By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff Writer
October 16, 2008 05:45 am ROCKPORT — A local realtor is attempting to sell a nearly three-acre parcel of land in Pigeon Cove; ordinarily, the offer wouldn't cause too much of a commotion, but this is no ordinary plot. In addition to the land, $850,000 will get the buyer a 3,000-square-foot home which can be moved and state-approved plans to construct a 23-unit affordable housing community. Charles Walima, owner of Walima Plumbing and Heating, first proposed the project, known as Halibut Point Village, in 2005. On June 29, 2006, the proposal — which called for a 55-plus condominium complex with 23 units at 220 Granite St. — received the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency's approval, making it eligible for a Chapter 40B comprehensive permit hearing before the town's Zoning Board of Appeals. Walima had two years to file for a comprehensive permit before MassHousing's approval became void. This July, Walima received a 12-month extension of MassHousing's approval, meaning the buyer has until June 30, 2009, to apply for a comprehensive permit hearing from the Board of Appeals. Board of Appeals Chairman Tacy Sanantonio said yesterday that Walima never came before the board to formally request a comprehensive permit hearing. Walima did not return calls for comment yesterday or Tuesday. As soon as Walima announced his plans, neighbors opposed the project, saying it jeopardized one of the neighborhood's most cherished characteristics — open space. However, according to MassHousing's response letter to Walima's application in 2006, the agency's staff inspected the 2.87-acre property and found that Walima's plans were "generally appropriate for the site and site location." More than 40 neighbors united against the project, calling themselves the Pigeon Cove Alliance. According to members of the alliance, Walima incurred a zoning bylaw violation prior to gaining the state's approval for the project and is subject to an outstanding zoning enforcement order. Alliance members Joreen White of Woodbury Lane and MaryJane Morrill of Worcester Place wrote in a letter to the project's marketing director, Dennis Lovelace, that the violation would move forward with the property as it has not been complied with to date. Town Administrator Michael Racicot said if someone does purchase the land and apply for a comprehensive permit approval, the developer would have to address the issues the town had concerns about, including surface water run-off, emergency vehicle access and resolving the issue with the Planning Board over work done on the site without site plan approval. Lovelace, whose wife, Debra, is the listing agent for the property, said the owner is open to being completely bought out of the property or entering a partnership with a buyer to develop the project. "(Walima) has lived here all his life and knows 33 percent of the population is over 55, so he thought this would be a great project," Lovelace said yesterday. "It would give the older people here in town who want to downsize someplace to go so they wouldn't have to leave town." According to Essex County Registry of Deeds records, Walima purchased the land at 220 Granite St. for $60,000 from Charles Anderson in 1992. Lovelace said when a comprehensive permit request is entered, the process will take its due course and all the town's concerns will be addressed. Since April, a sewer hook-up moratorium has been in effect in Rockport, stemming from an administrative consent order issued by the Department of Environmental Protection. Until the ban is lifted, no new connections to the town's sewer system are being accepted. "The sewer moratorium won't be forever," Lovelace said, "we have a great Department of Public Works administration and crews that are out there actively addressing the DEP mandate, doing everything they've been mandated to do. The more they move along, the closer we are to the moratorium being lifted." According to the Re/Max Advantage Real Estate description of the property, the project would be Rockport's first 55-plus community, featuring 23 residences — 17 market units and six affordable units — in six buildings. Under Massachusetts' Chapter 40B, the "anti-snob zoning" law, cities and towns where less than 10 percent of houses are classified as affordable have little control over projects proposed by developers who designate 25 percent of the homes or condos as affordable. Rockport's stock of affordable housing is 4.8 percent, Racicot said. The last major 40B proposal in Rockport failed after the project was deemed not feasible by the developer following a 2006 Board of Appeals decision. After three years of planning a Chapter 40B development at the Rockport Lodge on South Street, Wellspring, a Gloucester nonprofit group that seeks to help low-income residents with housing and education, pulled the plug on its proposal after determining that the ZBA's decision to only allow 11 of the 15 proposed units wouldn't allow them the financial stability needed to move forward with the development. Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com. c_
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