You Asked, Patch Answers

You Asked: What's New With Greenwood Court Case

A variation on the You Asked, Patch Answers, is Who Asked, where we ask a question we think you might be wondering about.

  So, what is new with the court challenge to rezoning the vacant Greenwood Middle School. The Boston Land Court case has been assigned to a Fast Track and is scheduled for a case management conference on April 24 at 11 a.m. The conference is a chance for the parties to talk about scheduling. Here is a defintion of a case management conference, as provided by uslegal.com There are various stages in litigation, such as the filing of a complaint, answers, the discovery process (interrogatories, subpoenae, depostions, etc.), and motions that occur before a trial is held or a decision is rendered. Each stage of the process has a scheduled timeframe in which it must be filed with the court or completed. When a complaint is filed and a case is …

• Photos (1)

Greenwood Court Case Moving to Next Phase

The two sides will receive transcripts and have a month to file briefs.

  The next phase of a court challenge to rezoning the vacant Greenwood Middle School will be distribution of the court transcipt to the two sides. After the transcript is provided, both sides will have 30 days to file legal briefs, said Town Administrator Tom Younger.  The parties can also request final oral argument, he said.  The case got underway Jan. 10 in Boston Land Court. Arthur MacLeod and at least 12 other plaintiffs maintain the rezoning — allowing substantial higher density — is "spot" zoning and impermissable. The town of Swampscott denies that the rezoning is impermissable. On the first day of the trial those providing testimony included neighbors who had filed the claim, and witnesses from the town’s side (Jill Sullivan and …

• Photos (4)

New Condos at Old Middle School Face Stiff Opposition

Groom Construction describes new 41 condos that would be priced from $300,000 to $2 million.

  The builders of the town's first school in 1894 knew they were giving future students one of the best views of the harbor.  But they probably never dreamed that 120 years later condominiums built to take advantage of that same view might be valued at $2 million. The 41 condominiums proposed for the old Middle School site at 71 Greenwood Ave. would be priced from the $300,000s with the penthouses being listed at $2 million, Bill DiMento, the attorney for Groom Construction, said Monday night. That is, if the new condos win approval from two town boards. About 40 residents showed up for the Planning Board's first public hearing on the proposed condominiums Monday night at the Senior Center. The Zoning Board of Appeals will meet on the same…

•  58 Comments
• Photos (3)