NAHANT ― Northeastern University has filed an appeal of the Planning Board’s decision to deny the site plan for its proposed expansion on East Point.
The Planning Board briefly discussed the appeal, which was filed on Oct. 14, during its meeting on Tuesday.
According to the appeal, which was obtained by The Item, Northeastern is requesting that the court annul the Planning Board’s decision and grant approval for its site plan; this would enable Northeastern to bypass the Planning Board and apply for a building permit for an expansion of its facilities. The school is seeking to expand its East Point Marine Science Center.
“Northeastern is aggrieved by the denial of its application because the denial is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds the Planning Board’s authority, and is contrary to well-settled law,” Northeastern’s attorneys wrote in the appeal.
The Planning Board voted unanimously on Sept. 27 to deny Northeastern’s site plan application for its proposed expansion; leading up to the vote, four meetings were held in September to discuss the plan.
According to the Planning Board’s written decision, the board denied Northeastern’s site plan for many reasons, including concerns for land preservation and protection of wildlife. The board also stated its desire to protect the town against potential legal costs when unsuitable development occurs in conservation land, such as swamps and marshes.
Since 1967, Northeastern has used the 20.4 acres of land located on East Point for educational purposes, or more specifically, the research and study of marine science. The proposed project would add approximately 55,000 square feet for classrooms, laboratories, and meeting space for Northeastern’s Marine Science Center, according to the appeal.
The university hopes that expanding its Marine Science Center will attract new faculty in such areas as climate-change mitigation and coastal sustainability. But the project has been heavily opposed by both residents and town officials, who say a larger structure on East Point would obscure the view of the coastline and natural beauty of the area, a relied-upon tourist attraction in town.
At the May 15 Town Meeting, residents voted, 647-241, to allow the Board of Selectmen to enact eminent domain and allow the land on East Point to be used by the public, which would effectively block the expansion. The vote was affirmed by the Board of Selectmen on Sept. 8, when the board voted unanimously to approve an order of intention to take a portion of East Point from Northeastern University for the purpose of turning it into town-controlled conservation land.
In September, the town filed a petition in Essex Superior Court to take by eminent domain the 12.5 acres of contested land, known as East Point; the property, which was granted to the university by the federal government in 1966, would be declared a wildlife preserve, which would protect it from future development.
In its appeal, Northeastern said the Planning Board violated legal principles, citing a past letter from the Massachusetts attorney general from March of 2018. In this letter, the town was advised that the Planning Board could not use local bylaws to deny the university’s site plan, but could only impose reasonable restrictions in certain aspects of the proposal, such as the height of the structure, setbacks, open space, parking, and building coverage.
“The Planning Board had predetermined to deny the application as part of a coordinated effort by the Town and others to use the municipal-permitting processes and other legal processes to harass Northeastern and to force Northeastern to into time-consuming and expensive litigation, and to coerce Northeastern by the delay and cost inherent in litigation to forgo its legal rights to use and develop its property under municipal zoning and the Dover Amendment,” Northeastern’s attorneys wrote in the appeal.
