Published in the June 19, 2020 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Ruth Clay, Health Director for the district that comprises Wakefield and Melrose, said that the number of COVID-19 cases in both communities remains “flat.” A portion of last night’s Board of Health meeting was devoted to a joint session with both the Wakefield and Melrose health boards.
Currently, the total number of confirmed cases in Wakefield is 311, while Melrose is at 241, Clay said.
She noted that Wakefield’s Town Hall is now open 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. by appointment. Melrose City Hall is not open yet, Clay said. City Hall employees will be allowed to come back after July 6 with just one person at a time in any office space. All city employees are still being encouraged to work remotely if they can.
Clay said that Wakefield began its planning process for re-opening government offices earlier and is therefore further along than Melrose. A date has not been determined when Melrose City Hall will open to the public.
With COVID-19 numbers now stable in both communities, the Boards of Health decided that they no longer need to meet jointly every week and will resume holding separate monthly meetings.
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The Wakefield Board of Health hopes that the proposed ban on foam food packaging is indefinitely postponed at Saturday’s Town Meeting. Article 27, which proposes the ban, was on the agenda of last night’s meeting, held via Zoom teleconferencing.
During last night’s discussion of Article 27, local resident Robert Vincent joined the meeting. He expressed several concerns with respect to the article, which would prohibit the use of foam polystyrene food containers and packaging by food service establishments and the sale or use of those products by any business in the Town of Wakefield.
While he said that he did not oppose the concept of the ban, he was concerned that while the Health Department will be tasked with enforcing the ban, the Board of Health was not brought into any of the discussions related to drafting the proposed bylaw.
He was also puzzled as to why the fine structure for violations of the proposed foam container regulation are different than for violations for the plastic bag bylaw.
Vincent said that he hoped that the measure would be indefinitely postponed at Saturday’s Town Meeting until some of these issues can be addressed. He noted that the proposed regulation would not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2021 and there is another Town Meeting in the fall where a better proposal could be presented.
Wakefield Board of Health chair Laurel Gourville agreed, noting that the Board of Health had not had an opportunity to weigh in. She also felt that this may not be the time to impose more restrictions on restaurants that are now struggling to get back up and running.
Health Director Ruth Clay noted that Melrose has delayed implementing its ban on foam containers until July 2021 for that very reason.
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The Board of Health held two public hearings related to variances requested by homeowners having chickens on their property.
The board granted a variance to Sarah Colvin of 7 Norway St. The planned chicken coop is not the required 50 feet from all property lines. The coop will be just 30 feet from the Prowse family’s property at 28 Kingmont St.
The hearing became contentious when abutter Rosellen Prowse objected to the granting of the variance and questioned why the regulations existed if they could be waived in individual cases.
Prowse said that there are many coyotes in the area and she feared that chickens would attract more coyote activity.
The board said that they could not determine if allowing the coop would increase risk and noted that there are many other chicken coops in town and no complaints have come in when they are done properly.
The vote to grant the variance was unanimous.
In the other case, the board determined that a variance was not required as the homeowner at 8 Webster St. just wanted to increase the number of chickens that she already has. However, some questions were raised regarding the existing fencing and whether it complied with the regulations. It was determined that further inspection of the current setup is needed to determine what has to be done before any increase in the number of chickens is allowed.
