SAUGUS — The Planning Board has determined it has not seen sufficient information to approve continued construction on the Essex Landing site and scheduled an additional meeting with MT Realty, the property’s developer, for Sept. 5.
At a meeting of the board, Mike Touchette, the owner of MT Realty, took to the lectern to address issues the board had raised at its previous meeting on June 6.
Touchette was seeking approval to continue the work that had stalled on the property due to issues regarding temporary parking lots, with the Conservation Commission’s pending approval of the temporary lots being an additional obstacle.
Touchette said that when representatives for Essex Landing had previously gone before the commission in 2023, MT Realty was granted a three-year extension on its order of conditions. He explained that once the new buildings were erected, the temporary parking lots, which Touchette had paved without permission from the proper authorities, would be removed.
Touchette said that the previously proposed hotels are no longer in the cards for the property. Instead, MT Realty is looking to build an assisted-living facility operated by Wingate Living.
The board performed a site visit with Touchette on June 20, alongside an individual from Tetra Tech, a consulting firm the board had retained at its previous meeting to review any additional site plans for Essex Landing.
“Once we build that building, we’re going to have extra parking spots. So right now, with Kane’s Donuts, the gym, and everything, I have 40 units down there and I have 78 parking spots. So, on a Saturday, the help parks in that parking lot. Otherwise, they’re parked all along the street because of the shared parking zoning that was approved at that time,” Touchette said.
Board member Robert Long looked through documentation from the Conservation Commission, which stipulated that in order to move forward, the asphalt that Touchette paved would need to be uplifted.
Touchette said that he had paved the temporary lots in order to provide a convenience for the town’s emergency-services departments. Prior to that, he said, people had to park on the street.
“It’s not hurting anybody,” Touchette said of the temporary parking lots. “But, if it’s going to keep stalling me on this board, I’ll take the parking lots out tomorrow.”
The board’s members scheduled another meeting because they felt they did not have enough information on the project, as they had not heard back from Tetra Tech following the site visit.
At the newly scheduled meeting, Touchette said he will have an updated master plan showing the temporary parking lots removed and the proposed assisted-living facility.
