Changes on tap for third floor of proposed Marblehead building

MARBLEHEAD – The Planning Board tried twice to approve the Warwick Place Realty Trust plan for a three-story commercial and office building at 117-129 Pleasant St. – but their 3-2 votes weren?t enough to make the approval legal.Board members finally asked attorney Paul Lynch and the development team to return March 22 to discuss plans to shrink the third floor of the project after meeting for two and a half hours.Board members did approve a land disturbance permit the project needs, after a hearing.The board heard Lynch?s report on drainage, the projected shadow the building will cast and a professional review of traffic concerns obtained by the town.Chairman Philip Helmes and members Kurt James and Karl Johnson favored approving the site plan with a list of conditions, but Edward Nilsson and James Bishop balked.Nilsson questioned a computer-produced shadow study presented by architect Ken Kao, who said regardless of the season the building?s shadow fell behind the building, in the parking lot.When Nilsson said the shadow had to fall across Pleasant Street at some point, Kao offered to send the planners all the pictures his study produced and double-check his results.Nilsson also inquired about possible plans for a movie theater to replace the Warwick Theater, the former centerpiece of that block. Lynch said the developer had no plans for a theater but that did not preclude possible tenant plans.Bishop was concerned to hear Spirit of ?76 Bookstore owner Bob Hugo say that Warwick?s plans for the 84-space parking lot reduced his access to parking behind his store.Helmes suggested the two property owners settle the matter between themselves, since the board has no control in that situation, but Bishop wanted more assurance that the matter would be resolved.Lynch finally said he would change a planned 6-inch curbstone along the edge of Warwick?s parking area to crushed stone, which a car could drive over, if the bookstore building owner would close the curb cut entrance to his parking area.Nilsson still held out. Referring to the “massiveness” of the proposed building, which he called “the biggest thing in Marblehead,” he asked Lynch to redesign the third floor area with a setback that would make that floor smaller and reduce the size.Helmes pointed out that the plans have been reviewed by the town?s Design Review Board and are also before the Board of Appeals.?I don?t think it?s going to hurt to try to make this a little bit better,” Bishop said.