Marblehead conservation board postpones action on condos until April

MARBLEHEAD – The Conservation Commission postponed action on a proposed 20-unit condominium development at 151 Green St. in Marblehead in hopes of arriving at a decision in April.Commissioners on Thursday voted to continue the hearing until April 12 to get more answers from the town?s peer-review consultants and the project?s developer John Muldoon?s team on drainage issues at the site.The Green Street development is the first to use a 1990s 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 for low-income housing.The Planning Board hearing on the proposals began last April and is on hold until the commission finishes its hearing, which began in September.The project has also faced questions from the state Department of Environmental Protection, frustrating those who want the project to move forward.At one point, Muldoon?s lawyer, attorney Paul Lynch, told the commission, “There?s got to be closure at some time. You can?t keep having people say, ?We need more materials.?”Muldoon?s environmental consultant Brad Lynch said his responses to the review by peer-review consultant Lisa Eggleston were in part a matter of “understanding the data that we provided.”?There?s a lot of information we?re not going to know until we clean up the site,” he said, noting that the project?s impact was less in the material he provided because the project was “redefined.”However, Acting Commission Chairman Brian Leclair told Lynch that his responses were not delivered until the day of the meeting.?The commission hasn?t seen them,” Leclair said.He urged Lynch to accept a further peer review of the answers now rather than have the commission decide in April that a peer review is needed and further delay the project.Consultant Eggleston said she would take a copy of Lynch?s responses with her Thursday evening and let Conservation Officer William Lanphear know if she needed more information.Lanphear said he would discuss Eggleston?s contract with Purchasing Officer Becky Curran to see if the contract needed to be expanded.