Special OK Needed From State for Brimbal Vote

Gov. Deval Patrick filed special legislation on Thursday night that would allow Beverly to hold a special ballot vote next month at one polling location, according to state Rep. Jerry Parisella, D-Beverly.

The special legislation is needed to allow city voters to decide whether or not to overturn a rezoning a 2.5 acre parcel of land along Brimbal Avenue from industrial to industrial overlay, which would allow construction of a shopping plaza.

The land is currently owned by the state government and if the rezoning is OKed it would be swapped with neighboring land owned by CEA Group of Cambridge, which is where a new connector road would be built between Brimbal Avenue and Sohier Road.

The vote is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 8 from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at Beverly High School. Typically, voters go to polls in each of the city’s six wards, but the decision was made to use one central polling place to save money.

It all started a few days ago when Secretary of State William Galvin’s office contacted City Clerk Kathy Connolly saying state law requires that polls be available at existing polling spots or in adjacent precincts.

“It a quirk in the law because it applies to cities but not towns,” Parisella said.

He said he expects the House of Representatives to take up the proposal on Wednesday and said State Senator Joan Lovely, (D-Salem), who represents Beverly, is working on it in the Senate.

The ballots have to be printed and a notice mailed to all registered voters announcing the move to a central polling place for the special vote, Parisella said.