Saugus to install fence below crumbling wall

SAUGUS – Though months have passed with little movement toward repairing the collapsing wall that teeters above them, the residents on Hesper Street are about to get a little relief.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani told Selectmen Tuesday he is working on getting a design for a crash fence to run along the back yards of the Hesper Street properties.”It’s not a cure-all, but it will give some comfort,” he said.Residents along Hesper Street have been living in fear that a wall that partially collapsed in July and sent tons of rubble tumbling down a steep embankment toward their homes below, might give way again.The collapsed 30-foot section of the retaining wall sits behind four upscale but unfinished – and now seemingly abandoned – homes atop Hitchings Hill Road. A fence was put up along the street to keep squatters, partying teens and would-be scavengers out of the properties, but little relief was given to the folks below.Bisignani said he walked the property with the town’s Special Counsel Ira Zaleznik Tuesday. The plan is to design the fence, put it out to bid and, in the meantime, seek permission from the homeowners for access to their backyards.Selectman Stephen Castinetti said he’s received verbal approval from the residents, and he is sure he could get it in writing if need be.”In the event something does break loose, this will offer some protection to the homes,” Bisignani said of the fence.In a memo to Bisignani, Zaleznik also wrote that he would be filing a complaint in Essex Superior Court seeking to compel the mortgage company/owners of the property to repair the wall immediately.According to Zaleznik, a hearing would be scheduled on the request probably within the week and, if the court order is granted but not obeyed, he will file a contempt complaint as well.Selectman Stephen Horlick said he was glad to see the added measure of a crash fence enacted. He said once winter comes he is concerned there could be another collapse due to snow and ice and thawing.Bisignani said he couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how much the fence would cost, but said the town would recoup its losses.”The town will pay for it, but it will go against the property as part of the lien,” he explained. “No one will ever get a permit to do anything there until all the bills are paid, including money owed to the town.”