A motion to override Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr.’s veto of a sidewalk snow removal ordinance failed at the Peabody City Council’s Thursday, October 22 meeting, drawing four of the eight votes an override requires. Councillors Julie Daigle, Craig Welton, Thomas Rossignoll and Stephanie Peach, who sponsored the ordinance, voted to override. Councillors David Gamache, Jarrod Hochman, Jon Turco, Anne Manning-Martin, Wendy Lattof and Council President Michael Higgins voted no. Councillor Jaclyn Corriveau was absent.
Welton said he was supporting the ordinance so the city would have “something that’s enforceable for absentee landlords” and could help seniors and neighbors with mobility problems, and said he did not expect it to be enforced against residents “trying their best.” Gamache, who had voted for the ordinance earlier, said he would uphold the veto because of “too many ambiguities,” citing calls from the elderly, disabled residents and snowbirds and the prospect of neighbors filing complaints against neighbors. Daigle said she had made a commitment to constituents who “don’t like walking in the middle of the street” and that the council had the same chance four years ago. Lattof, who had originally supported it, said there were “too many what-ifs.” Higgins, presiding as Ward 6 councillor, said he could not support an ordinance that was “almost unenforceable” while some streets were to be exempt on the city’s word.
Two show cause hearings
The council held two show cause hearings on licenses that were not renewed for 2026. Rosa Montes, owner of El Fogon de la Rubia at 76 Walnut Street, told the council she had forgotten to renew the restaurant’s entertainment license after being struck by a car while crossing the street about six months after opening, followed by three surgeries. She said she paid the fine the day before the hearing and had filed the 2026 renewal the previous week. The clerk said 2027 renewals had not yet gone out because the office was waiting on fingerprinting information from the police department. Turco asked that the city record a correct home address for the owner, who said she had moved to Salem a year ago. On Peach’s motion the council voted 10 to 0 to take no action.
No one appeared for Car Depot, the Class 2 motor vehicle dealer at 1 Willard Street, Units 11 and 12. The treasurer told the council that the business’s two parcels had not been paid for fiscal 2026 or fiscal 2027, that the last fiscal 2025 payment was made in May, and that $5,855.60 was outstanding on each parcel, $11,711.20 in all. Peach said the owner had been before the council two or three years earlier, had caught up on several years of back taxes under an agreement and had since stopped responding to the treasurer, the clerk and the council. The council voted 10 to 0 to revoke the license under section 1-10 of the city code.
Fogo de Chao, 495 Lowell Street, 60 Pulaski Street
The council approved 10 to 0 an entertainment license for Fogo de Chao at 210 Andover Street, the former Not Your Average Joe’s space at the Northshore Mall, for televisions and internet radio and for a piano player with one amplifier. The restaurant’s attorney said it opens at 11:30 a.m. daily, closes at 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday, keeps the bar televisions muted and plans a pianist about once a quarter. A late communication from the police department raised no objection. Daigle said a fiscal 2026 personal property tax balance flagged by the collector’s office would have to be cleared before liquor license renewals. The Brazilian steakhouse chain, which also operates in Boston and Burlington, opened the Peabody restaurant on September 14.
A zoning map amendment for 495 Lowell Street was continued to November 12 on a 9 to 0 vote. Hochman disclosed that the parcel directly abuts Temple Tiferet Shalom at 489 Lowell Street, where he is a vice president, that he had not known of the abutment when he took earlier votes, and that the State Ethics Commission’s legal counsel advised him he may no longer take part in any deliberation or vote on the petition. He left the room for the related votes. A special permit hearing for 60 Pulaski Street was also continued to November 12 at the applicant’s request; Peach said it was the last continuance she would grant and that the matter would be heard that night or withdrawn.
Bartholomew Street and Casco Road
Manning-Martin reported from the Municipal Safety Committee, which met earlier in the evening with Police Captain Scott Richards, the mayor and a large group of Bartholomew Street residents. Richards presented five years of crash data: 19 crashes on Bartholomew Street, driven by inattention and cut-through traffic, and nine at Lynnfield Street and Fairview, most of them rear-end collisions. The mayor reviewed the history of the Casco Road and Lynnfield Street intersection, where he said the city’s planned low-cost changes stalled after Lynn sued and filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. He said MassDOT had written within the past day that it was reviewing its restriction and would help set up meetings.
The council passed, on voice votes, motions asking Richards to draft the request for a single enforceable 25 mile per hour limit on Bartholomew Street from Lynnfield Street to Lynn Street in place of three different posted limits, to audit and replace outdated signs, to relocate the speed reader farther from the 20 mile per hour signage, and to work with the Department of Public Services on a crosswalk at the straightaway near Nathan’s Way and Valley Circle. The school bus stops on Bartholomew Street went to the joint ad hoc committee of the council and School Committee. Bartholomew Street speeding and an e-bike item stay in committee. Richards told the committee that stop signs are not to be used to slow traffic under the federal traffic control manual and that he does not favor speed tables on thoroughfares.
Peabody Meadows and Granite Street
Lattof reported that about 29 residents attended a community meeting the night before on revenue ideas for the Meadows golf course and on speeding and parking-lot drinking on Granite Street. Her motion for two speed tables on Granite Street next spring drew objections from Peach, Daigle and Rossignoll, who wanted a police recommendation first, and support from Manning-Martin and Turco. Gamache suggested temporary tables for the seven-month golf season. Lattof withdrew the motion and said she would meet with Richards on speed tables and speed readers. The council passed her motions for “no alcohol” signage at the Meadows and for a citywide review of crossing guard assignments by the joint ad hoc committee. She also announced a festival of trees at Olio during the November 28 holiday stroll to benefit the Peabody Cultural Collaborative.
Also at the meeting
- Manning-Martin referred to the Legal Affairs Committee a letter from the mayor recommending that the council either prohibit data centers or enact a temporary moratorium on siting them, with the understanding that the Planning Board will finish its own recommendation within about a month. She also asked the mayor to brief the ad hoc committee on the golf course and skating rink about the rink lease, which is nearing its end, ahead of budget season.
- Peach sent the authorization to use the construction manager at risk delivery method for the new high school, approved by the building committee earlier in the month, to the Committee of the Whole, and said the architect and owner’s project manager plan to present. Items 7C through 7F went to the Finance Committee, and the council asked the mayor and finance director for updated fiscal 2027 spending figures, including overtime, before tax classification in December.
- Gamache reported that the Board of Registrars agreed on October 1 to staff two police officers per polling place for municipal elections and three for state elections, and said he and State Representative Tom Walsh are arranging a meeting with the state highway division on the lane merge on Lowell Street heading toward Route 95.
- From the Industrial and Community Development Committee, Gamache reported that Weston and Sampson and UTiL presented the North River resiliency plan, which grew out of a 2018 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant and recommends raising buildings and adjusting zoning along the Walnut Street corridor to relieve flooding, and that Andrew Levin of Community Development presented the Centennial Park strategic plan. Both remain in committee.
The meeting is on Peabody TV’s YouTube channel and in the Cablecast video library. Minutes are posted on the city’s meeting minutes page when approved.
