Hesper St. meeting OK; Bisignani, residents get together on wall collapse

SAUGUS-Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said he thought a meeting with Hesper Street residents went well, and at least one family agreed with him.After a dicey week with collapsing walls and stability concerns, Hesper Street resident Arthur Caffarella said he was pleased to have a chance to sit down with Bisignani.”I’m glad we got together,” he said. “I thought it went pretty well. Everyone seemed pretty pleased with the meeting.””It was an informational meeting for residents,” Bisignani said. “They wanted to be heard and the town wanted to assure them it is concerned . . . and explain that any civil cases should be between them and the developer and not the town.”The developer, according to Bisignani, is Jerry Dawson.Caffarella said there has been no more falling debris since the initial collapse that dropped a 30-foot section of a retaining wall perched behind four homes on Hitching Hill Road nearly into the backyards of eight families on Hesper Street.”They said the construction has been an ongoing issue with the developer,” Bisignani said.Bisignani said residents also worried that the town might have some liability in terms of permitting the construction project, but he said he reassured them that is not the case.According to Bisignani state inspectors already examined the town’s permitting process and found everything in order.What was not in order was a new contractor that began work on the Hitching Hill Road properties without the appropriate authority. Hired by the mortgage company to try to finish the work on the very unfinished homes, Bisignani said Building Inspector Frederick Varone stopped the contractor when he learned he had not followed proper procedure.The town hired a geotechnical engineer, which began performing test borings Friday to determine the stability of the wall. Bisignani said he expects the report to be back within two weeks.”The town is not in the position to do anything,” he added. “If the wall is unstable I would press the developer and any other responsible party and seek immediate remediation.”