The Revere Conservation Commission (ConsComm) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, April 1, in the City Council Chambers. Chair Nicholas Rudolph, Joseph LaValle, Brian Averbach, Bernardo Sepulveda, Thomas Carleton, new member Anthony Parziale, and Wilson Correa were on hand for the session.
The members first took up a request for approval of a Notice of Intent (NOI) filed by the Mass. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) for the Andrew A. Casassa bridge replacement project on the Revere Beach Parkway (Route 16) at the intersection of Route 107 (Broadway) near the Cronin Rink.
Michael Rooney with the traffic engineering firm of Howard Stein Hudson (HSH) presented the application to the members. “This is a structurally-deficient bridge that is at the end of its service life,” said Rooney. The new bridge structure will be built on the same footprint as the present bridge, but will have pedestrian and ADA access, plus bicycle accommodations (which will be on Broadway only). There also will be improvements to drainage with an increase in flood water storage.
The bridge is located adjacent to Mill Creek with portions within land subject to coastal storm flowage. There will be no direct impacts to bordering vegetated wetlands, the salt marsh, or the coastal bank.
Chris Lyman from HSH explained the details of the plan with accompanying engineering plans. He said the project will be done in three stages (to allow for traffic to be able to proceed while work is in progress), with the final stage also including work to Broadway underneath the bridge.
Rudolph asked questions about clearing out debris from the catch basins and urged more frequent cleaning than is presently done.
LaValle made note of the large trees that are in the immediate area of the project. “I’d hate to lose them,” said LaValle, who was assured that only one of the trees will be removed, but three new trees will be planted.
“This is a bridge, but it is the gateway to our city,” said Averbach. “The brush that is there now on the slope traps trash and looks terrible. I think it would be nice if that area can be landscaped so that it will look infinitely better than what is there now.”
He was told that the brush will be removed as part of the project and it will be landscaped with loam and grass.
Averbach also asked about the impact of the proposed bike lanes which, he said, “Everyone hates,” on Broadway, and was told that the addition of the bike lanes will have minimal impact on vehicular traffic.
The bridge was constructed in 1931 and was the first-ever overpass built in Massachusetts. Andrew A. Casassa was the Mayor of Revere from 1929 to 1934 and was the first municipal executive of Italian descent in the Commonwealth. Casassa also served in the legislature as a state representative and state senator.
The members voted unanimously to approve the NOI and to issue an Order of Conditions. The start of the project, which initially was announced in 2022, is set for 2027 and will take three years to complete.
The commission next took up the Emergency Order of Conditions regarding an incident and subsequent mitigation at the Point of Pines Yacht Club which is serving as the staging area for the construction of the new MWRA back-up water pipeline from Revere to Lynn, which will be 35 feet beneath the Pines River, that caused two sinkholes.
Alejandro Alvarez, the construction coordinator for the MWRA, and Jennifer Doyle-Breen, a senior technical advisor with the consulting firm AECOM, told the commissioners that the two sinkholes were discovered in early March and the ConsComm issued emergency orders to allow for the sinkholes to be filled. At the same time, it was discovered that there was a weld break in a conductor barrel that required trenching to repair.
Breen said that both sinkholes have been filled in and the berm that was excavated for digging the trench box and weld break retrieval has been restored. She said that approved sand was used to fill the sinkholes and the berm in coordination with the Revere DPW.
“I want to thank you for your transparency and the communication throughout the process,” said Rudolph. Alvarez noted that the project is supposed to be completed within a few months.
The next matter was a request for an Amended Order of Conditions (OOC) for the residential project at 37 Revere Beach Boulevard and West St. because the property has been mapped out of the floodplain since the application initially was reviewed and approved by the ConsComm in May, 2023.
Peter Blaisdell from the firm Williams & Sparages, LLC, presented the request. He said that the new OOC is needed in order to expedite the process of the placement of an electrical transformer by National Grid. Under the previous OOC, the transformer was required to be 10 feet above ground level. With the new mapping, the new proposal will place the transformer one foot above ground-level.
The members, who the week before had toured the site (where the building already is well under construction), unanimously approved the amended OOC.
The members next heard the continued hearing for an NOI for the large mixed-use project (80 residential units with a restaurant, retail, and parking garages) at 76-82 Revere Beach Boulevard.
The ConsComm heard the matter last month, but was unable to issue an order of conditions because the Mass. DEP had yet to issue a File Number, which is required before a local Conservation Commission can approve an NOI and issue the OOC.
After Blaisdell (who also presented this proposal) answered a few questions from the members, they voted unanimously to approve the NOI. The five properties presently are the site of four businesses, including the iconic Bill Ash’s Lounge and Twist and Shake ice cream. However, the contractor said demolition is not expected to start until the fall that will allow the businesses to remain open during this summer season.