~ Revere City Council Roundup ~

Advocate Staff Report

Good news from Wonderland

  Brian Dakin, the senior project manager for the Revere High School building project, met with the City Council at their meeting this week to update councillors on the project. And the news was good.

According to Dakin, bidding on the project is complete and the new high school is $14.8 million under budget. The money was transferred to a contingency account, and unspent funds will come back to the city. Daken estimated the Massachusetts School Building Authority could save $7 million and the city could see $8 million in savings.

“The project is very healthy financially,” Dakin told the council. “We anticipate delivering the project under budget. The question is how much.”

As for the actual building, Dakin said it is 15 percent complete with foundations and infrastructure. “By the third week in July, steel will start arriving from Canada,” he said.

Dakin did say he expects the furniture and equipment budget to be inadequate because it is several years old.

Councillors questioned what was removed from the plan to save $14.8 million. “Nothing has been removed,” said Dakin. “The savings are a result of market conditions.”

No Comment

  Usually, the Public Comment segments of the City Council meetings are brief. Residents do not often take advantage of the opportunity to share their opinions with the council. But this week, the Council Chamber was busy with a group of people holding signs that read, “Fully fund our schools.” Possibly anticipating a long line of speakers who were at the meeting to voice concerns over school budget cuts, Council President Anthony Zambuto had City Clerk Ashley Melnick read the rules for Public Comment, which specify who is allowed to speak and the topics he or she can discuss.

First up at the podium was Jane Chapin, co-president of the Revere Teachers Association and a fifth-grade teacher at the Paul Revere Elementary School. Zambuto asked for a name and address. But when Chapin said she lived in Boston, Zambuto told her she was not allowed to speak. The Public Comment segment is only open to Revere residents and Revere business owners. Chapin said she has addressed the City Council many times in the past, but Zambuto did not allow her to continue.

Next in line was Winthrop Avenue resident Philip Hancock, a teacher at Rumney Marsh Academy. Hancock passed the residency requirement, but when asked what he wanted to speak about, he said the city budget. Zambuto then told him public comments are limited to issues on the council’s agenda and the budget wasn’t listed. Hancock, like Chapin, was not allowed to talk.

That was enough for the sign-holding school advocates, who walked out of the meeting.

“We follow the rules here,” said Zambuto, who banged his gavel and ended the Public Comment segment.

Appointments and a tribute to Catherine Penn

  The council approved the reappointment of Daniel Occena to the License Commission. The appointment of Juan Jaramillo to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board was tabled until Jaramillo could meet with the appointments subcommittee. The council approved a motion from Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya and Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky to install a portrait of Catherine Penn in honor of her being the first woman elected to represent Ward 2 and the first woman to serve as president of the City Council.

Special permit for 53 Taft St.

  On a favorable recommendation from the zoning subcommittee, the City Council granted a special permit to Zoraida Uran, Trustee of Zoraida Uran Family Trust, to alter and expand a preexisting, nonconforming single-story, single-family dwelling to a three-story, two-family dwelling at 53 Taft St., Revere.

Guidelines for ADUs

  The council supported a motion from Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya that the Mayor request the Planning & Community Development Department, Inspectional Services Department (ISD), Engineering Department, Conservation Commission, Fire Department and City Solicitor to work together to review and evaluate the implementation of the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance in light of the spike in ADU applications throughout the city. Guarino-Sawaya is asking city officials to provide recommendations for strengthening local structural, dimensional and site design standards where permissible under state law. She asked that the review focus on building size, height, setbacks, lot coverage and overall scale of ADUs in relation to surrounding residential properties; detached ADU placement, building massing and preservation of usable open space on residential lots; drainage, stormwater runoff, floodplain impacts and resiliency concerns in coastal and low-lying areas; driveway expansions, curb cuts and excessive paved surface coverage; utility and infrastructure capacity, including sewer, water and emergency vehicle access; whether additional design review or site plan review standards should apply to oversized lots, corner lots and environmentally sensitive areas; measures to prevent overcrowding and overdevelopment of residential lots; and enforcement procedures and penalties for violations of zoning, building and occupancy regulations. Further, that the Planning & Community Development Department provide the City Council with recommendations for any ordinance amendments, design guidelines or administrative procedures necessary to ensure ADUs are developed in a manner that protects neighborhood character, public infrastructure and quality of life while remaining compliant with state law.

Stormwater improvements

  The council approved a request from CFO Richard Viscay for a $50,000 appropriation from the stormwater improvement trust fund for design services for North Revere stormwater improvements. Viscay said that this was solely for design services. The actual work will take place when funding becomes available.

Flock systems

  The council supported Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri’s motion that Mayor Patrick Keefe request the Chief of Police and the Director of Parking to meet with the City Council to discuss flock systems. Flock safety camera networks work with license plate reading cameras and software used by police to detect vehicles and investigate incidents. Silvestri stressed he wants information on how flock systems are used, who has access to the data and how that data is being shared. Some people describe flock systems as a public safety tool, but others criticize them as surveillance systems.