Thursday, April 11, 2013
Selectmen approve transfer of unneeded VFW liquor license to new restaurant (which will have a movie theater too).
Palmers Restaurant, owned by Chef John Palmer Ingalls, won approval Wednesday night of a common victualer license and the transfer of a license from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post to the restaurant. The approval required a two-step process by the Board of Selectmen. The Chaplain Lyman Rollins Post #2005 VFW at 321 West Shore Drive was granted a new All Alcoholic Beverage License, which was then transferred to the Warwick Entertainment, doing business as Palmers at the Warwick. The VFW held the rights to the town-issued liquor license, although it did not really need it. The post met all the requirements passed by Congress for a "War Veterans Club License." The VFW could not hold two licenses. So it had one liquor license to sell to …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Selectmen hope state board will grant several variances in making building handicapped accessible, but the latest estimate of making repairs to the iconic building comes in at nearly $2.47 million.
Repairing Marblehead's trademark Abbot Hall bell tower may cost almost $2.47 million. That is the number that the Selectmen agreed would be presented to the Town Meeting this spring for its approval. Previous estimates had pegged the bill at $2.1 million. The Selectmen were told last week that the estimated costs of making the building accessible for wheelchairs would be an additional $344,743. That would include making at least one of the first floor entrances handicapped accessible. The town is hoping that the state Architectural Access Board will grant several variances on making the 137-year-old building handicapped accessible. The state board did grant several variances in the renovations of the Old Town House building. Last month, …
Friday, February 15, 2013
Bankruptcy trustee for popular bar and restaurant asks Board of Selectmen to renew license so it could be auctioned off.
The Board of Selectmen voted 4-0 this week not to renew the full liquor license owned until last fall by Sweeney's Retreat. That vote was a disappointment to the bankruptcy trustee, who wanted to auction off the full liquor license to raise money to pay off the creditors of Sweeney's Retreat. It is likely to set off a fight before the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and before the federal bankruptcy court. Kathleen Cruickshank with the law firm of Murphy & King, the trustee for the Sweeney's Retreat bankruptcy, said her firm is "trying to avoid litigation" over the license renewal. "We prefer to work consensually." The Sweeney's Retreat license, one of 20 the state allocates to Marblehead, came up for renewal on Nov. 30…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Selectmen Chair Jackie Belf-Becker calls report 'sobering,' as board votes to place issue on the Town Meeting warrant.
Repairing Marblehead's trademark Abbot Hall bell tower will cost $2.1 million — and it may take most of 2014 to fix the extensive damage caused by weather over the last 137 years, the Board of Selectmen were told at their meeting Wednesday night. And it could cost much more if the state Architectural Access Board does not grant variances, as it did with the Old Town House, that would require the town to make Abbot Hall more handicapped accessible. The AAB could require the town to make one or more of its three main entrances handicapped accessible, the Selectmen were told. After only a few questions and comments, the Selectmen voted unanimously to place the repairs for the clock tower on the Town Meeting warrant this spring. Selectman …
42.502755
-70.852587
Abbot Hall, Town of Marblehead
188 Washington St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/repairing-the-abbot-hall-clock-tower-will-cost-at-least-2-1-million
183285
/locations/8812914
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Architects to unveil scope and cost of work next Wednesday.
The Abbot Hall clock tower has been a landmark for Marblehead residents and visitors for generations. Probably to no one's surprise, the 137-year-old structure needs a makeover, leak repairs, brick repointing and replacement of rotten wood. The Board of Selectmen are scheduled to meet next Wednesday night to hear architects from McGinley Kaslow and Associates of Somerville present the results of their review and estimates on the cost of the work. Town Administrator Jeff Chelgren postponed until the Selectmen's meeting revealing how much the repairs will cost or how extensive the repairs would be. "The Selectmen will receive their first presentation on the issue at their February 13th meeting," Chelgren wrote in an email. "At that time the …
42.502755
-70.852587
Abbot Hall, Town of Marblehead
188 Washington St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/selectmen-to-consider-repairs-to-abbot-hall-tower-and-clock
183285
/locations/8763626
Friday, January 25, 2013
Selectmen agreed to offer the house at 57 Green St. for $70,000.
After trying last fall to sell the town-owned home at 57 Green St., the Board of Selectmen Wednesday night agreed to put the 840-square-foot house and the 2,425-square-foot lot on sale for $70,000. "I think there will be interest at that level," said Rebecca Curran, the town's chief procurement officer and town planner. The town had tried to sell the house, which is half of a duplex. Marblehead acquired the property through tax foreclosure for $137,500. The attached house has a number of "deferred maintenance issues," she said. Because the brown, wood-sided home, built in 1850, is attached to another house, it presents some "unique" challenges, Curran said. She said the offers the town received last fall were below the minimum set by the …
42.506859
-70.857441
57 Green St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/green-63901876
/locations/8671768
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Town Meeting approved purchase or remediation of contaminated properties with homes last year.
After the lengthy fight over capping the 61-year landfill and purchasing or remediating contaminated properties adjacent to the transfer station, the boards of selectmen and health are now trying to finish the job. At issue: Dealing with the remaining vacant land that also is believed to be contaminated. The two boards met Wednesday night in executive session for about 15 minutes to discuss the contamination issues. There was no public discussion after the selectmen returned to open session, except to say the two boards met to discuss the value of real estate property. The boards would like to resolve the issue so any action or payments can be presented to the spring Town Meeting. Last year the Town Meeting agreed to spend $18 million to …
42.51351
-70.85802
Town of Marblehead Transfer Station
5 Woodfin Ter, Marblehead, MA
/articles/selectmen-board-of-health-discuss-taking-contaminated-vacant-land
183288
/locations/8663730
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Board of Selectmen find desired compromise after passing a motion that required two arguing parties to hash out their differences in the hallway.
Sometimes the best place to solve a local dispute isn't around the big wooden desk in the main conference room of Abbot Hall. Sometimes all it really takes is asking two arguing parties to step out into the hallway and have a long overdue conversation. That is exactly what happened at Wednesday night's meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Project managers overseeing a construction project at the Adams House on Front Street made a formal request to board members to grant them a four-week extension on a scaffolding permit issued in November. Making the request was Bruce Greenwald, of the Marblehead-based D. Bruce Greenwald Architects and project manager Mark Driscoll, both of whom described how the restoration project was hindered by a winter …
42.502755
-70.852587
Abbot Hall, Town of Marblehead
188 Washington St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/selectmen-quell-adams-house-dispute
183285
/locations/3785555
42.507078
-70.844392
147 Front St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/selectmen-quell-adams-house-dispute
/locations/3785556
42.50679
-70.844668
The Barnacle
141 Front St, Marblehead, MA
/articles/selectmen-quell-adams-house-dispute
183369
/locations/3785557
Peter Lake, LAKE Real Estate
3:11 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Why does the state get to dictate how many liquor licenses Marblehead is allowed to have? Yes, I know it's the state law, made by state legislators, so let me ask again, "Why does the state get to play nanny-state with Marblehead?" So what if we want to have 20 restaurants all lined up in a row, each serving beer or wine or liquor or all of them? Let the market dictate or at worst, the selectmen… more ›