Saugus Planning Board chairman to retire Jan. 1

SAUGUS – Planning Board Chairman Mary Carfagna will be stepping down from her post on Jan. 1 after more than 15 years on the board.Carfagna said she wants to spend more time caring for her ailing parents.”I have one year left on my fourth term, and my parents are ill now and are in declining health so I found myself really spread thin,” she said.Carfagna also works full-time for the United State Postal Service in Boston, and has to be at work at 4 a.m. everyday, which isn’t always easy when a meeting runs late.”I felt like if I couldn’t give the Planning Board the level of attention that I always have in the past then I needed to take a step back,” said Carfagna, who has been chairman for 13 years. “It’s sort of bittersweet. I do need to focus on my priorities ? but it’s really hard to let go.”While she said, “Goodbye” to her fellow board members at the last meeting, Carfagna said she still found it hard to step away from the work.”I found myself going to my inbox, and had the urge to take all the zoning amendments that just passed the Attorney General’s office and said, ‘Oh good, these just came in,’ But then I said, ‘Wait a minute, you don’t need these anymore,'” said Carfagna. “It’s going to be a hard transition to pull away, but I do believe I made the right choice based on needing to be there for my parents and care for my own family as well.”Carfagna said it’s “the people” who have stood out for her over her time on the board, whether it be residents, lawyers or developers, and specifically mentioned consulting engineer James Sotiros as her “guiding light.””He was phenomenal,” she said. “We worked so well together and I will really miss him. I have come across so many tremendous people ? People that have been so kind when you help them. That’s first and foremost. Other highlights are the crazy projects that we’ve had.”That includes Bear Creek Park, a proposed industrial development on the Wheelabrator landfill in 2004.”They wanted to put 12 industrial lots up there that could be used for a movie theater, a hotel or a restaurant,” said Carfagna. “I knew in my heart this was not the right thing for Saugus, and it was a lot of work to get all the ducks in a row and we eventually did deny that subdivision.”But while she has less than a week left as chairman, Carfagna said she hasn’t ruled out serving again “in another capacity.””You never know,” she said. “I do have it in my heart and my gut to do public service.”The Planning Board will nominate a new chairman and vice chairman in January.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].