Select Board unanimously approves $125,000 master plan contract with regional planners

SWAMPSCOTT — January 21, 2015 — Swampscott Select Board votes to hire regional planners for the town's first master plan since 1971. The board approved a $125,000 professional services agreement with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council at its January 21 meeting, following a presentation by Town Planner Pete Cain and MAPC Senior Economic Development Planner Matthew Smith. The contract, funded by a Town Meeting appropriation from May 2014, covers housing, transportation, economic development, natural resources, public facilities, and land use, with a completion deadline of October 31, 2015. One board member pushed back on the sole-source selection, saying her 25 years in the private sector made it impossible to accept skipping a competitive RFP process, but Cain defended the choice by citing MAPC's existing data on the town and a decadelong working relationship. The board also unanimously appointed Tonya Bandrowitz to the Conservation Commission and Asahi Tom as an alternate on the Historic District Commission, and approved a new all-alcohol license for Asian Enterprises at 43 Humphrey Street.