the ramps are now. That’s the zoning needed to build the plaza as envisioned by CEA.

Monday night’s City Council vote required a two-third majority to pass. The rezoning had already been unanimously supported by the Planning Board in an advisory opinion to the City Council.

Several councilors said that a shopping plaza will be built on CEA Group’s current property regardless of a zoning change, but the change will allow $5 million in state government-funded roadways improvements to go ahead after the land swap.

“I think that land will be redeveloped either way and there will be more traffic either way,” Houseman said, adding that the land swap allow better traffic flow after the road improvements are completed.

“They are going to build on this site regardless of what we vote tonight,” said At-large Councilor Scott Dullea.

A yes vote, he said, would allow the construction of safer roads in the area and to come up with ways to address the traffic.

 “I’m obviously in the minority up here tonight,” Martin said as part of his comments prior to the vote. His comment was met with applause from the audience that was looking on during a rare City Council meeting in the auditorium at Beverly High School.

Martin said the City Council did not listen to the neighbors most affected by the planned development.

“I’m listening and I am going to vote no,” Martin said.

Guanci said he would support the rezoning if a “less intense” use of property was proposed. Discussion leading up to the vote has included mention of a Whole Foods grocery store and up to three restaurants as part of the plaza. Guanci said he would have liked to see the traffic flow addressed from North Beverly crossing to the area south along Brimbal Avenue.

The rezoning, and the subsequent land swap and traffic improvements, were favored by Mayor Bill Scanlon. Guanci noted that Monday’s vote was the second time he had disagreed with Scanlon in 12 years.

One of two candidates for mayor, Wes Slate, is the Ward 2 City Councilor. He said that Monday’s vote did not give the plaza a complete go-ahead.

“No one can start construction tomorrow,” he said, adding he has “strong support” for citizens advisory committee to review the project as its progresses.

Brett Schetzle, the Ward 6 councilor, said he was impressed by the “amount of activity and caring” from citizens in area of the project, noting, “this is just the start of the process.”

He encouraged residents to scrutinize the developer’s plans and traffic data for the project, which would still require several permits from the Planning Board before it would be built.