Bellevue Heights construction delayed again

SAUGUS – Despite a prior commitment to complete the Bellevue Heights subdivision by June 15, 2015, developer Jack Mallon said the development could remain under construction until October 2016.Started in 2001, the subdivision has remained unfinished. Resident Ferruccio Romeo initially brought the neighborhood’s concerns before the Board of Selectmen on Oct. 7.”I don’t want to hold myself to June 15,” Mallon said during the board’s third site visit on Saturday.He said the 22-month extension was automatically granted by the state.However, Selectmen Chairman Ellen Faiella said Mallon should honor the June date.”Don’t say it and not do it,” she said. “By not keeping your word, you’ve shot yourself in the foot time and again.”Mallon reminded the board and neighborhood residents that the project suffered a significant setback when the retaining wall between Hesper Street and Hitching Hill Road collapsed in July 2008.”If that wall hadn’t fallen down, I would have been out of here five years ago,” he said.Since the selectmen’s first site visit on Oct. 18, Mallon has cleared the overgrowth from the vacant property on Hitching Hill Road. He has also improved the lighting, installed a sturdier chain link fence and a series of jersey barriers blocking off the undeveloped property.Mallon said the repaving project and street signage are scheduled to be done this week.However, resident Linda Russo said the jersey barriers are just another eyesore in a subdivision that should be been finished years ago.”We look like the ghetto of Bellevue Heights,” she said. “We’ve been more than patient.”In terms of snow removal, Mallon said he has an agreement with fellow builder Kevin Procopio, who also has property in the neighborhood.Mallon said he will plow and Procopio will put down salt and sand. Should Mallon not be available, he said Procopio would do the plowing.”He can whip around here in five minutes and clean that up,” he said.Public Works Director Brendan O’Regan said he will send emails to Procopio and Mallon to confirm the agreement regarding snow removal.Another site visit is scheduled for this Saturday at 9 a.m.