Gutierrez development hits another potential roadblock as Article 9 soundly defeated
Published on May 7th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - The voice of the people was heard at Monday night's first session of Annual Town Meeting, and the decisions made could have a lasting effect on the Town of Stoneham. Whether that effect is good or bad depends upon whom you spoke with after the lengthy, but less than productive, session.
In one of the most hotly contested decisions of the evening, Stoneham voters raised their hands to defeat and then re-defeat Article Nine.
The article essentially stoked up the embers of the longstanding debate over the former Boston Regional Medical Center (BRMC) site, and its future. Middlesex Fells activist and Ravine Road resident Miriam Regan-Fiore, an outspoken opponent of the current Gutierrez plan, spearheaded an organized group of residents that came out in force to vote against the zoning easements.
"Give her credit...she organized her people and came out with enough votes to knock it down," said attorney Charles Houghton, sponsor of Article Nine and a representative for Gutierrez. "This may be a decision that Stoneham never recovers from, though. Eventually my client may decided enough is enough, someone else will buy the property and you know what's coming next."
The zoning change needed a 2/3 vote by the Stoneham voters, and both the original vote and a reconsideration vote were set and knocked down like wobbly bowling pins. The original vote was defeated when 134 resident voted for the article, and 94 voted raised their hands against the article. Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello and Planning Board member Mark Shannon then seemingly raced to the microphone for control of the floor. Shannon, just seconds before Ciccarello called for a adjournment for the evening, called for a reconsideration that effectively knocked the article out of consideration for this year's session.
"This article would essentially change the rules in the middle of the game," said Planning Board member Frank Federico, one of three members against the article. "This isn't something I can support."
The coming attraction that Houghton was alluding to is a large scale apartment/condo project that would put a stranglehold on the budgets for schools and town services.
According to Houghton, the matter is now going to end up in court with Regan-Fiore and other abutters heading off against the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen.
The article was sponsored by Attorney Charles Houghton, and was, in essence, a measure to adjust some of the zoning snafus that are tying up the proposed Guitierrez office park in Middlesex Court. The article would have allowed, with site plan approval by the Board of Selectmen, elder congregate housing, hospital and related medical treatment services, resident care living facilities, administrative medical offices, medical laboratories, public health and mental health clinics, research laboratories, cafeterias and requisite parking.
In addition, the article would have allowed medical schools, hotels, and genetic research laboratories with a special permit by the Planning Board and Selectmen site approval.
According to Houghton, the article can't be re-introduced to town meeting for two years unless the Planning Board reverses its decision and supports the article.
"We weren't changing the rules in the middle of the game...someone else changed the rules and we're simply doing what's in the best interest of the town," said Houghton. "This is $2 million in annual property tax that we're talking about...this is the future of Stoneham right here."
Regan-Fiore didn't question the legality of changing the zoning, but voiced questions about the ethical motives behind the zoning changes.
"I have been involved in this town since I was voted in as a Selectman in 1975," said Houghton, who explained that a similar zoning change was made to accommodate the B.J.'s Wholesale Property in Woburn. "Never before have my ethics been questioned, and, frankly, I resent the implication."
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