40-419 HIGHLAND AVENUE - ZBA yo�t�19 Nighla�a pve.
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CITY OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS C' Fy OF$ OFFICE
,4
00 BOARD OF APPEAL CLERK
120 WASHINGTON STREET, 3RD FLOOR
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970
STANLEY J. USOVICZ, JR. TELEPHONE: 978-745-9595 1004 DEC -3 A CO 45
MAYOR FAX: 978-740-9846
DECISION OF THE PETITION OF PAUL FERREGAMO REQUESTING A
VARIANCE FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 407-419 HIGHLAND AVENUE
R-1
A hearing of this petition was held on November 22, 2004 with the following Board
Members present: Nina Cohen,Chairman, Bonnie Belair, Edward Moriarty, Richard
Dionne and Steven Pinto. Notice of this hearing was sent to abutters and others and
notices of the hearing were properly published in the Salem Evening News in accordance
with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A.
The petitioner is requesting a Variance to allow use of a lot containing 109,344 sq ft for
27 townhouse dwelling in 7 buildings, and Variances for more than one dwelling on lot,
minimum lot area per dwelling, minimum distance between buildings on lot and
Variances from parking regulations to allow exterior parking for the property located at
407-419 Highland Avenue located in an R-1 zone.
The Variance which has been requested may be granted upon a finding of the Board that:
a. Special conditions and circumstances exist which especially affect the land,
building, or structure involved and which are not generally affecting other lands,
buildings or structures in the same district.
b. Literal enforcement of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance would involve
substantial hardship, financial or otherwise, to the petitioner.
c. Desirable relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good
and without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent of the district or
the purpose of the Ordinance.
The Board of Appeal, after careful consideration of the evidence presented at the hearing
and after viewing the plans, makes the following findings of fact:
1. Petitioner Paul Fetragamo through this attorney, George Atkins, Jr. Esq, seeks
permission to build a 27 unit condominium development at 407-419 Highland
Ave, in a single-family residential zoning district. Petitioner presented a site plan
showing the location of the townhouses in seven 2 'l:story buildings with attached
garages along a new roadway.
_Access to_the_development will-be-exelusively-from Highland Ave."The proposed
plan, which will be reviewed by the Planning Board, calls for petitioner to install
a left-turning lane at the existing traffic signal on Highland Ave. at Old Village
Road, allowing access from both northbound and southbound lanes on Highland
Avenue.
i
DECISIONOF THE PETITION OF PAUL FERRAGAMO REQUESTING A
VARIANCE FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 407-419 HIGHLAND
AVENUE R-1
page two
3. Under the proposed plan, a second access road to the development will be created
leading to Clark St. This new road will be for emergency use only.
4. In support of his petition, Attorney Atkins presented a memorandum of law
arguing that the Zoning Board of Appeal might find in favor of the issuance of
a variance for the particular use sought, pursuant to the Salem Zoning Ordinance,
when the petitioner met the burden of demonstrating that:
a. Special Conditions and circumstances exist which especially affect the land,
building or structure involved and which are not involved and which are not
generally affecting other lands, buildings and structures in the same district;
b. Literal enforcement of the provisions of this ordinance would involve
substantial hardship, financial or otherwise, to the appellant, and
c. Desirable relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good
and without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent of the district
or the purpose of this ordinance.
5. Land Engineer Scott Patrowicz of Salem presented drawings showing the
topography of the site, which is sloped and sharply hilly. Rock ledge that is
presented on the Highland Ave portion of the site will be blasted and removed
where necessary to allow construction on a grade of no more than 4%.
6. Traffic Engineer Kim Azavardian of TEEP,LLC, presented traffic
assessment in which he estimated the proposed 27 condominium units would
generate 18 additional trips during the morning peak hour and 21 additional
trips during the evening peak hour.
7. Architect Harry Gunderson of 20 Central St., Salem presented elevation
drawings showing the appearance of the proposed townhouse buildings as
viewed from adjacent homes on Barnes Circle,Clark St. and Highland Ave.
the sloping topography will require adjacent townhouses to be higher than
their neighbors, but according to Mr. Gunderson the proposed plan represents
the best use of the existing topography to create a workable layout for site
development.
