Town Notes
Published on June 27th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Town Administrator search Selectman will begin interviewing the four finalists for the position of Stoneham Town Administrator at 7 p.m. on July 17. The meeting at Town Hall is open to the public, and the interviews will continue on July 18 at the same time and place.
The finalists are David Berry of Maynard, the Town Coordinator of Bolton; Joseph Gregory of Lynn, former chief administrator of a community in Newfoundland, Canada with a $20 million annual budget; Robert Markel, Ph.D. of Springfield, Executive Direc-tor of the Boston Management Consortium; and David Owen of Bedford, the Interim Town Administrator of Douglas.
At the June 26 meeting, each Selectman listed five choices from the 10 candidates interviewed, and then the board examined overlap in this “matrix” of results, as Chairman Tony Kennedy called it, to come up with the final four.
Gutierrez project
Representatives Paul Casey and Michael Festa (Ds-34th and 35th Middlesex) said that they will oppose Bill 4180, which if passed would prevent widening or adding traffic signals on Woodland Road and thereby kill the proposed Gutierrez Company office park on the old hospital site.
Senator Richard Tisei (R-3rd Middlesex) said that he had not yet met with all parties involved. He plans to do so before speaking to the issue.
Festa, who represents Melrose as well as Stoneham, said that although Stoneham officials acted to the letter of the law in discussing and approving the Gutierrez project, “there wasn’t a fair capturing of the concerns of everyone involved.” But Festa insisted that communication and negotiation would provide the best solution, not legislation.
Selectmen agreed, voting unanimously to send letters to the legislators formally urging opposition to 4180.
Low income housing
Symes Associates plans to apply for a state comprehensive permit to construct 30 apartments on a parcel of property at the corner of William and Pomeworth Streets.
“That’s the plan,” said Attorney Charlie Houghton. He represented Symes Associates before the Planning Board but added that he does not handle comprehensive permits.
Last week the Stoneham Planning Board denied the special permit petition from Symes proposing a 15 townhouse development on the property.
“The problems the board had were two many units for that location and site access,” Planning Board Chairman Gus Niewenhous summarized.
Niewenhous voted in favor of the petition, but opposition from members Frank Federico and Kevin Dolan was enough to kill the petition, with Steve Catalano and Mark Shamon abstaining.
A comprehensive permit, under Chapter 40B of Mass General Laws, gets around local zoning regulations and requires only a lenient reasonableness test by the local board of appeals. The developer must then offer one quarter of his units as low income housing as defined by the state.
The logic behind comprehensive permits is that suburban communities will not provide enough low income housing without a nudge from the Government. This may be true due to an elitist and racist stigma often associated with low income housing. But, in some cases, developers float the spector of 40B to bully there way around local rules.
“The members of the Planning Board voted without fear of coercion on Chapter 40B,” Niewenhous said. “And the petitioner did not mention it either.”
But not soon after the meeting, rumors were flying — now confirmed.
Stonehamites may benefit from quality low income housing. But many may worry that 30 units are going where the Planning Board worried 15 wouldn’t fit.
Help fire victims
On Thursday night, June 21, 2001, former Stoneham residents Cheryl (Brown) Lecomte and her two sons, Richie and Brian, were burned out of their residence in Wilmington.
They were not hurt, but their only possessions salvaged from the fire and water damage were some clothes.
A fund has been set up at StonehamBank to help the family replace what they lost in the fire. Please make checks out to Cheryl Lecomte and mail them to StonehamBank, Attention to Bill DeNapoli, 80 Montvale Ave., Stoneham, MA 02180.
Bike path update
Town Counsel Bill Solomon is negotiating with Stoneham property owner Dale Halcheck about who will own what portion of a strip of railroad right of way land along Maple Street that is needed to complete the bike path envisioned by the Tri-Community Bike / Green-way Committee.
The parties may split the parcel. One party may buy the whole thing and grant an easement to the other. A retaining wall may be necessary to divide the proposed path from an access road to a building owned by Halcheck.
Town Meeting voted in May to allow the town to negotiate for use of this MBTA-owned land.
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