State orders alternatives for Home Depot project
Published on August 23rd, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - A state environmental agency declared that the proponents for a proposed Home Depot along Fallon Road must prepare a lengthy analysis of the project, including a detailed description of what reduced-build alternatives could be considered for the site.
In a 13-page decision rendered on Aug. 16, and released in the Mass. Environmental Policy Act office's twice-monthly Environmental Monitor publication this Wednesday, Mass Executive Office for Environmental Affairs (EOEA) analyst Robert W. Colledge, Jr., dismissed Peabody-based The Richmond Company's request for an abbreviated environmental review.
Specifically, the applicants, who have proposed constructing a 133,000 square foot Home Depot and adjacent three-story, 15,000 square foot office park at 225 Fallon Road's former A.W. Chesterton site, had sought permission to complete just one Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIA), bypassing the need for an initial draft version of the document.
"While the proponent has generally provided baseline date from which to measure potential environmental impacts and mitigation opportunities, the absence of a thorough alternative analysis within the Expanded ENF does not afford me the opportunity to evaluate that all feasible means to avoid potential environmental impacts have been identified and addressed," Colledge concluded.
Mandating a wide-ranging scope of additional documentation, the EOEA official has demanded an analysis of a no-build alternative, preferred alternative, and reduced impact alternative to the proposed Stoneham Crossings project.
Colledge had further ordered that the project proponents provide a detailed description of the permitting process with each local and state agency in regards to roadway alterations and mitigations, submit a timetable for those improvements and proof that a commitment has been made to those changes, and prepare a plethora of studies and plans for limiting developmental impacts to wetlands, residential abutters, traffic patterns, the Fells Reservation Parkways, drainage trends, and natural habitats.
The proposed home improvement development is currently also before the town’s Planning Board, where a special permit granting permission for a retail use in excess of the area’s 75,000 square foot zoning regulations is being sought.
Because of the late breaking nature of this story, both project proponents and opponents could not be reached for comment as of presstime. For more information on the decision, look for next week’s edition of The Stoneham Independent
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