Local group challenges site
Published on October 12th, 2005
Within the next two days, the Stoneham Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) will be served papers by a local environmental group challenging the legality of the recent approval of the Langwood Commons project.
According to Mike Ryan, the President of Friends of the Fells, his non-profit organization will attempt to block the 450-unit housing project from moving forward by appealing the ZBA's formal approval of the proposal late last September.
"The Friends of the Fells is going to file a vigorous appeal. We believe this project allows a private developer to take over a public resource for their personal gain," said Ryan.
"It seems interesting to me that the developers seem to already be counting their money. They're getting ready to move to the next level and I think they have a lot of surprises coming down the road. There's going to be other plaintiffs, and I have had discussions with these plaintiffs over the past few weeks," the Melrose-resident added.
Ryan, a staunch opponent of the redevelopment of the former Boston Regional Medical Center since the Gutierrez Company first proposed an office-park at the site, has long maintained that the newest proposal will result in a plethora of detrimental impacts to the surrounding Fells Reservation and parkway.
Remarking that the appeal will underscore those arguments, the environmental advocacy group leader claimed that he couldn't comment on the specifics of the document until lawyers finished drafting up the legal argument.
However, Ryan did hint at the legal strategy in responding to questions about whether he was concerned about the barriers his organization will face in fighting an affordable housing project.
Under Chapter 40B, the state's affordable housing statute, developers can legally skirt local zoning and building bylaws if a municipality fails to have 10 percent of its residential dwellings designated as affordable.
"Our attorney feels there has been a number of problems with the way this project was approved, that the process itself was flawed. And we believe the ZBA's decision was not based on fact, so we feel we have excellent grounds to fight this," responded Ryan, when asked how he felt about the difficulty of challenging a 40B project.
According to Stoneham attorney Charlie Houghton, who represents the Gutierrez Company and Simpson Housing, LP, the group's legal challenge of the project comes with little surprise, especially given the amount of opposition to the development during the ZBA hearings.
However, Houghton did believe that several of the anticipated appeals would ultimately fan out in court to have no standing, as was the case three-years ago when the City of Melrose attempted to block the previous office-park proposal from moving forward.
And while the attorney anticipates that any appeal will delay his client's plans for breaking ground on the project, Houghton commented that a prolonged court battle will not kill the project's feasibility.
"The real question is what happens and how long of a set-back would take place. Because we're getting into the nitty-gritty issues of who has standing, who doesn't have standing, and whether anybody does at all," Houghton said.
"This isn't like the office park. As long as the economy's healthy, there will be that demand for housing which has been strong all along. Right now in Mass, there's an especially strong demand for this type of housing," the attorney added.
As to whether or not his organization's appeal will have standing, Ryan had little doubts.
"We have a special relationship to the fells in that we're connected to the land that will be impacted. We have a relationship with DCR, which is the owner of the surrounding property and our main Office is located at 4 Woodland Road, which abuts this property," said Ryan.
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