The Revere Conservation Commission (ConsComm) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, June 3, in the City Council Chambers. Chair Nicholas Rudolph, Joseph LaValle, Brian Averbach, Bernardo Sepulveda, Thomas Carleton, and Anthony Parziale were on hand for the session.
The members first took up a request for approval of a Notice of Intent (NOI) filed by Chris and Tracy Ciaramella, 1165 North Shore Road, LLC, who propose to raze an existing single-family home and build a 12-unit residential structure at 1165-1167 North Shore Road, which is at the corner of No. Shore Rd. and Agawam St. on the southbound side of No. Shore Rd.
The proposed building will be four stories high, with parking on the ground level and four apartments on each of the three floors. There will be six one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom units.
Rick Salvo from Engineering Alliance, Inc., presented engineering plans to the members. Salvo said the land is located within the 100 year floodplain and is at an elevation of 12 feet, with the first floor of the building at an elevation of 19 feet.
“This project will result in a net increase in flood storage capacity on the property because the existing foundation will be removed,” said Salvo, who noted that the project already was approved for the necessary variances by the Zoning Board of Appeals in February.
There were no opponents and the commission unanimously approved the NOI and issued an Order of Conditions.
Next up was a Request for a Determination of Applicability (RDA) by Scott Morrison, a Professional Wetlands Scientist with the firm VHB, for the property on Fenno St. that is located on the Chelsea (westerly) side of Route 1.
The City Council recently rezoned the land, paving the way for construction of a 96-unit apartment complex that will be constructed in two-phases. The land is owned by the Procopio Companies, which is working with the non-profit agency Boston Communities to bring affordable housing to the city.
This matter had been continued from last month to enable the commissioners to walk the property. The land has been used as a dumping ground for decades — it is littered with debris of all sorts — and most recently was even a homeless encampment. The land is heavily-treed and essentially is an urban wildland.
Morrison was asking the commission to confirm that a concrete-lined diversion channel (which has been in existence for more than 70 years and that runs through the site) meets the definition of a man-made “canal” under the Wetlands Protection Act (WPA) and also to confirm the site as an “historic dumping ground and degraded area” prior to August 7, 1996 under the WPA.
If both of those conditions are met, then any construction will not be subject to the WPA and thus not within the jurisdiction of the ConsComm.
The ConsComm was told last month that the diversion channel, which proceeds under the Northeast Expressway and eventually drains into Mill Creek, is subject to tidal flow.
“This property is really just sitting there as a pit,” said Averbach. “There never would be any incentive to clean this area up unless there is going to be a development there. The land right now is not helping anyone and not helping the environment. This project will be a positive for the environment.”
“This is strictly a 100 percent man-made canal and you should not be subject to the Wetlands Protections Act,” added Carleton.
The members voted unanimously to accept the waterway as a man-made canal. However, after some discussion (which referenced the members’ walk-through of the site last week), they determined that only a portion of the property should be deemed an historic dumping ground, with the limits to be defined at a later time and upon further analysis, which ultimately could require a delineation of wetlands.
The dual vote essentially means that the members rejected VHB’s request for a Negative RDA, and therefore the ConsComm will retain jurisdiction over future development on the property.