News

Shore offers city free use of fields

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
Published: July 10, 2009

BEVERLY — City and school groups will get free use of the fields and gymnasium at Shore Country Day School under a new agreement between the city and the private school.

Shore Country Day will provide the space at no charge for both the Recreation Department and the Beverly Public Schools, according to Ward 6 City Councilor Judith Cronin.

The arrangement is the latest to be worked out by the city's Payment or Services in Lieu of Taxes Committee, which Cronin established last year to seek voluntary donations or services from institutions that are exempt from playing property taxes.

The use of the fields at Shore Country Day, on Cabot Street, will help to "alleviate the shortage of practice areas for the city's athletes" with construction underway at Beverly High School, according to a press release from the PILOT Committee.

The committee also announced an extension of an agreement with Montserrat College of Art, which has been contributing $15,000 per year for maintenance of the Beverly Common since the college bought the Hardie Building next to the common in 1999.

That original agreement also included academic and scholarship programs for Beverly students and faculty. The college plans to add a second full-tuition scholarship to a Beverly student and half-day workshops for Beverly Public Schools teachers twice a year.

The PILOT Committee has now reached agreements with three nonprofit institutions. In March, the Beverly School for the Deaf agreed to provide Beverly residents with reduced tuition for its preschool program.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by e-mail at pleighton@salemnews.com.