Franklin St. residents, town officials oppose conditions at local business
Published on February 24th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The 4:30 am wake-up calls and "eye sore" views at the Brook Meadow apartments on Franklin Street have gotten a little old for its residents.
They say that repeated attempts to remedy the problem have been unsuccessful and led them to plead with Selectmen Cosmo Ciccarello for help. This plea was recognized on Tuesday night when the Board of Selectmen, per the special request of Selectman Ciccarello, called to order the site plan hearing for D&R General Contracting Inc., a paving company located at 140 Franklin Street.
"The way we look at the whole problem is that ... they haven't been proactive (to try to fix the problems), they've been reactive," said Shawn Rand, manager of Brook Meadow, about D&R. "We're not just making these things up. They've been going on for years and years and years."
Rand explained that the noise has become unbearable for some of the residents of Franklin Street. Trucks, he said, idle for 30 to 45 minutes in the D&R lot well before sunrise and then exit the lot (behind the Wash & Dry Laundromat and Dairy Mart at the same address) with engines that rumble past apartments and houses alike, waking up all in their paths.
"Noise is the biggest problem," Rand explained.
According to another resident, the unsightly nature of the lot is also disturbing.
"It's a junk yard and that's the best way I can describe it," she told the board. "When I sit on my balcony, that's my view. I don't know how the town is allowing that business on Franklin Street.
"It's a total eye sore."
According to acting Building Inspector Gene Argiro, however, there are several other problems at the site. Despite the objections of Charles Houghton, attorney for D&R Contracting, pictures of the D&R lot were displayed for the large gathering at Town Hall and for those at home, watching on television.
These slides showed pipes and concrete blocks strewn across the property as well as the improper disposal of snow which was pushed, along with debris from the site, up to the banks of a nearby stream.
The stream, in fact, is the major concern for the building inspector as well as the Conservation Commission. In another slide, Argiro pointed out that it was common practice at D&R Contracting to power wash the trucks which carry gravel and asphalt, among other items. This results in toxic chemicals, which are contained in the vehicles, to seep into the surrounding ground and, possibly, into the nearby stream.
Argiro said that he recommended that the entire lot be paved to minimize the leaching of the substances into the ground water. He also recommended that a 6-foot fence be constructed around the lot to minimize the impact of noise and sight of the lot on the neighborhood. In addition, he recommended that the site be graded away from the stream and that catch basins, equipped with oil and gas separators, be placed in the most opportune places on the site.
Spring Street resident and former Board of Appeals member Kathleen Sullivan addressed the board and the crowd on her experience with the site. In 1986, she explained, the owners of the property, Laurence and Sharon Rotondi, had requested that they be allowed to open an oil trucking business on the site. The application was denied, Sullivan explained, but the owners allowed the business to open there anyway. According to Sullivan, the business is still in operation at 140 Franklin Street.
"Can they ignore us when we tell them they can't have an oil business in there?" she asked. "It's not an allowable use. Oil companies come under different bylaws than other businesses, especially when they're within 300 feet of a school (Stoneham High School)."
According to Houghton, D&R Contractors will work with the town to remedy the problems that are being experienced by residents. A study on the safety of maneuvering the large trucks in that area will be performed at the expense of the company and a decision on where best to locate oil and gas separators after paving will also be made shortly, the attorney said.
Houghton and his clients hedged at the suggestion of the selectmen that an in-depth study of contamination on the site and on the nearby brook be performed, however.
"I'm trying to be fair," Houghton said, explaining that a previous test on the brook water came up negative. "We're trying to work with you, but we're not covering that."
Board Chairman Al Conti was visibly disturbed by this stand.
"I cannot believe that (the asphalt and trucks are) this close and there's no contamination," he said. "Don't tell me that the one test that you've run is conclusive evidence.
"If we (the town) have to pay for it ourselves then we will."
The matter was continued to March 23 at which time a traffic safety study, parking layout, buffer proposal and catch basin locations are expected.
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