NAHANT — Voters will flock to Town Hall Saturday for a day of democracy.
Polls will open for the local election at 7 a.m. and Town Meeting will convene at 12:30 p.m.
The only contested race is for a seat on the Planning Board, through one resident is running a write-in campaign for Enzo Barile’s spot on the Board of Selectmen. Barile, who has served as the chairman for the past year, is running for re-election to the board.
Alison Ackerman, John S. Bianchi, and Edward Goodrich are all vying for one seat on the Planning Board. The spot was formerly taken by Bianchi, who was elected last year on a write-in campaign, but later resigned, said Town Clerk Margaret Barile.
Bianchi is trying to take back the seat, but is now up against Ackerman and Goodrich.
Thomas Donahue, another member, elected to step down before his term expired. Eugene Canty is running to take his spot for a one-year term, said Barile.
Justin Mahoney, 43, is running a write-in sticker campaign for a seat on the Board of Selectmen. He’s running against incumbent Enzo Barile, who has maintained a seat on the board for three years.
Over the past few months, Mahoney has found himself more involved in issues plaguing the town, and said the time feels right to take it a step further and run for office
Mahoney was a founding member of Keep Nahant Wild, an organization against the expansion of the Northeastern University Marine Science Center. He believes the proposed 60,000-square-foot building is too large for the tiny town and worries about the effects of a seawater intake increase.
If elected, he said he would focus on finding solutions to drainage and sewer problems in town.
But Barile wants to keep his seat on the board.
During his three years on the panel, he advocated for the town’s involvement in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, a voluntary program that encourages and offers community floodplain management activities that exceed certain requirements.
Barile wants to be re-elected to continue working on the town’s Green Community designation, which would provide state funding for reducing energy use and costs, and to seek involvement in the state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which provides support for cities and towns to begin the process of planning for climate change resiliency and implementing priority projects.
He would also like to see the 12 Coast Guard housing units on Castle and Gardner roads sold individually or as separate lots. The four-acre parcel of land contains town-owned structures that date back to World War II, when they were used to house soldiers who worked at a nearby bunker. Nahant has owned the Coast Guard housing property since the late 1950s. Today, the homes are leased to tenants.
Thirty-five articles on the warrant range from funding to replace the town’s 38-year-old Mack engine with a new fire truck to a zoning bylaw that would change the permitting process for projects within the town’s wetlands, which received mixed reactions from residents.
Wetlands permits
According to a document outlining the proposed zoning bylaw amendments, the purpose is “to protect the wetlands, water resources, and adjoining land areas in Nahant by controlling activities deemed by the Board of Appeals likely to have a significant or cumulative effect on resource area values.”
The amendments, which will be presented to Town Meeting, would require permits to remove, fill, dredge, build on, degrade, discharge into and otherwise alter any freshwater or coastal wetlands.
The bylaw would also cover marshes, wet meadows, bogs, swamps, vernal pools, banks, reservoirs, lakes, ponds, quarry pits, rivers, streams, creeks, beaches, dunes, estuaries, the ocean, land under water bodies, land subject to flooding by groundwater or surface water, land subject to tidal action, and all land within 100 feet of any of these features.
Residents who live within the zoning area would be required to apply for permits with the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission before completing projects.
In its recommendation, the Finance Committee said it agrees with and supports the intent of the article, but believes the wording is incomplete.
The Planning Board voted to support the article unanimously, but vice chairman Cal Hastings said he wasn’t happy about vouching for something that he believes is missing several elements.
Fire Department investments
Voters will consider a $54,600 request to buy a new fire truck to replace aging Engine 32. Another article requests $75,000 for the purchase of a temporary structure to house the equipment.
The new engine will be purchased using the federal Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) program, which will provide the town with $445,000 in grant money. The request funds would cover the town’s portion of the cost, according to Fire Chief Michael Feinberg.
The fire truck the town has now was purchased used from a department on Long Island, New York more than 30 years ago.
Department of Public Works pickup trucks
Voters will also decide whether to appropriate $107,000 to fund two new pickup trucks for the Department of Public Works. Two of the trucks the department is using are more than a decade old and are used for daily jobs.
Sewer infrastructure improvements
The Finance Committee recommended more than $4 million for improvements to the town’s sewer infrastructure. The allocation would be the initial investment of a full engineering plan that would cost an estimated $30 million.
But the committee added in its notes that it would hesitate to recommend further spending until key officials, including a permanent Town Administrator and Director of Public Works, are hired, a formal body is in place to oversee the work, and other housekeeping items are in order.
Flood remediation
Voters will be asked to support the appropriation of $175,000 to pay for drainage improvements to the Ward Road and Bear Pond areas. Specifically, the money would be used to dredge a drainage ditch and purchase a permanent or portable pump for the Ward Road neighborhood.