Published in the March 29, 2017 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD— The request by National Development seeking a zoning amendment by citizens’ petition at April Town Meeting to allow a movie theater at MarketStreet was summed up in a single sentence for those signing the petition.

The signature page for Article 23 states simply: “Zoning amendment to allow a town center theater use solely in a certain portion of the traditional neighborhood village sub-district within the Planned Village Development District.”

However, the rest of the document that would enable such changes to be made, if this warrant article is passed by the voters April 24, is three pages long. That’s because for the theater to become a reality, multiple changes to Section 9.5 of the town’s zoning bylaw – which regulates MarketStreet Lynnfield as the town’s Planned Village Development District (PVDD) – would be required.

These changes include amendments to the following sections of the zoning bylaw: definitions (section 9.5.4), prohibited uses or activities in the PVDD (section 9.5.6), height in Traditional Neighborhood Sub-District (section 9.5.7.4(b), the parking table under “residential use” (section 9.5.8-1), and the “dimensional and other requirements for total allowable non-residential uses” (section 9.5.7.9).

Q&A session for residents

Residents will have an opportunity to discuss the requested zoning bylaw changes and any implications of those changes during an informational Q&A session called by the Board of Selectmen for Tuesday, April 4 at 7 p.m. at the Al Merritt Center, 600 Market St.

National Development Managing Partner Ted Tye is expected to make a presentation on the requested changes as well. National Development has also launched a website to educate voters from its point of view why the company believes a cinema is a necessary component for the continued viability of MarketStreet Lynnfield and is holding an open house Tuesday, April 11 from 4-8 p.m. at the Merritt Center. This website can be viewed at: YesOnMarketStreetTheater.com.

Petition sponsors

The cinema petition’s chief sponsor was Jennifer Welter, 50 Grey Ln. It was also endorsed by 11 other registered voters whose signatures were certified by the Town Clerk on March 20, the cut-off date for submission of citizens’ petitions for the April 24 Town Meeting warrant.

Also endorsing the petition were: Stephanie Budd, 128 Summer St.; Caitlin Shinnick and Kyle Shinnick, 29 Rockwood Rd.; Nikki DiRico, 11 Mitchell Rd.; Ellen Pierce, 6 Willard Ln., Suzanne Lilley, 22 North Hill Dr.; Paula Rothwell, 6 Wymon Way; Melissa Santo, 920 Summer St..; Keri Wood, 1 Ashwood Rd.; Marilyn Dillon, 300 King Rail Drive and Kelly Flynn, 100 King Rail Drive.

The fact that the Board of Selectmen had not officially learned of the petition’s existence prior to the cut-off date for their submittal led Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford to schedule the April 4 informational meeting in order to give the board members as well as all those interested in this topic a chance to learn about the proposal and prepare questions for National Development in advance of Town Meeting.

Crawford told those in attendance at their March 20 meeting that the selectmen would not be discussing the petition that night but promised that they would hold a “full discussion” on this article at another meeting “so that everybody who wants to be part of that discussion can be here.”

Since the board had already planned to hold a public meeting on Tuesday, April 4 to discuss three other warrant articles with Town Moderator Arthur Bourque, Crawford said he would be expanding the agenda to add the Q&A for the theater, which will be held first.

Prior to Tye’s departure from the meeting, Selectman Chris Barrett asked, “This being the last day to propose a warrant article for Town Meeting and for something that is such a significant change – not just for the neighbors, but for the community of Lynnfield for us to consider – why wait until the last day? Certainly, there are traffic concerns, public safety concerns. There are a number of concerns for all of us to consider.”

Tye said there were several reasons, including the fact that “the warrant for Lynnfield is only open for a month, which is unusual, and it actually runs pretty late in the process. We had a lot of ducks that we needed to line up here. Probably the most important of which was getting a lease signed with this operator.”

The lease was signed with CMX, which Tye described as a “luxury theater group” and “one of the largest such groups in the country.”

“When we went through this the last time there was some question about who the operator was,” Tye said, adding, “That was probably the most significant issue. We had a lot to do to be able to get to this point, and we did get it in under the deadline.”

Barrett told him, “You certainly have a lot of work cut out for you to get that information out and answer the questions that we have.”

Tye agreed. “We have a lot of work to do in a very short period. We have a team of good people who will be out doing it and we will make ourselves available to whoever wants us.”

In addition to the April 4 meeting to be held by the selectmen, the town’s Planning Board will also hold a public hearing on the proposed changes prior to Town Meeting at a date still be be determined, and National Development will also its own forum, at a date to be announced.

Tye said he believes the design planned by CMX “will be the best building in this development. It has a civic quality to it. …We thought of it almost as a performing arts center. Each auditorium will average about 100 seats. It is designed both for families and for an adult night out. It will have a glass lobby with food and beverage available (and) all the seats will be large, reclining seats.”

Public comment

During the board’s public comment session at the end of the meeting, Wallace McKenzie, 4 Debston Lane, said he had wished Tye had remained at the meeting to hear the comments.

“As you are considering these articles, particularly about the cinema, I’d like to ask the Board of Selectmen to remember that a number of agreements have been signed in the past and we ask that you honor the agreements,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie added that comparing past promises based on signed design standards for MarketStreet and what has actually been built, such as “shimmering walls and the advertisements now on walls, it doesn’t give people a lot of confidence about what is being proposed here as a nice state-of-the-art building.”

“If you take a look at the 19-page development agreement that the selectmen signed, there are pieces of (it) that aren’t being enforced right now. If you take a look at the 63 pages of design standards that are supposed to take into account all of the trees, the berm, the types of buildings, there are parts of those that aren’t being enforced now, and nobody seems to care, from the town side,” McKenzie added.

McKenzie referenced a comment made by Tye to the board that night that he had always felt having a cinema would be critical to the success of MarketStreet but he pointed out that as far back in 2007, when this was discusses with the late Selectman Al Merritt, who had been “insistent that there would be no cinema, Mr. Tye, as part of this agreement to have (MarketStreet) built, said, ‘fine, we’ll do that.’”

McKenzie added that Tye’s last request for a cinema was defeated by the voters at Town Meeting, and when Tye subsequently returned to the Planning Board “just to propose the cinema, on two night’s notice 75 people showed up, National Development heard the feedback and said ‘we’re not even going to file an article.’”

McKenzie point out that just “510 days later – less than two years later – he’s back before Town Meeting saying, ‘I need’ and ‘I want the cinema,’ and yet he signed an agreement.”

Dave Basile, 15 Fernway, said, “I feel that this proposal coming at this time for the cinema is disingenuous at best.” Referring to the Planning Board meeting held on Feb. 14 when Tye revealed the first version of a 3-story, 54,000 square foot medical and urgent care facility to be placed behind Davio’s on the Walnut Street side of MarketStreet, Basile said at that point they were told this was the only available site for that building and now they learn that another plan was simultaneously in the works for the site beside Gaslight for this proposed cinema. (The medical building proposal has since been scaled back to two stories by National Development.)

“I would ask in deference to the abutters, the community, multiple past debates, that we postpone this article until the October Town Meeting so that we can vet not only this project but the incredible amount of effort that has gone into re-codification (of the town’s bylaws). We really don’t know the nuances of that,” Basile said.

Basile added, “If we waited 10 years to get here, couldn’t we wait another six months to find out exactly what is going to happen with codification? Do we really need to rush ahead and get this project in?”