PEABODY — Some Peabody residents are pushing back against a Lynn developer’s proposal to build a “paper road” extension in Peabody leading to a new housing development in Lynn.
The proposed street, Westford Avenue, would be extended to run off Longwood, into a Lynn housing project being developed by the Boston-based architect Ted Smith. Peabody residents in opposition to the road work cited the project’s potential for increased traffic in the neighborhood.
“There’s a lot of reasons why we don’t want that road going through. But the main one is just this neighborhood can’t handle the traffic that it’s going to generate,” said Julie Zielski, a resident living off Longwood Avenue.
A neighborhood petition drive has been launched, and it’s attracted Zielski and George Guanci, who came up with the slogan “No To The Road.” Signs carrying that message have started to pop up in the neighborhood.
“There is that petition that has gone around and has been submitted to the Planning Board,” Guanci said. “The response has been overwhelmingly opposed to the road.”
The campaign does not oppose the new housing development, only the road, he said. Guanci has spoken out against the road before the Planning Board.
The neighborhood the road will affect is populated with families who have young children, Guanci said.
“If you were to drive down there right now, you will see I believe at least five or six basketball nets, in front of homes and parents are out there on weekends, for example, or days when there’s no school, playing basketball, or playing up the street with children … So that’s one of the issues that people are really concerned about, just the overall safety from the added traffic,” Guanci said.
They are also concerned about the disruption that will come from the construction of the road as well as the environmental impact, he said.
“That land is very close to our drinking water, Spring Pond. We are unaware of any environmental impact studies that have been provided to the City of Peabody, so we’re waiting to see if that will be provided,” Guanci said. “And we can’t imagine that the planning board would approve that without first having seen the environmental impact study.”
Zielski said she doesn’t think the road should be Peabody’s problem.
“I mean, there are other ways to connect this new Lynn housing development, through Lynn, except it would cost a little bit more money for this guy, this developer,” Zielski said. “So the only reason it’s come to our neighborhood, Peabody neighborhood, is because it’s the cheapest way to go.”
Guanci said they will continue their efforts to stop this road from being constructed.
“Now the next meeting is scheduled, we believe, for January 19. In the meantime, I am aware of a document that the attorney has sent to the planning board outlining his reasons why the road should be constructed,” Guanci said. “And I intend to respond to the attorney’s documents, so I will be sending a document to the planning board in response to his document.”
David Ankeles, Smith’s attorney, said that the proposed reconstruction of Westford Avenue will simply be an improvement to a roadway that has existed since the early 1900s. He said that the project would improve the pre-existing roadway and the sewer lines that run underneath it.
“After looking at it closely, it’s a very simple four- or five-lot subdivision. [It’s] not very large and it’s accessed by Westford Avenue, which is an old subdivision road that has existed since the early 1900s,” Ankeles said. “ It’s going to result in improvement of existing roadways and water and sewer in that area. I don’t believe that it should be as controversial as people make it out to be.”
Ankeles added that he believed most of the opposition to the roadway could be boiled down to the fact that it’s local to them. The project, which he said was relatively small and would be of benefit to the city, fills an important need for moderately-priced housing in Lynn.
“Everybody has to live someplace, children have to live someplace. I think we have to provide moderate-income housing. Not everybody can live in Lynnfield. Not everybody can live in Hamilton. We’ve got to be able to provide some decent housing,” Ankeles said. “I suppose ‘not my backyard’ is more deep seated than anything else. I don’t know, I really don’t understand the opposition, but we’ll do everything we possibly can to work with people.”
