South Street neighbors steamed at former Inspector
Published on September 6th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Over a dozen South Street homeowners admittedly break the law each day when they return to their residences and deliberately drive their cars in the wrong direction down a one-way road.
A little over a month ago, none of the neighbors, whose home street runs parallel to South Street on an access road bearing the same name, would have ever considered such an act.
But on a recent Friday afternoon, just after Town Hall had reportedly closed for the weekend, the residents discovered a shocking change to the area: The entrance on their home street had disappeared.
Instead, the Stonehamites found a heaping pile of cement and dirt where the one-way entrance, located at the corner of Pond Street, stood for over 50-years.
And what shocked the neighbors even more, they say, given that they had absolutely no notice of the plans to either tear-up the street or of ongoing construction activity at the adjacent 52 South Street residence, was the man responsible for the act: Former Building Inspector Gene Argiro.
"He did all this blockade business after Town Hall had closed for the afternoon on a Friday, so that nobody could do a damn thing about it," vented South Street resident Jack Flynn, who recalls once being ordered to remove a tree limb that had fallen from his property across the access road.
"If I start digging up the roadway, what do you think is going to happen to me? There's a real double standard here," the nearest abutter to Argiro's construction site added.
Reached at his Hall Road home on Tuesday, the former Building Inspector defended his alterations to the roadway, saying that the entrance point encroached onto the residential property he purchased last April.
According to Argiro, he received the go-ahead for the construction activity from officials at the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which owns the street.
"I don't blame them for being upset, because they've had that road forever. But the problem is that the whole entrance to that road is on my property," the long-time town officials said. "Their issue is with DCR. And I believe that they've already made the decision that the whole road is being taken out."
Although DCR spokesman Joe Ferson was reached by The Stoneham Independent for comment late Tuesday afternoon, the press officer was unable to verify the former Building Inspector's claims that he received authorization to dig-up the road from the state environmental agency.
However, according to the neighbors, despite repeated calls to the town's Board of Selectmen, State Representatives, and DCR officials, none of the residents have had any luck in ascertaining what the future of their home street will be.
"They haven't approached us, as the residents of this area, about what's going on. I have called multiple times to try to set up meetings with DCR. But no one seems to care about us," charged abutter Linda White.
"I find it very curious that whenever we contact someone, they're all enthusiastic and say, 'Oh, that's ridiculous. Don't worry that's not going to happen.' Then a couple of days later, they change their response," added frustrated neighbor Mary Zatta, who has contacted the Selectmen, Building Department, Town Administrator, and Stoneham's elected state officials.
According to Town Administrator Ron Florino, who labeled the entire issue as extremely complex, the building department is still trying to work-out who has jurisdiction over the roadway.
But in recent weeks, as the neighborhood scrambled unsuccessfully to find someone to help them sort-out their dilemma, another bombshell has been dropped: Not a single permit has been pulled for the construction at Argiro's 52 South Street acquisition.
According to Building Inspector Cheryl Noble, who just returned from maternity leave, she has received an application for the construction work. Noble's interim replacement during her leave was not able to work on Argiro's application, reportedly due to a series of lawsuits filed against the town both by and against Argiro.
This Tuesday afternoon, despite the absence of any building permits, three workers stood upon a freshly poured concrete foundation at the site, the sharp pops of nail guns sounding off as the contractors erected rough framing on the new structure.
The site, littered with stacks of lumber, dumpsters, and construction equipment, has been completely raised to a higher elevation by fill, which spills over onto the area where the South Street entrance once existed.
Nearby the old access road, piles of dirt and stone are heaped-up right next to the broken pieces of concrete which once formed the street.
"The town is trying to collect trash money from everyone and crying foul, but now they're letting this guy build a McMansion without collecting anything for building permits," Flynn vented.
"And the other thing is that he's changed the whole grade of the land without any type of hydraulic study. This is a flood plain area here," the South Street resident furthered.
According to Argiro, who was once the constant source of criticism for taking too long to issue building permits before he was removed from office by Town Administrator Ron Florino, he couldn't afford to wait any longer for the local permissions.
Charging that town officials purposely delayed issuing the permits, which he reportedly filed applications for in April - according to the Hall Road resident - Argiro argued that he had no choice but to proceed with the work.
"I don't know of anybody in town who has had to wait four months for a building permit," Argiro charged. "They [town officials] screwed me out of my job. They screwed me out of my pension."
"Now they're screwing me on this. I mean, I'm trying to make a living. They've pushed me into a corner and I have to do what I have to do before they bankrupt me."
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