SAUGUS — The Planning Board issued a negative recommendation to Town Meeting regarding a proposal to rezone the property at 39R Forest St. from residential to Business Highway Sustainable Development (BHSD) District, despite a previous board’s recommendation of the proposal.
Planning Board Chair John O’Brien said “a lot of disrespect” had been shown to the board regarding the article, including developer Sal Palumbo’s representation, who had lobbied for the zoning switch, not attending the board’s recent meeting.
“To get information hours before the meeting is unacceptable,” he said. “You can’t put this kind of pressure on a board.”
The motion to not recommend the article was carried unanimously, with all four of the board’s members voting against the proposal.
The rezoning proposal has come before Town Meeting at least once before, in October, when members opted to send the article back to the Planning Board for reconsideration, despite the then-positive recommendation from the board.
The biggest concern regarding the proposal remains the possibility of development on the residential Forest Street. But, Attorney Mark Bobrowski, who represents Palumbo, said his client has no intention of doing so.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Anthony Cogliano, who submitted the article for consideration by Town Meeting, explained that he was employed by Palumbo when the zoning-overlay district for Route 1 was approved by the town. He said it was his understanding, as well as that of state Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus), Town Meeting members, and former Planning Board member Peter Rossetti, that the 39R Forest St. parcel was included in the new BHSD zoning.
“Why it was [not], I have no idea,” Cogliano said.
The Forest Street property is attached to 961 Broadway, and Palumbo also owns that parcel and 999 Broadway. Bobrowski explained that in order to access the developable portion of the property, his client would need to have the Forest Street property’s zoning amended.
“He wants to take a multifamily use from Broadway, across 39R, and then make a left-hand turn onto 999 [Broadway],” he said.
Cogliano said he wanted the rezoning to prevent Palumbo from using the Forest Street access to construct a development under Chapter 40B, which allows local zoning boards of appeals to approve developments under flexible rules assuming a certain number of units are set aside for affordable housing. The state law only applies to communities where the affordable housing stock is below 10 percent, which means Saugus could see another 40B come in with little power to turn it away.
“My only reason for getting involved was to ensure that didn’t happen,” Cogliano said. “Hopefully they can find common ground here and do what’s right for the residents of Forest Street. It appears that the attorneys on both sides are playing hardball.”
And indeed, Special Counsel Jesse Schumer told the Planning Board that negotiations over a pair of covenants regarding the property are ongoing. But, he said, a number of conditions have already been agreed to, including a condition that the property owner be prohibited from using any portion of the property to access Forest Street in any way, including constructing an access road.
The second part of the covenant would enact a conservation restriction that would create a 5-foot strip of land around the entire property, which would prevent the development of any structures or access ways. That stretch of land would return to a “wooded condition” and create a barrier of sorts to protect residents.
Palumbo and his attorneys last week sought to make the enactment of the covenant contingent on a future development being approved under the BHSD zoning, which Town Counsel John Vasapolli recommended against.
Schumer and O’Brien noted that no proposal is actually before the board for what Palumbo seeks to do with the property, meaning any development would still require local approval.
Precinct 9 Town Meeting member Robert Long expressed concerns with the proposal, particularly surrounding the covenants, which he said provide no real protection. Schumer did acknowledge that a board could take up and modify the covenants down the road, but noted that any contract is subject to modification.
The rezoning proposal appears on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting set for June 26 as Article 5, and the Planning Board’s recommendation now becomes the motion on the floor of Town Meeting, meaning members would have to vote no to approve the rezoning. Members appeared to not quite grasp the idea during the final session of Annual Town Meeting earlier this year during the vote on a proposed zoning-overlay district for Cliftondale Square, which similarly earned a negative recommendation.
If the article fails at Town Meeting, Palumbo will be required to wait two years before bringing it back for consideration.
