The Saugus Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the Berthold Street subdivision extension, provided that the company in charge meets certain requirements.
During the board’s latest meeting, its members heard from Marc Chapdelaine, representing R&J Tucci Construction, as it sought permission to continue its work on Berthold Street. The company has a four-lot subdivision that it is using to build three homes.
Board Chair John O’Brien brought up that the water and sewer lines had not been tested at the site. John Tucci of R&J Tucci took the lectern to explain that a company had been brought in to extend the water line to Essex Street, but that it had buried the shutoff so that it is not easily accessible.
“We can’t chlorinate the water line without digging Essex Street up,” Tucci said.
O’Brien asked Tucci if digging the water line up on Essex Street would fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works, and Tucci replied that it would not. He added that he would need to apply to the state to be granted permission to dig it, as it is part of a state highway.
“So you need the extension to do any more work to rectify that?” Vice Chair Jeannie Meredith asked.
Tucci affirmed that this was the case.
An engineer for the town, Larry Durkin, raised a potential issue with the bond the company had presented to the board for the subdivision’s extension, noting that the estimates were not specific enough.
“The town assumes a lot of risk if it’s not done properly,” Durkin said.
Another potential snag for Bob Maher, a resident near the extension, was the knotweed that surrounds the area. At a previous meeting, Maher said that R&J Tucci Construction’s creation of a wall in the area had pushed the invasive species onto his property. At Thursday’s meeting, Chapdelaine denied that the company’s work in the area had caused the knotweed infestation.
Maher said that it would take five to 10 years to eradicate the knotweed.
“I want to live in my house. I don’t want to have to fight with Mr. Tucci and his lawyer. I’ve been doing that since 2015 or 2011,” Maher said. “All I want them to do is maintain the wetlands by my house in perpetuity, or whoever they sell the lot to, because whoever that lot’s gonna get sold to, that wetlands go with the property. Now they’re stuck with it. Now, if they can just do a maintenance, maintain it, you’ll never see me again down here.”
Meredith assured Maher that R&J Tucci Construction will be taking care of the knotweed.
The board ultimately passed the extension on the condition that it receives a $300,000 bond from the company and that the existing knotweed be dealt with prior to the continuation of any work on the subdivision.
