Plans for vet clinic in Marblehead still on

MARBLEHEAD – Dr. Jeff Rockwell’s plans to establish a veterinary clinic at 8-12 Ocean Ave. are still very much alive.Rockwell’s lawyer, Attorney Paul Lynch, appeared in Boston Land Court Tuesday and told Judge Alexander Sands that his client has negotiated a purchase and sale agreement with the new owner, Salem landscaping businessman Patrick Osgood, owner of Osgood Stone Works on Highland Avenue.Judge Sands scheduled a pre-trial hearing for March 6.”We were able to reach an agreement,” Lynch said Thursday afternoon. Asked for details he said, “I don’t want to get into that at this time.””To say we were shocked would be putting it mildly,” said Attorney William DiMento. DiMento represents neighbors of the former Ocean Florist site, who are testing last year’s 4-1 Board of Appeals vote allowing Rockwell to proceed with the veterinary clinic there. He went to court Tuesday ready to seek a summary judgment in his client’s favor because Rockwell “no longer had standing.”Osgood purchased the property in a mortgage foreclosure auction Nov. 25. Century Bank and Trust foreclosed on Jack and Debbie Ahearn, the former owners of the property, nullifying a former purchase and sale agreement Rockwell had with the Ahearns. At the auction Osgood bid $525,000, $10,000 higher than Rockwell’s highest bid and Rockwell did not bid again. Since then a sign at the property has announced a spring opening and Osborne has had firewood for sale there.DiMento noted that the news did not alter his previous legal strategy. “In this kind of zoning case the petitioner has to prove that there is no adverse effect on the neighborhood,” he said. “We will strenuously counter that.”