Three candidates seek Planning Board seat as write-ins

Published in the March 30, 2016 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The town election on April 11 became a lot more interesting this week, as a three-way race for an open one-year term on the Planning Board emerged.

The race for the open Planning Board seat will be among current Planning Board co-Chairman Alan Dresios, 64 Bourque Rd.; Al Sylvia Jr., 16 Lynnbrook Rd.; and Tomasz Pagos, 6 Pagos Way. Dresios was scheduled to run for the one-year term on the Planning Board, but he did not return his nomination papers before the Feb. 22 deadline.

In addition to the three-way race for the one-year term on the Planning Board, political newcomer Michael Sheehan is running for a five-year term on the board.

The three-way race for the one-year Planning Board seat is the second contested race in the April town election. Housing Authority member Michael Walsh and Planning Board member Richard “Dick” Dalton are running for a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen. Dalton and Walsh are looking to succeed Selectman Tom Terranova, who decided against running for re-election.

Dresios

Dresios said he is looking forward to running for the one-year term on the Planning Board.

“I was going to run anyway,” said Dresios in an interview with the Villager. “This is not the first time I had to run as a write-in candidate. I had to run as a write-in candidate a couple of years ago when there was a mistake on the ballot.”

Dresios said the main issue facing the Planning Board is updating the town’s bylaws.

“The biggest thing we have to do on the Planning Board is getting all of our ducks in a row,” said Dresios. “We have to get our bylaws back to square one because our bylaws have holes in it. We have to do a real critical review.”

Sylvia

Sylvia co-founded the Lynnfield Villager in the spring of 1973 and ran the newspaper until it was sold to the Wakefield Item Company in August 2012. Over the course of Sylvia’s tenure at the Villager, he served as a reporter, editor and publisher. He is the current editor of the Reading Daily Times Chronicle and has lived in town for over 40 years.

“I was involved in the town for such a long period of time, so I decided to go for it,” said Sylvia in an interview with the Villager. “I have lived in town for over 40 years and I know what is going on in the town and I know its people pretty well.”

In a candidate’s statement, Sylvia said he would be a “fair, open-minded independent member of the board.”

Sylvia said the biggest development issue in town is developing land on Route 1 and the Salem Street interchange. He said he “was not in favor” of the CVS proposal that would have been at the Bridgewell property, located at the corner of Broadway and Salem Street. CVS scrapped the project last fall after it failed to get support from abutters, residents and local officials.

Pagos

Pagos has worked for some of Boston’s largest commercial and construction firms as a project manager and estimator, including his current job at Waypoint Companies. After living in South Boston for many years, Pagos came across a land opportunity on Main Street. He has worked with local officials including the Planning Board while building Pagos Way, Lynnfield’s newest subdivision.

“When I saw the seat open up, I thought I would be a good liaison between developers, average citizens and the Planning Board,” said Pagos. “I enjoy serving my community and I am quite excited to get involved in my new hometown where I will be raising my family.”

Pagos said the biggest development issue in town is improving communication and transparency between local officials, residents and developers.

“We don’t have a lot of big stuff going on here, so everything in Lynnfield seems to be scrutinized,” said Pagos. “It’s about communicating early, being transparent, doing the right thing and paying it forward.”