Town Notes
Published on September 19th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Police Chief semi-finalists
And then there were six —semi-finalists for the post of Stoneham Police Chief.
Town Administrator David Berry scheduled interviews for Wednesday, Sept. 19, and Friday, Sept. 21. The interviews are private. Berry, Stoneham Police Chief Eugene Passaro, Melrose Police Chief and Stoneham resident Rick Smith and Town Personnel Director Betty Luciano are evaluating the candidates. Berry has the authority to make the final decision; the Selectmen can reject the appointment.
The candidates are Richard Bailey of Nashua N.H., an officer in the Nashua Police Department; Robert Coine, Jr. of North Providence, R.I., an officer in the Smithfield, R.I. Police Department; Joseph DelRossi of Wakefield, an officer in the Stoneham Police Department; Michael DiChiara of North Reading, an officer in the Medford Police Department; August Niewen-hous III of Stoneham, Manager of Corporate Safety and Security at Harvard Vanguard and the Stoneham Auxiliary Police Chief.
Niewenhous was added by the ad hoc search committee last week.
For DelRossi, history is repeating itself. He was one of a handful of semi-finalists for the top spot in 1981. Passaro got the job, but the Chief is leaving after Oct. 31.
Berry said he wants to get the new chief in place by mid-October.
“We may need one more round of interviews, and then we’ll know,” Berry said.
Kromel’s controversy, Part I
Kromel’s Playhouse Cafe next to Hank’s on Main could have opened last week, but world events interfered.
The restaurant’s owners were scheduled to go before the Selectmen on Tuesday night. Kromel’s has all its permits and a certificate of occupancy, but no common victualers license.
“I don’t give them the occupancy permit until everything’s set,” Building Inspector Gene Argiro said. “The license is usually a formality.”
After the terrorist attack on Tuesday morning, everything changed. Americans were scared, upset and uncertain about what to do next. The Stoneham Selectmen decided to postpone their meeting for exactly one week.
Selectman Bob Sweeney, who is also in the restaurant business, said he would have preferred a brief meeting to grant the license. Kromel’s had stocked food for the week in anticipation of opening Wednesday.
“We could have met, had a moment of silence, handled the license and gone home,” Sweeney said.
However, Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello said he had concerns about the license. Food and drinks were served at an opening party on Sept. 7 at Kromel’s. Ciccarello wanted to know why the owners had served food without a license.
“They had plenty of time to get the license beforehand,” Ciccarello said.
According to sources close to the owners, it was a private party for invited guests. The restaurant was not “open for business.”
A phone message to the restaurant was not returned.
Either way, this would have engendered discussion, and Ciccarello said he felt too sickened by the terrorist attack to debate at a meeting or go out at all last Tuesday night.
Kromel’s, Part II
At the Sept. 18 Selectmen’s meeting, the Board voted to give Kromel’s a temporary license contingent upon the owners coming back before the Board for a site plan hearing. The reason: questions about how many seats the restaurant can have under existing approvals.
Attorney Charles Houghton said he will bring two plans before the Board, a 28-seat plan and a 50-seat plan, which would involve a request for a liquor license. No date was set for presentation of either plan.
Comprehensive permit scare
Joseph DiNanno of Republic Properties of Malden didn’t get his way when he asked to put three houses on Christopher Road in the neighborhood west of Franklin Street at the Melrose line, and now he’s considering building 20 units, including affordable housing.
DiNanno went before the Planning Board in December of 2000, but because the Board was not speaking favorably about any plan with more than two homes, DiNanno withdrew his application for a site plan.
In August Republic Properties notified the state that the corporation wanted go the comprehensive permit route. Under Chapter 40B of Mass General Laws developers can circumvent the regulations of local zoning if the site community has less than 10 percent affordable housing available and the developer puts aside 25 percent of his units as affordable.
The only control is review by the Board of Appeals to determine whether the scope of the project is reasonable. Factors such as traffic and population density are considered. The last attempt at a Chapter 40B project in Stoneham was when Al Melkonian tried to turn the Spot Pond Hotel into a housing development. The Board of Appeals said the project was too big. Melkonian appealed. Town Counsel Bill Solomon battled in court and won.
Drifters can still enjoy free color TV.
According to Appeals Board Chairman Bob Saltzman, no comprehensive permit requests are on the Board’s agenda for the next meeting. But the time may come soon because Republic has contacted Stoneham Bank about financing.
Watchdog is on the job
The town and both newspapers forgot, but John DeGeorge didn’t: Article 9 of the October 2000 Town Meeting requires the town to post a notice in the newspaper announcing the opening of the October Town Meeting warrant within seven days of the opening.
The warrant opened Sept. 10. The next issue of each paper hits the streets Sept. 19. We’ll get it right next time, John.
Fells update
The Mass Water Resource Authority made one correction in the draft environmental impact report prepared for the proposed Fells area office park.
MWRA spokesperson Jonathan Yeo said that nothing drains from the site into Spot Pond.
“All roadways and lands are diverted away from Spot Pond through a series of drains,” Yeo said.
Gutierrez Company, the developer, paid for the engineering study and submitted it to the state and community for feedback as required by law.
The community group Communities for Fells Preservation (CFFP) responded with a fourteen page report, challenging many of the numbers in the report and asking questions about the process. One of the things the CFFP wanted to know was whether the MWRA was keeping an eye on the Metropolitan District Commission’s stewardship of the Spot Pond area.
“The MWRA will continue to work with the MDC to make sure nothing drains in to the pond,” Yeo said. “Our staff reviewed the project and doesn’t see any drainage problems.”
In other MWRA news: the work by Friendly’s is complete, for now. Permanent paving will replace the temporary layer next spring.
The project replaced the meters keeping track of the water coming from the MWRA aqueduct system into Stoneham.
“We replaced 60 feet of Stoneham water pipe while we were in there,” Yeo added.
School lunch price increase
The price of a Stoneham school lunch has risen from $1.60 to $1.80 this year. The reason for the increase: the supplier increased his prices.
Sidewalk policy
Patricia Halpin of Maple Street wants to know why some streets with two sidewalks get one replaced while her street has no sidewalks.
“They’re doing work on Pine Street and Elm Street and my kids have no sidewalks,” Halpin said.
There are 80 miles of road in Stoneham. According to DPW Director Bob Grover town policy calls for at least one good sidewalk on every street. At the October 1996 Town Meeting the town voted to start a sidewalk program and appropriated $100,000. In October 1997 the town appropriated $100,000 for sidewalks, followed by $120,000 in 1998, $150,000 in 1999, $150,000 in 2000 and a request for $150,000 in 2001. Selectmen, the School Committee and the Public Safety Officer get together each year to determine where to build or repair sidewalks. Elm Street is a town project.
“The main criteria is volume of use, especially by school children,” Grover said.
Additional sidewalk repair is done in conjunction with Chapter 90 road work. The state pays for a percentage of local road work each year, and sidewalks are included. Pine Street is a Chapter 90 project.
There are fewer kids and more costs on Maple Street, according to Grover. Cutting into ledge along the road would cost far more than the average $50 per linear foot for concrete sidewalk and granite curbing, Stoneham’s standard.
Halpin understands the cost issue but still has concerns. She plans to speak to Selectmen about altering the policy to bump sidewalkless streets up the 80 mile list.
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