PEABODY — At a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Monday night, Councilor at-large Anne Manning-Martin spoke in favor of the proposed 220-unit Chapter 40B affordable housing development at 128 Newbury St., expressing concerns about plans to reduce the development down to 180 units.
Attorney John Keilty, who represents the developer, told the board that while they were forging ahead with the 220-unit proposal, discussions with the Office of Community Development and Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. led to a request to consider a lower number of units.
Manning-Martin said she attended the meeting to speak in favor of the project, dubbed “Alexan Peabody,” and was concerned that trimming the number of units could potentially limit the economic feasibility of the project for the developer. She said the 180 number settled on by the mayor’s office seemed “random.”
“If we reduce it so much my concern is they will have to cut corners and costs, leaving us with a massive development that would be unsightly and unsafe and that’s not the type of development that we want,” she said. “Certainly not after we’ve been working so long and after … we’ve been left with a dust bowl and a crater and mudslides and it’s just been a terrible situation there.”
“We need to continue to look towards a win-win situation with this development to improve it,” she continued.
The proposal was continued to the board’s Aug. 15 meeting with Keilty noting “I’ve got some work to do.”
Later in the meeting, Attorney Bill Sheehan, who represents two abutters of developer Ed Greeley’s The Residences at Mills 58 property, expressed concerns about the size of the project as well as proposed plans for parking.
“Those issues include a concern about all the truck traffic that runs through the site … we’re concerned about the parking layout, concerned about safety, and concerned about our ability to continue to operate our facility as an industrial use,” he told the board. “If there are residents who move into that building, they’ll be overlooking a use they may not like and unfortunately the law doesn’t necessarily protect my client in the event that resident seeks to either eliminate or change how we’re using our property.”
Greeley is seeking to construct 51 rental units at the property.
Sheehan faced questioning from Frances Bisazza-Galugi, the chair of the board, who expressed skepticism about his client’s concerns.
“If in fact this gets passed and people obviously before they rent out one of these apartments will take a good look at the whole property and they’re going to see your client’s use,” she said. “As far as I can see, as far as I’m listening to this, that is something that the person that’s going to rent the apartment is going to deal with this,” she said.
The Mills project was also continued to the Aug. 15 meeting.
The Tan-Rite Residences LLC application for a Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit will also be continued to Aug. 15, and was not discussed Monday night due to a family matter.
Dorothy Irrera can be reached at [email protected].
