Jingling the alarms
Published on January 8th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - The epic story of a town, a 26,000 square foot parcel of land that sounds like it was named after a sidekick to Willie Whistle (Jerry Jingle) and an alleged “sweetheart deal” took a new turn this week in its capricious destiny of raising both pulse rates and suspicion.
According to Stoneham officials, the town of Stoneham now alleges it can prove the “sweet” part of the sweetheart deal after town engineers measured out the site (using Land Court documents and plans, other existing plans and measurements taken of the property) per the request of Attorney General Thomas Reilly’s office..
In a letter dated January 2 and addressed to Reilly, the Board of Selectmen contend that over one-third of the present Jerry Jingle Park resides on property owned by next-door neighbor and former owner Super Petroleum.
The park currently contains a grassy area and a white gazebo, but the bulk of the MDC owned land is being used for parking by J.J. Grimsby’s restaurant.
According to Selectmen Anthony Kennedy and Cosmo Ciccarello, a new curb cut has been put in at the 2 Lynn Fells Parkway site to allow access to the rear parking lot and a sign reads for J.J. Grimsby’s parking only.
“We really feel like this was an injustice at the state level to spend $600,000 on a parking lot for a restaurant,” said Ciccarello. “It’s a waste of state money, and it’s cheating Stoneham out of valuable tax money. As it is, the property would pull in $12,000 and if it were developed...it would be worth quite a bit more in taxes to the town.”
“They’re barely on the land,” added Ciccarello about the park, who also pointed out that the MDC owns 30 percent of the land and doesn’t pay any taxes on the land.
According to town officials, there is a second part to the story also involving the adjacent Super Petroleum site. The owner, Mike Bugazia, has allegedly made inquiries about a possible Dunkin Donuts at the gas station site, and has a concept plan with a drive-thru across a large portion of the grass park. The same park for which he was paid $675,000 by the MDC.
According to the concept plan, the planned drive-thru would run alongside the gazebo that stands in the center of the park.
“The Board reiterates, even more strongly, the request contained in its December 9, 2002 letter, that your office take all necessary legal action to rescind the transaction by which the MDC purchased the subject property based on the well established constitutional and common law that public funds may not be used for a use primarily or substantially benefitting a private party,” reads a portion of the letter addressed to Reilly. “As further shown by the newly found evidence regarding the location of the park, this property purchase benefits only one party - J.J. Grimsby’s restaurant. This misuse of public funds and violation of the public process and trust must not stand.”
“We think this is clearly an example of public money being used for a private purpose of a restaurant parking lot,” said Town Counsel William Solomon. “The use of this lot wasn’t fit for a purchase or an eminent domain taking, and we believe that the transaction between the MDC and Super Petroleum owner Mike Bugazia should be rescinded.”
After months of acrimonious public hearings, the Board of Selectmen blocked the MDC eminent domain attempt in August, and forced the state agency to go the unconventional route of purchasing the land. Bugazia allegedly purchased the land for $1.3 million at town auction, and then the MDC purchased less than a third of the lot for “Jerry Jingle Park” at $675,000.
“The owner of the gas station must have thought he had died and gone to heaven when the MDC made their offer,” said Solomon.
Many of the area residents had been in favor of the MDC taking instead of a possible Dunkin Donuts or Burger King installation.
MDC spokesperson Chuck Borstel didn’t want to address any accusations until they had been made directly by the Selectmen to the MDC.
“They haven’t formally or informally contacted the MDC about that (the alleged wrongdoing contained in the letter),” said Borstel. “We really don’t have any comment on that until we’re contacted by the Stoneham Board of Selectmen.”
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!