EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Merrimack Valley
Neighbors rally against 32-house development
Published: October 1, 2008
NORTH ANDOVER — Dianna DeOssie gets a pained look when she plays the scenario in her head.
She pictures a truck barreling down Route 114 at the same time a bus is pulling out of the proposed housing development to be built by her Chestnut Street neighborhood. The road is sloped there and by the time the truck realizes it needs to stop, it's too late.
"It's a major safety issue," DeOssie said. "I don't know why they won't address this. It's already unsafe here trying to get on and off 114 at Chestnut Street. Why create another hazard?"
She's not the only one worried.
Dozens of residents of Chestnut, Evergreen and Marion streets have spent the last year attending Zoning Board meetings, contacting state legislators, and writing letters of protest against Orchard Village, a proposed 32-house 40B development on 7.8 acres sandwiched between Chestnut Street and Route 114, a short drive from Stop & Shop.
The development would bring about more than 400 additional trips to the neighborhood every day and neighbors call it an accident waiting to happen.
The Zoning Board of Appeals approved the project in June, but developer Bob Messina appealed several of the conditions to the Department of Housing and Community Development, sending the two parties into ongoing mediation meetings.
They had a mediation hearing on Sept. 22, with another in the works for Oct. 16.
Messina is appealing a setback requirement that would make it impossible to build 32 houses, which his attorney argues is the only way to keep the project financially feasible. He already scaled the project down from 40 houses to 32. He also is appealing a $24,000 fee to the town, a water pump, and payment of the board's legal expenses.
The development is being built under the Chapter 40B affordable housing law. Under the law, developers can skirt local zoning bylaws if they designate 25 percent of the housing as affordable. Another part of the law states that developers can only earn a 20 percent profit on the development.
The Zoning Board, for its part, has tried to keep the neighbors informed, even opening up the beginning of their mediation hearing for public comment, which is not typical, according to Chairman Albert Manzi.
But residents argue that while the board is in mediation with Messina, safety has not been the focus.
"It's really become a second job. We're not going to stop," Chestnut Street resident Sandy Skelton said. "We've showed them we're not going anywhere."
Their issue is that the proposed road in the project would dump traffic onto Route 114, close to the top of a hill, which they say creates a hazard. Some neighbors have suggested traffic lights there. Others said the developer should move the proposed road farther down Route 114, a move that would reconfigure the design and cut down the amount of houses being built.
And that's if it's approved by MassHighway.
If it is not, then the developer would have to meet with the Zoning Board again and would likely ask to route all traffic onto Chestnut Street, the only neighborhood access to Route 114. And Chestnut Street is narrow, with many sharp turns and hills, and it is just as tricky to get on and off Route 114 from it since it is at an angle.
"We were told we should pick our battles, that this isn't one of them," Skelton said. "I know it's impossible to stop a 40B, but we all feel safety is a tremendous battle to pick, whether it's a 40B or not."
Skelton said the neighbors continue to meet on a regular basis and if safety is not addressed, they will end up hiring a lawyer, an expense they've been trying to stay away from. The developer's attorney, Donald Borenstein of Andover, could not be reached yesterday.
"If we need to move forward as neighbors, we'll do that," DeOssie said. "Some people say, 'You're just snob neighbors who don't want the project to go in.' But the issue is absolutely safety."
