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CURRENT EVENTS
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MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
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May 01, 2024
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VOLUME 2, ISSUE NO. 23
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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
MAKING AMENDS
Abatements bring relief to some Questions remain on property tax assessments BY WILL DOWD After months of uncertainty and anger over sharp property assessment and tax increases, many Marblehead residents are breathing a sigh of relief as they receive long-awaited abatement (reduction) notices from the town. According to Board of Assessors Chair John Kelley,
over 80% of the 334 abatement applications submitted were approved, totaling approximately $541,000 in reduced property taxes. “The whole idea of doing this was to get it right,” Kelley told the Current. The Board of Assessors is expected to meet Thursday, May 2, to discuss the results of an audit of the recent assessment
process (It canceled a meeting last Thursday because not enough members of the board could attend). Assessor Karen Bertolino has been placed on paid leave during the audit. For Beth Wheeler, a longtime resident whose property valuation jumped 70%, the abatement was welcome news. Her annual tax bill, which had increased from $7,300 to $10,300, will now be slightly lower than the previous year at around $7,200.
“I’m beyond grateful that [the Board of Assessors] diligently went through and did the right thing,” Wheeler said. “It’s nice to see a town take responsibility and say, ‘We see you. We hear you, and we’re going to look into this.’” David Moran, a resident of Marblehead Neck for 35 years and a tax lawyer, received an abatement of more than $2,600. “I think they guesstimated this and that and everything else,” Moran said. “And that was what broke the camel’s back.”
BACK OUT TO SEA
Deceased humpback whale washes up near Preston Beach
‘Everybody should have another bite at this’ Moran believes that the significant attention to the issue through neighborhood groups and local media facilitated change. “The word got out,” he said. “Otherwise, we’d have to get at least 25 or 30 groups of people together, make a pitch to the board and likely end up in court.” He added, “It would’ve taken ABATEMENTS, P. A13
DEMOCRACY
Town Meeting opens Monday BY WILL DOWD
COURTESY PHOTO / ABBY NYE
A deceased humpback whale washed ashore near Preston Beach on April 25. The young female weighed about 65,000 pounds.
BY LEIGH BLANDER A deceased humpback whale that washed ashore near Preston Beach was towed 1 mile out to sea and secured to a mooring on Saturday, while Harbormaster Mark Souza worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and state Department of Environmental Protection to decide what to do next with the 65,000-pound animal. A decision was expected April 30. The whale, a “pre-adult” female, was 41 feet long and was first spotted Thursday evening. The town hired Smith Marine of Marblehead to pull the humpback off the beach and out to the mooring. “Our diver Doug Cassidy took a strap and wrapped it around the tail,” explained Smith Marine’s Matt
Plauche. “We have a big tow line that floats. The diver attached that to the strap on the tail… then I backed in with the big tug and slowly pulled it” out to sea. Souza explained the town cannot leave the whale there or hope it floats out to sea. “We have to deal with it, and we’re still working on how that process goes,” he said. “We’re learning as we go.” On Friday, Souza said the town might hire a company to dispose of the animal. “They use the whales for science, fertilizer... nothing goes to waste,” he said. In talking with other communities that have removed whales, Souza WHALE, P. A13
COURTESY PHOTO / SMITH MARINE
Smith Marine of Marblehead tows the whale off Preston Beach and 1 mile out to sea, where it was secured on a mooring.
This article is part of a series looking at key warrant articles leading up to the Town Meeting on May 6. Marblehead’s annual Town Meeting convenes Monday, May 6, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Veterans Middle School, 217 Pleasant St. All registered voters are welcome to attend, debate and vote on warrant articles. A warrant is similar to an agenda, and lists all the items that need to be voted on. Additional evenings will follow at the same time and location as necessary. In a preview event at the Judy and Gene Jacobi Community Center on April 24, Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer and Town Moderator Jack Attridge discussed key items on the warrant and unveiled a new electronic voting system that will debut this year. One notable change will be the use of handheld “clicker” devices for voting. Attridge touted the system, which has been used successfully in other Massachusetts communities for over a decade, as a way to increase participation, efficiency and voter privacy. “The clickers are on a very safe network,” Attridge explained. “They have the ability to increase participation in town meeting ... and it also is a time saver.” He noted that the devices will eliminate the need for written ballots and tellers, though he joked, “I’m gonna miss the interaction with the League of Women Voters.” MEETING, P. A15
TOWN MEETING
Select Board reluctantly backs zoning changes
‘Hold in place’ at MHS after ‘active threat’
BY WILL DOWD
BY LEIGH BLANDER
This article is part of a series looking at key warrant articles leading up to the Town Meeting on May 6. The Select Board engaged in a lengthy discussion about the controversial MBTA Communities Act and its mandated multifamily zoning, which Town Meeting voters will accept or reject on Monday. The conversation, initiated by Chair Erin Noonan, focused on whether the board should vote on the zoning article, which they decided not to do. Marblehead is affected by the MBTA
BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
Communities Act due to its proximity to communities with MBTA commuter rail stations. This mandates zoning changes to accommodate multifamily housing. — Tioga Way: 29.8 acres designated for 483 housing units at 17.3 units per acre. — Pleasant Street: 20.6 acres designated for 295 units at 14.3 units per acre. — Broughton Road: 8 acres designated for 119 units at 14.9 units per acre. The proposed districts collectively cover 58.4 acres and allow an average
density of 15.9 dwellings per acre, surpassing the state’s requirement to rezone at least 27 acres. Select Board member Jim Nye expressed strong reservations about the MBTA zoning requirements, calling them “extortion” by the state. “The state has really put towns and cities in a difficult position on this,” Nye said. “On the one hand, they don’t identify what funding they’re going to withhold for non-compliance.” He added, “They could withhold all state funding. It’s really a gamble.” ZONING, P. A15
Marblehead High School students were in a “hold in place” for about two hours on Monday afternoon, after an active threat was called into the police station. Police searched each classroom and brought in a K-9 unit. Anxious parents, reading about the incident on Facebook, gathered at the bottom of the school’s driveway, while TV helicopters circled above. Just before 3 p.m., interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness sent an email saying that police had “determined that there was no identifiable and credible threat” and students were dismissed. For more information, visit MarbleheadCurrent.org.