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IPSWICH — Although the public got a series of presentations for around three hours about the Essex Road 40B, not all were impressed.
Resident Paula Jones felt they missed the point. She described the three hours of hearing about site plans, drainage, landscaping, traffic, and other topics as “minutiae.”
“All of this does not look at the real problem, and that is density,” she said. Jones called for the proposal to be scaled back and said 83 units would work.
Her comments came last week at a special ZBA meeting with just one item on the agenda: The Essex Road 40B, also known as “Essex Pastures.” Held over Zoom, the meeting started at 7:30 p.m. and ran for almost four hours. Around 40 members of the public attended.
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Applicant John Bruni has applied to build 191 rental units — 173 apartments and 18 townhouses — on 13.2 acres in and around the Bruni Marketplace on Essex Road (Route 133).
He wants to bypass local zoning by using the state’s 40B law. That law exempts developers provided 25% of the units are affordable and less than 10% of a town’s housing stock is not on the official state affordable housing list.
Addressing the project’s density, Jones also dismissed comments by the town’s peer-review architect, Cliff Boehmer of Davis Square Architects. He said the project team had made “tremendous progress” since their first iteration in mid-2018.
But Boehmer said the number of units — 191 on 13.2 acres — is not important as such. “The important issue to me is the quality of the development,” he said.
“What planet are we living on?” Jones asked later in the meeting. She said her street, Lakeman’s Lane, already has too much traffic, and the situation will worsen after the apartments are built.
Jones said that when she looks at the architect’s renderings, “I shudder.”
Resident Chris Florio said that more than 1,000 people have signed a petition opposing the project at the time of the meeting. (The number of signatures was at 1,431 on Monday afternoon).
“They are saying what Ms. Jones is saying,” he asserted. “This is not a project that belongs in Ipswich.”
Florio said the ZBA has the power to deny zoning waivers sought by the applicant and urged them to do so. The developers asked for 51 waivers, according to their latest filing on the town website.
Several people asked about traffic counts taken by Bruni’s engineer, Ken Cram of Bayside Engineering. However, the town’s peer-review engineer, Liz Oltman of TEC, confirmed Cram’s methodology, saying he picked the most conservative numbers.
However, resident Gary Champion said traffic is already a problem in the area. Cars back up to the Bruni Marketplace during peak periods, he said.
Noting that Cram said the intersection of County and Essex roads (routes 1A and 133) will be monitored for two years in case traffic lights are needed, Champion called the situation “ridiculous.”
He speculated that a traffic signal would also be needed on Essex Road at the new development.
Water
Referring to water-use calculations, selectperson and water commissioner, Linda Alexson said, “I heard some disturbing numbers.”
She said almost 320,000 gallons a week would be used by residents and the landscaping system. She asked the ZBA what steps could be taken to reduce usage. “We just can’t sustain that,” she said.
Gambale said the developer will be required to install low-flow plumbing fixtures in all the apartments.
Bruni’s attorney John Smolak noted that town water director Vicki Halmen said the town has adequate supplies for new developments.
But resident Kristina Brendel pointed to an apparent inconsistency between the town having enough and the recent water-supply emergency. “I don’t understand the math. It doesn’t make sense,” she said.
The town’s 40B attorney, Barbara Carboni of KP Law, Boston, said Halmen previously asked the applicant for a water-use plan. “I think this would be a reasonable thing for the applicant to provide at this point,” she said.
Alexson was also worried about the number of children that could be on the side of the street waiting for school buses. She said there could be as many as 150 kids there.
Gambale said the ZBA would prefer if the buses drove through the development, but he noted that bus companies don’t like to use private streets. “We’re pleading with them to allow that,” he added.
Smolak doubted there would be that many kids living in the new development, as most of the apartments would have one or two bedrooms. “I would be shocked if there are 150 students,” he said.
On pressure on the school system, Smolak disputed the claim. He noted that enrollment has fallen in Ipswich by 458, or 21.4%, from 2,137 in 2010 to 1,679 in 2020.
Gambale said the town is obliged to provide services to new residents and cannot turn down applicants by claiming lack of capacity.
Carboni said the board can ask the developer to change parts of the plan “not consistent with local needs.”
The hearing will resume on November 19 via Zoom.
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November 17, 2020 at 12:04AM
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Special four-hour meeting hears about Essex Road 40B proposal - The Local Ne.ws
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