Norwood Selectmen Eye Early December Special Town Meeting Amid Growing Warrant Articles and Endean Playground Controversy-October 27, 1971

Town Meeting Agenda Swells with Over 30 Articles, Prompting Split Warrants

With a rapidly growing list of warrant articles, Norwood selectmen—led by Chairman John F. Lydon—are targeting the first week in December for the upcoming Special Town Meeting. Correspondent Kathy Salzberg reported that Town Manager Walter A. Blasenak outlined approximately 14 routine appropriation and transfer articles necessary to keep municipal departments functioning.

Town Counsel Walter J. Gotovich advised splitting the agenda, creating a separate warrant for roughly 20 controversial items. The routine warrant will encompass essential funding, including:

• Sewer and house connection appropriations
• Workmen’s compensation and employee sick leave
• Playground maintenance and electrical energy purchases
• $26,000 for a new fire truck (requested by Fire Chief Irving J. Dobson, with delivery estimated at one year)
• Approximately $132,000 in supplementary school department budget requests to restore previous cuts
• An incentive pay plan for full-time police students presented by Sgt. Arthur Groh, estimated to cost $3,000 with 50% state reimbursement.

Recreation Committee Opposes Endean Playground School Site and Questions Deed Restrictions

Controversy flared over the school committee’s proposal to build a new 1,000-pupil junior high school on land at the Endean area offered by Walpole landowner Charles S. Bird. The school committee plans to duplicate the existing Junior High North and renovate the fire-damaged building for the Henry O. Peabody Vocational School, requiring 30 acres to comply with state codes. This would involve borrowing $100,000 to purchase a nine-acre parcel and combining it with 21 acres of existing Endean playground land.

Recreation Director Kevin Dixon and recreation committee member Charles C. Saraca strongly opposed the plan, arguing it would destroy the town’s last unaffected playground. Saraca raised a critical legal question regarding the Bird family’s original deed of gift, which specifies the land is for recreation only—though it permits a “schoolhouse” or pumping station. Gotovich warned that interpreting “schoolhouse” to include athletic fields, grounds, or parking lots could violate the deed: “Any violation could result in reversion of the land to the Bird family… The town could lose the whole shooting match.” Selectmen invited the recreation committee, finance commission, school committee, and building committee to a joint meeting Monday to resolve the dispute.

Planning Board Articles, Flooding Complaints, and Developer Clash

The second, controversial warrant will feature five planning board articles, including:

• A proposal by Dr. William Lovell to rezone land off Nahatan Street for a shopping plaza.
• A proposal by builder Frank Simoni to rezone land off Walpole Street for condominiums or low-income housing under the state’s “anti-snob zoning” law (Thomas Geraghty proposal), which previously faced heavy neighborhood opposition.

Tempers flared during the meeting between Town Engineer Robert A. Hamilton and developer Frank Simoni regarding unapproved plans for Simoni’s single-family residential development off Dean Street. Simoni accused the engineer of “obstructionism” since 1968, while Hamilton stated he never received an approved plan matching the completed work. Planning Board Chairman Thomas A. Riolo intervened, leading Simoni to agree to submit updated plans Monday to secure approval and bond issuance.

Additionally, resident Guy Cisternelli of Redwood Drive lodged flooding complaints with selectmen regarding abutting Cherrywood Drive, prompting Town official Mr. Simoni to address drainage concerns.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger