SWAMPSCOTT — The Housing Authority and the Senior Tenants Association are preparing to voice their concerns again about the Elm Place 40B housing development project at the next meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on Jan. 11.
TheZBA held the first meeting regarding a comprehensive special permit requested by WinnDevelopment to build a 120-unit, mixed-income building dubbed “The Elm Place” on Nov. 30. Marc Kornitsky, chairman of the ZBA, said that the board will be adhering to the process stipulated in the law which promotes a healthy dialogue and negotiation with the developer.
“Let’s focus on statutory requirements,” said Kornitsky.
He emphasized that the ZBA cannot refuse a comprehensive permit unless valid health and safety concerns outweigh the town’s need for housing. When the floor was opened to public commentary, Cynthia Tenant, member of the Swampscott Housing Authority (SHA) and chair of the Swampscott Senior Tenants Association (STA), brought up exactly such an issue.
The area used to be an industrial site with multiple companies contributing to its pollution over the years, she said. For example, Essex Oil used to offload petroleum home-heating oil from trains into trucks and spills were common. Gulf Gasoline station used to sell leaded gasoline and Tenant remembers that there were problems when the company started taking the gas tanks out of the site in the 1970s.
The issue has not been given much discussion time at the November meeting and the SHA and Tenant are preparing to bring it up again. The abutters’ concern is that the construction will disturb these areas polluted with toxic chemicals which will in turn affect residents’ health on Pitman Road and Elm Place and the 44 elderly residents living at SHA properties on Doherty Circle and Duncan Terrace.
“This is going to be my final home,” said Tenant. “Don’t we have the right to the peaceful, quiet, comfortable enjoyment of our final homes without having to deal with this?”
WinnDevelopment spokesperson Ed Cafasso said that the development team performed an environmental assessment of the Elm Place site through a licensed professional from Loureiro Engineering and, because the results did not show reportable levels of contamination, the developer was not required by law to forward the 21E assessment to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).
“WinnDevelopment takes a thoughtful and comprehensive approach in understanding environmental conditions in all of our projects,” said Cafasso. “Environmental site assessments like this are standard practice and are performed in accordance with standards set by the company, the apartment industry and the American Society for Testing and Materials.”
Loureiro performed comprehensive historical research into prior uses of the site and abutting properties, Cafasso said, and tested both subsurface soil and groundwater. Based on this testing, no issues were detected above Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) standards, WinnDevelopment will put in place a soil-management plan that meets all state environmental requirements before the start of excavation and construction, Cafasso said.
MassDEP confirmed that the developer is not required to report the results of 21E assessment unless they exceed “reportable concentration” thresholds.
“MassDEP has not presently identified a need to survey and clean up the area,” said Brian Ferrarese, MassDEP spokesperson.
He said that the location of the Elm Place development (bordered by Elm Place, Pitman Road, Essex Street and the MBTA Commuter Rail) is not currently a waste site in the MassDEP database. The known pollution that Tenant mentioned had happened nearby, according to the information provided by Ferrarese.
Essex Oil used to be located at 201 Essex St. That waste site is in “default”, Ferrarese said, as the responsible party never performed the complete site assessment and cleanup required by 21E regulations, despite numerous enforcement actions taken by MassDEP.
A former Gulf Gasoline station site is located at 197 Essex St. It is currently undergoing cleanup by Hafner Oil company, Ferrarese said.
Neither of the two sites on Essex Street is at the Elm Place development location; however, they are within 500 feet to the additional parking area that WinnDevelopment is planning to put across from CrossFit Gym at 171 Essex St. and within 1000 feet from the Burke Tumbling Academy.
Ferrarese recommended that abutters contact the Northeast Region of MassDEP if they still have concerns.
At this point in the process there are no further requirements for the developer to demonstrate compliance with environmental, health and safety requirements, said Marzie Gallaska, director of Community & Economic Development at the town of Swampscott; however, the safety of the residents is of utmost importance to the town and ZBA.
“The meeting is just the beginning,” Gallaska said. “If there is ever a concern, MassDEP will be notified and the developer will be required to remediate.”
ZBA can still ask for commentaries, go back to the developers to share testing outcomes reports and request additional reviews before making the final decision, Gallaska said.
SHA will also raise other safety issues at the Jan. 11 ZBA meeting, Tenant said, including rodent problems that might be exacerbated by the development and variances in the project that can be a safety issue for the elderly.