Proposed North Shore Wood Fire Ban Goes Up In Smoke At Town Meeting

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A proposed ban on all outdoor wood-burning fires in the town of Swampscott went up in flames at the annual town meeting in an overwhelming vote against the warrant article.

Former Board of Health Chair Larry Block's citizens' petition proposed a ban on backyard and beach wood fires, both for fun and cooking, because of health risks and quality-of-life issues.

Swampscott would have become one of 23 cities and towns across the state banning the wood fires that Block and other proponents argued are more detrimental than cigarette smoking.

• Swampscott Proposes Bans On Fire Pits, Foie Gras, Rat Poison

The bylaw would have allowed for propane and charcoal fires on private property, propane fires on beaches, and wood bonfires under a special permit for town celebrations only.

Block argued that Swampscott and Nahant are outliers as the only North Shore towns that allow beach fires, and that as the fifth most densely populated community on the North Shore, there is "no possible way to have a wood fire without adversely affecting the health of your neighbors."

The current Board of Health supported the proposal.

But opposition was clear from early in the debate, from those saying that the ban was a case of government overreach and promoted neighbors reporting each other to the Board of Health if requests to extinguish fires went unanswered.

Town meeting voters did approve codifying the current town policy banning rodenticides on town-owned property into town law. Advocates said the rodenticides amount to animal cruelty to both the rats — and, perhaps much more importantly, to most — the rat predators, such as owls, hawks, coyotes, and eagles, who prey on the rats and then suffer the lingering, and often fatal, effects of the poison themselves.

There was an amendment to the warrant that provided for an emergency-use provision to use the rodenticides.

The law applies to all town-owned and occupied property and parks, and does not apply to private exterminators working in the town.

A proposed ban on the sale of foie gras at all town restaurants and food shops was indefinitely postponed. The article had argued that the food, which some consider a delicacy, amounts to animal cruelty since it is made from force-feeding ducks and geese and harvesting their livers.

Swampscott town meeting voters did approve a town budget that uses $1.6 million in excess tax levy to create a balanced budget for 2027.

Town Finance Committee Chair Eric Hartmann said that while the use of excess tax levy does avoid the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 property tax override, it effectively mimics an override, with the median single-family home tax bill likely to rise about $600 next year.

He said financial forecasts indicate much of the remainder of the tax levy excess will have to be used to balance the budget over the next year or two before a Proposition 2 1/2 override would have to be considered.

Town meeting voters approved $600,000 in capital funding to rehabilitate and make accessible the former ReachArts property at 89 Burrill Street, which is currently the new proposed home of the VFW post, which is being displaced from the 12-24 Pine Street veteran housing development location.

Voters also approved $300,000 in "free cash" spending on new recycling bins that will be required as part of the forthcoming trash removal contract that will include automated pickup.

The town meeting lasted about three hours and was wrapped up in one night at Swampscott High School.