COURTESY PHOTO
St. Paul’s Foundation’s Fr. Andrew Bushell has a vision for the Marian Court property.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Tension is brewing between town officials and Fr. Andrew Bushell over the planned business portion of his intended monastic reuse of the former Marian Court College, also known as White Court.
Bushell, a Marblehead native and executive chairman of St. Paul’s Foundation, a monastic institution of the monks of Mount Athos in Greece, a church, not a nonprofit, intends to turn Marian Court into a Orthodox Christian monastery. He has a purchase agreement in place with the Sisters of Mercy, the current owners of the property at 35 Littles Point Road. They closed the college in June 2015 because of financial difficulties, but Bushell has not closed on the property.
Bushell said his decision to complete the purchase of the Marian Court property hinges on being able to build a small monastic brewery and cider house on the site, inside what is now the Mercy Center. Plans also include establishing a warehouse in Lynn or Revere, which would be used for storage and larger deliveries.
“I would like to clarify that the only way we’re going to proceed with the purchase of the property is with a brewery,” Bushell said at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting. “That’s not any doubt in our mind … It’s our understanding that we do this by right. It’s our understanding that any religious organization has the right to support itself.”
Town officials argue that zoning bylaws do not allow for a brewery in the residential district where the former college is located. The only uses allowed in that district without having to obtain a special permit are a single-family dwelling, a religious use, educational use, child care facility, agricultural use or facilities for the sale and production of dairy products from June to September, according to Peter Kane, director of community development.
Kane said a brewery is not identified as an allowed use in Swampscott, and according to the town’s zoning bylaws, if a use is not specified, then it’s not allowed. He said Bushell could argue that the brewery is for a religious use, but he would still have to go through the town’s building inspector. Depending on the building inspector’s determination, whether the brewery falls under a religious exemption or doesn’t, Bushell or the town has the right to appeal that decision, Kane said.
“Because it’s a residential district, I don’t believe that manufacturing of goods is allowed on the property,” Kane said.
Selectmen Peter Spellios and Donald Hause agreed. Hause said he doesn’t think the brewery would follow the Dover Amendment exemption, the law that exempts agricultural, religious and educational corporations from certain zoning restrictions.
“I don’t believe it’s a use that’s appropriate for the property,” Hause said.
Spellios said it was his belief that a brewery should not be in that neighborhood.
Bushell argued that the Dover Amendment would apply to the brewery. He said it’s traditional for monks to support themselves by the work of their hands. Work and prayer is their motto, he added. In Marblehead, for instance, he supports a small monastic house through the Marblehead Salt Company, which was founded when he returned to the town five years ago.
The salt company provides for the group’s basic needs and allows them to donate to the community and the larger world, he said in a previous interview. The funds are sufficient for a small house, he previously added, but the White Court property is larger and more expensive to maintain, with money also needed to support the group’s mission to help its Middle Eastern brothers.
“It’s very traditional for monastics to brew beer,” Bushell said. “We’ve been making beer for well over 1,000 years. It’s typically how we support many of our communities and also allows us to provide for charitable works.”
Bushell said he thought that a small brewery in the monastic tradition would be most suitable to repair the property, restoring it to the jewel it once was and provide for the group’s charitable works around the world.
He plans for no more than 18 full-time residents at White Court should the sale be completed. There are also plans to repurpose a room for a small chapel.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.