Atwood Ave. residents looking for answers
Published on August 13th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Meeting last Tuesday night, the Board of Selectmen told three abutters of Town owned property on Atwood Avenue that the board would render a decision regarding the sale of the 20,000 square foot lot by their next August 27 meeting.
One of three residents who submitted an offer to Town Administrator David Berry to buy the property for $50,000, Stoneham resident Bob Gay argued that accepting the proposal was a matter of fairness given the neighborhood’s history of fighting for years to keep the property undeveloped.
"After 13 years, over 20 meetings with five lawyers, six abutters, and hundreds of hours talking about this issue…it’s time for closure. If you’re going to sell this property to a contractor whose only concern is to make a profit and not consider the abutters’ proposal, this is wrong and unfair," charged Gay.
Armed with charts suggesting that developing the property would aggravate water runoff into the Town’s only flood plain near Montvale Avenue and that the wooded lot represented the only green-land within the area, Malden resident Katherine Moore, whose mother lives on Stoneham’s Ledge Street, also appealed to the Selectmen to accept the neighborhood proposal.
"This one spot is all single family homes. We are surrounded by Montvale Avenue, Maple Street and Marble Street down to Route 93 and an industrial-commercial zone. That’s why we feel we deserve publicly or privately owned green space," began Moore. "If you cut down the trees for even a single family dwelling, the runoff down the hill will go where half of Stoneham drains off," she added.
Although some of the Selectmen expressed sympathy with the neighbors’ concerns, Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello remarked that his job forced him to consider the consequences of accepting a bid that falls nearly $100,000 short of what the Town planned to receive for the Atwood sale.
"This is my concern, we represent the whole Town of Stoneham and we’re talking about a value of roughly $140,000. We have to justify to the residents of this Town that we’re going to take half that amount. Is that good business?" Ciccarello asked.
Town officials first proposed selling the Atwood property during May’s budget process. After the land was assessed to be worth $140,000, municipal officials included the sale of the lot in the 2004 budget. However, at the Board of Selectmen meeting on June 17, the abutters approached the board and requested that the neighborhood be granted the opportunity to purchase the land.
Although the Town’s Conservation and Open Space Committee also approached the Selectmen at the June 17 meeting and hinted that the property could contain state protected wetlands, Conservation Committee Chairman Scott Peterson told the board that he couldn’t substantiate that claim.
"We acknowledge that there’s no wetlands on the site, but as one of the neighbors presented, the drainage feeds into the flood plain area and if you open a development there’s going to be excess runoff," Peterson reported.
After Selectman Tony Kennedy asked Gay whether the abutters would consider returning the land to Stoneham for an open space use after the neighbors purchased it, Gay responded that he would not, but assured the Selectmen that the plot would never be developed.
"To be honest with you, for the money that I’m putting into this, we would like to see it divided into separate lots and separate deeds. As far as the conservation, I can make damn sure no structure or any type of building is going to be put up. It will be undeveloped land, forever," answered Gay.
However, after Gay requested that the land be divided into three separate properties, Town Treasurer Tom Cicatelli, who has the ultimate authority to sanction the sale, advised board members to add the three subdivisions onto the abutters’ existing lots.
"I’m not going to give any opinion as to whether I think it should go forward. I just want to state that I don’t want to see it accepted as three separate properties. If people don’t pay their taxes, I can’t sell it. No one wants a 6,000 square foot property in the middle of a forest. I ask that you divide it three ways and attach it to the three properties because I need some leverage," Ciccatelli requested.
While most of the meeting remained civil, some sparks of conflict did arise when Conservation Committee member Matt Whooley implied that the Board of Selectmen were acting against the best interests of the Town. The comments, which Whooley later retracted according to some Selectmen, were flung at the board after Kennedy questioned the Conservation Committee’s involvement in the property transaction.
"We’re citizens too. We have the right to voice our concerns," responded Whooley to Kennedy’s question. "I’m new to Town government and stuff and I don’t understand why [the sale] was penciled in for $140,000 before the process began. To me something in the process doesn’t seem right. When I got into politics, I thought it was for the people of Stoneham and I thought this board was for the people of Stoneham," Whooley added.
"We are for the people of Stoneham," Ciccarello angrily interrupted, refusing to let Whooley finish his comments. "I can’t let you finish. I resent that statement…I’ll say it again, as a member of this board, I just don’t represent three abutters, I represent 24,000 people in this Town," the six-term Selectmen shot back.
Although some citizens expressed their concerns that the Atwood Avenue site could be utilized by a developer for Chapter 40B projects or to erect more than one building on the 20,000 square foot lot, Town Counsel William Solomon attempted to alleviate those fears.
"For the record…just so the residents know the Town tries to be considerate…when the Town went to sell this property, they put a lot of restrictions on it. They put that it could only be a single family. They put that the property couldn’t be divided or added to create any other lot. It would also not be susceptible to Chapter 40B," reassured Solomon.
Representing the only Selectman arguing whole-heartedly for accepting the neighbors’ bid, Selectman Charlie Smith motioned to accept the offer. Arguing that the Board needed to go into executive session to consider all aspects of the sale, Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Pecoraro swayed Smith to hold off on his motion, which was not seconded by any other member.
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