Brought to you by the Marblehead Reporter.
An over-capacity crowd of roughly 120 ground to a halt Monday’s Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on an assisted living facility permit almost before it got started.
“We have never had this many of people show up either at a ZBA or Planning Board meeting,” said Town Planner Becky Cutting after the room emptied. “There is certainly interest.”
The crowd turned out to hear representatives of developers and residents Philip Helmes, Michael Lafayette and Heather Cairns make a pitch for a special permit needed to construct “The Mariner,” a proposed three-story, 87-unit assisted living facility on the old Killam estate.
Selectman Judy Jacobi, a proponent of the development project, said she “expected a large crowd but not this large a crowd.”