Judge hears arguments in Marblehead development battle

MARBLEHEAD – Round 1 began Wednesday morning in the battle over the town’s special permit for a 45-unit condominium development on the Salem-Marblehead line.Boston Land Court Judge Charles Trombly heard oral arguments on a stop-work injunction in the case of Kalis versus KSS Realty Partners and took the matter under advisement. A decision was expected within a week.Kalis is one of eight Robert Road homeowners who filed a Land Court appeal of the special permit the town awarded for 33 market-rate homes and 12 affordable homes under Chapter 40B, on the former Chadwick Lead Mills property. The affected homes overlook the construction site.Kalis sought a court order to prevent any work on the property until National Lead, the present owner, has the property clean-up underway.”I said at least we should stay this until October-November of this year so we know if National Lead is going to do the clean-up,” Kalis said after the hearing. “We’ll see what the judge does. Until the land is cleaned up KSS has no intention of purchasing the property.”National Lead has from Oct. 1 to Feb. 15 to clean the harbor, the first step in their clean-up of the property. If they miss that date they must wait until Oct. 1, 2009 to begin.He is suing KSS, also known as 485 Lafayette Street Acquisitions, and the five Board of Appeals members who voted to grant the permit: William Moriarty, Andrea Papanek, Christopher Casey, David Bennett and Allan Lipkind. Ultimately he wants the decisions of the appeals board and the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency overturned.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.King said the MHFA was fully aware of the circumstances when the agency approved the proposal and the clean-up of the property had been approved. He asked the judge to schedule a hearing on the lawsuit.