Marblehead residents sue over permit

MARBLEHEAD – Eight Robert Road homeowners are filing a Land Court appeal of the special permit the town awarded for a 45-unit condominium development on the Salem-Marblehead line.The homeowners – Robert and Merna Kalis, David and Patricia Haliotis, Michael and Stella Haliotis and Richard and Sheila Bennett – have homes on the hillside overlooking the former Chadwick Lead Mills property, where a developer identified as 485 Lafayette Street Acquisitions plans to build 33 market-rate homes and 12 affordable homes under Chapter 40 B.They are suing the developer and five Board of Appeals members who voted to grant the permit: William Moriarty, Andrea Papanek, Christopher Casey, David Bennett and Allan Lipkind.They want the decisions of the Marblehead appeals board and the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency overturned and they want the developer to obtain a permit from the Salem Board of Appeals.Robert Kalis has been warning the board about the lawsuit for more than a year.The appeal charges that the developer "intentionally misrepresented the site" to win approval from the MHFA, stating that the 45 units would be built on 4.4 acres of land in Salem and Marblehead, with a project density of 10.2 units per acre.The plaintiffs say the units will actually be built on 2.8 acres, the Marblehead portion of that site, and that makes the density of the project 15.7 units per acre.They point out that the developer received permission from the Salem Planning Board for a subdivision on the 1.6 acres on the Salem side of the property so that he could build an access road, because Salem does not qualify for Chapter 40B housing – two more facts which the developer did not report to the MHFA.The plaintiffs also contend that the designs for the proposed condos are not consistent with the character and appearance of the neighborhood.The plaintiffs also pointed out that their homes are 63 feet above the construction site, and said that the developer’s plan to build a retaining wall along the edge of their properties will cause flooding.