Selectmen and Planning Board approve Gutierrez office park
Published on February 7th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - A joint session of the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board approved the Gutierrez Company’s plans to build an office park on the 42-acre former hospital site on Woodland Road.
All Selectmen were present at the Feb. 6 meeting, and they voted unanimously for site plan approval.
For certain uses (research, restaurant and parking), setbacks and 80-foot building height, Gutierrez needed special permit approval from the Planning Board. Planning Board members Gus Niewenhous, Frank Federico, Kevin Dolan and Stephen Catalano were present. They voted unanimously to grant the special permit.
Both approvals were made contingent on several conditions: a light will be constructed at South Street and Main Street; drainage from the site will be connected by a pipe to the drainage system on Ravine Road; no biological research will be conducted on site; hauling of construction materials on and off the site will occur between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.; excavated stone materials will be ground on the site and reused when possible; upon request, everyone within 1,200 will be given a schedule of blasting; and the Town, the MDC — which owns most of the surrounding roads — and developer will work together to implement a plan of area traffic improvements scheduled to take affect as the project progresses and subject to alterations based on monitoring.
Many neighbors present were worried about traffic safety and drainage issues. Some said the project was too big for the area and a threat to the environment.
But Catalano summed up the position of the boards:
“We’re not here to decide between trees or buildings. The Town approved a zoning change just for this project. There are going to be buildings.”
The major question remaining on Feb. 6 was what would be built. The answer is now official — an office park. But questions remain about the details. Engineers for Allen & Majors Associates are looking into the best ways to keep water from residents in the Ravine Road neighborhood, but many options must be cleared with the MDC, which can be a slow and painfully bureaucratic process.
Also, Selectmen voted, separate from the Gutierrez approval, to ask Safety Officer Larry Rotondi to evaluate ways to improve traffic safety in the roads branching out from Woodland Road.
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