Saugus to install berm, fence for Hesper Street residents

SAUGUS – Town officials bent to public opinion Tuesday and agreed, despite potential liability issues, to try and protect Hesper Street residents from a crumbling retaining wall precariously balanced above their homes.A decision was made Tuesday to install a berm that would divert rainwater and other runoff from pouring between the houses and further eroding the already fragile wall.Wednesday, Town Manager Andrew Bisignani also announced he would be installing a perimeter fence that would completely encircle all four properties.Nearly two-dozen residents turned out to meet with town officials, developer John Mallon and Geotechnical Engineer Kevin Martin regarding a study that calls the wall unsafe.In July, a 30-foot section of a retaining wall located behind four partially finished homes atop Hitching Hill Road gave way. The breach sent nearly a ton of debris tumbling down a steep 70-foot slope toward the homes below on Hesper Street.Hesper Street resident Cara Aloise said now every time it rains she is compelled to leave her house lest the rest of the wall come tumbling down.The town’s position over the last seven weeks is that it could take no action to help the residents without assuming liability.Building Inspector Frederick Varone said the structural engineer will end up shouldering most of the blame for the project.Varone explained that when a project calls for a structural engineer, the developer must hire someone registered by the state, which was done. As the Building Inspector, Varone said he is required to accept the engineer’s reports at face value because he, himself, is not an engineer.Martin, who produced the study, agreed that the bulk of the liability will fall on the structural engineer.Hesper Street resident Paul Giansiracusa pointed out that, while helpful, that bit of knowledge doesn’t offer any immediate relief.”We need to make this safe now,” he said.George DeCandia questioned how to make the wall temporarily safe until a permanent fix can be rendered, which he fears might be years down the road.”We don’t want to come out of this meeting with nothing in hand,” DeCandia said. “It’s been seven weeks and we’ve been patient.”Martin said short of taking down the wall and the homes, the town could look at diverting the water that Aloise said pours from the wall like a waterfall every time it rains. He said it wouldn’t change the fact that the wall is unstable, but it would slow down the erosion.Selectman Stephen Castinetti put Bisignani on the spot and asked him to commit to establishing a berm to direct the water away from the hillside into a catch basin.”Let’s get it done,” he said. “It’s the quickest, easiest solution and it will at least slow down the erosion and will give the mortgage company time to react.”Bisignani agreed to the berm but didn’t immediately latch onto erecting a perimeter fence, although the idea was broached.However, Wednesday he said he received a visit from two state inspectors from the Department of Public Safety who urged Bisignani to rethink the fence.”They said they couldn’t force us to do it, but that they had genuine concern and strongly suggested we install a fence,” he said.Then the inspectors said the magic words – that they never saw a case where a town was held liable for doing something that protects the public.Bisignani said it was worth the risk and asked Varone to put the plan in motion.”It will cost about $6,200 to put up a six-foot perimeter fence and put it up properly,” he said. “We will start it (Thursday) and be done by Monday.”