Rowley Voters Approve Retail Overlay District, Reject Two Route 1 Rezonings

ROWLEY — May 7, 2019 — Rowley voters approved a new Retail Village Overlay District near Interstate 95 but rejected two separate Route 1 rezoning bids at the May 6 Annual and Special Town Meeting. The overlay district, covering roughly 34 acres along Haverhill Street, passed 134-59 after Planning Board members argued it would encourage rear-parking, street-front buildings, and affordable housing components rather than conventional strip development. A Planning Board-sponsored proposal to rezone approximately 93 acres along the Newburyport Turnpike to business-light industrial failed decisively, 56-156, with residents including Bernie Cohen of 283 Wethersfield Street warning that most lots involved were residential and that the net new tax revenue would amount to roughly $30,000 — "a minimal change for a considerable disruption." A citizen's petition to rezone a single parcel at 293 Wethersfield Street also failed on a voice vote after town meeting rejected 105-65 a request to let a non-resident representative address the body. Separately, voters approved a $20,716,842 FY2020 operating budget, ratified collective bargaining agreements with AFSCME Local 2905 and Teamsters Local 170, and voted to place a question on the May 14 ballot converting the treasurer-collector post from elected to appointed — a change that incumbent Karen Summitt would not face until her current term expires.