Marblehead board postpones hearing on development

MARBLEHEAD – The Conservation Commission has once again postponed action on a proposed 20-unit condominium development at 151 Green St.The commission met Thursday and voted to continue the hearing until its next meeting March 8. Attorney Paul Lynch requested the continuance so that he and developer John Muldoon could complete their responses. Commission Chairman Walter Haug said Lynch was referring to a peer review which was done by a town consultant at the developer?s expense.The review was “very detailed, very comprehensive,” Haug said, and the commission forwarded a copy of it to Lynch for his response.”The applicant supplied us with a number of documents dealing with storm drainage and other aspects,” Haug said. “An outside consultant, Eggleton Environmental, did a peer review of those documents and wrote a report.”Haug said the peer review raised “a number of issues, including the proximity of the buildings to wetlands.”Since the hearing began in September the commission has walked the site. The decision was delayed two months after the Department of Environmental Protection requested further information on stormwater drainage and the commission delayed it further for the peer review.As Haug said in December, “This is a large project really and we have a responsibility to a lot of abutters regarding drainage.”The Green Street development is the first to use a 1990?s incentive zoning bylaw. It will contain 20 two-bedroom condominium units in 10 structures at Green Street and West Shore Drive, seven on the street and three at the back of the lot, close to a marshy area. Two units will be affordable. The Planning Board has placed its hearing on the project on hold until the commission finishes its hearing. That hearing began in April and the board held off to get the commission?s input on drainage issues at the site.