Swampscott Board Continues Hawthorne Performing Arts Licenses to June 8 Special Meeting

SWAMPSCOTT -- June 3, 2026, Swampscott Select Board advances Hawthorne performing arts licenses and opens long-term RFP planning for town-owned waterfront property. The board unanimously approved a common victualler's license for applicant John Nicastro's Swampscott Center for Performing Arts at the former Hawthorne restaurant on Humphrey Street, then continued both the all-alcohol liquor license public hearing and entertainment license to a special Zoom meeting June 8, citing a desire for a second public comment opportunity. Nicastro is seeking 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. hours seven days a week, consistent with neighboring Mission on the Bay, Sam Walker's, and the Yacht Club; he said he plans a July 3 open house regardless of license status. Town Administrator Nick Maddox opened a preliminary policy discussion on a long-term RFP for the site, telling the board that "roughly 70 percent" of the document is drafted and asking members to come to the June 17 meeting prepared with core use priorities and a position on whether to use strict guardrails or an open scoring rubric. The Earth Removal Advisory Committee presented its annual permit recommendation for quarry operator Amrise, but the board continued that public hearing to June 17 after Board of Health member and air pollution scientist George Allen testified that three-days-a-year PM10 monitoring is "insufficient to demonstrate compliance with health-based standards", stressing that the data gap does not prove a hazard exists, but that it leaves compliance undemonstrated.