8. Five variances are needed. These are: a variance to allow 27 dwelling units in
a single family residential district, a variance from minimum lot area per
dwelling unit to allow approximately 4000 sf per unit, a variance for more than
one dwelling on a lot, a variance from the minimum distance between buildings
on a lot, and a variance from parking regulations to allow exterior parking spaces
for each unit to be located behind the interior garage space.
9. As grounds for the requested variances, petitioner represents that the special
conditions especiallyaffecting this-parcel-are-threefoid First, the parcel is on
Highland Ave., a state highway on which limited access is encouraged. Second,
the parcel has an uneven slope and third, the requirement to blast and remove
the naturally occurring ledge makes development for residential purposes
costly, risky and expensive.
i
DECISION OF THE PETITION OF PAUL FERRAGAMO REQUESTING A
VARIANCE FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 407-419 HIGHLAND
AVENUE R-1
page three
10. The proposed development was universally opposed by its neighbors, many of
whom attended this meeting and also had met previously with the developer.
11. Many neighbors argued that petitioner did not demonstrate that he was unable
to develop the land for single-family use. According to Ed Nitkowski of 7
Clark St., each of the difficulties described by the developer also affects other
properties on Clark St, but the difficulties were not insurmountable as those
properties were successfully developed.
12. Paulina Alexander of 12 Clark St. stated that water pressure at this neighborhood
was very poor due to an outdated pumping station that the City of Salem had
failed to update, and current capacity could not sustain the additional density
of the proposed development. City Councillors Joan Lovely, Jean Pelletier and
Joseph O'Keefe confirmed that the observations about water pressure conditions
were widely shared by residents of the neighborhood.
13. Pat Ritkowski of 3 Clark St. stated that the rush hour traffic on Highland Ave
was frequently very slow, and she observed that the traffic study significantly
understated the likely impact of the proposed development. She was seconded
by many of those attending, including Councillor at Large Kevin Harvey, who
stated that the proposed density was far greater than would generally be allowed
in a single family district without rezoning.
14. Richard Bingham of 22 Barnes Circle stated that the site is currently
surrounded by single-family homes built on topography very similar to that of
the petitioner and that without objection seven single-family homes could be
built on the parcel. An increased density would diminish housing values, he
feared.
15. Chris Lane of 403 Highland Ave. stated that he has observed a great many
traffic accidents on Highland Ave. due to the high speed at which traffic may
pass on this part of the road. He expressed concern that the increase in traffic
flow may increase the number of traffic accidents on this part of the road.
16. Two members of the Zoning Board, Attorney Ed Moriarty and Attorney Nina
Cohen, stated that they felt the petitioner had failed to demonstrate hardship
necessary for a variance to issue in this single —family residential district.
On the basis of the above findings of fact, and on the evidence presented at the hearing,
the Board of Appeal concludes as follows.
1. Special conditions do not exist which especially affect the subject property and `
not the district in general.
2. Literal enforcement of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance would not result in
unnecessary hardship to the petitioner.
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DECISION OF THE PETITION OF PAUL FERRAGAMO REQUESTING A
VARIANCE FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 407-419 HIGHLAND AVENUE
R-1
page four
3. The relief requested cannot be granted without substantial detriment to the public
good or without nullifying and substantially hardship derogating from the intent
of the district or purpose of the Ordinance.
Therefore, the Zoning Board of Appeal voted 0 in favor and 5 in opposition to grant the
requested variances. Having failed to gamer the four affirmative votes required to pass,
the motion is defeated and the petition is denied.
Variance Denied
November 22, 2004 /jut) L
Nina Cohen, Chairman(SCA_�
Board of Appeal
A COPY OF THIS DECISION HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE PLANNING
BOARD AND THE CITY CLERK
Appeal from this decision, if any, shall be made pursuant to Section 17 of the MGL
Chapter 40A and shall be filed within 20 days after the date of filing of this decision
in the office of the City Clerk. Pursuant to MGL Chapter 40A, Section 11, the
Variance of Special Permit granted herein shall not take effect until a copy of the
decision bearing the Certification of the City Clerk that 20 days have passed and no
appeal has been filed, or that, if such appeal has been filed, that it has been dismissed
or denied is recorded in the South Essex Registry of Deeds and indexed under the
name of the owner of record or is recorded and noted on the owner Certificate of
Title.
Board of Appeal