PEABODY — The vice chairman of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals resigned after an anonymous complaint triggered a city investigation of a Bartholomew Street land deal.
Paul Ruocco purchased 98 Bartholomew St. in March and a month later received approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals to divide the property into two lots, one to build a home for himself and, according to meeting minutes, one to build a home for his in-laws. In June, Ruocco sold one of the parcels to his mother-in-law, who on the same day sold the property to a third party.
Over the summer, an unsigned complaint was sent to Mayor Michael Bonfanti, who asked City Solicitor John Christopher to look into the matter.
"What we saw on paper, it just didn't look good," Christopher said, referring to Ruocco's failure to abide by what he represented to the Zoning Board.
In late August, Bonfanti invited Ruocco to meet with him and Christopher, and during their conversation, Ruocco offered his resignation, Christopher said.
Christopher does not think Ruocco broke any laws, but his actions were cause for concern.
"For lack of a better word, it didn't look copacetic," Christopher said. "The mayor has a zero tolerance for anything that might look unusual."
Ruocco, a vice president at Cambridge Savings Bank, according to his LinkedIn Web page, did not return three messages left for him at work on Thursday and Friday. He could also not be reached at a phone number for his Goodridge Street home.
Ruocco and his wife purchased 98 Bartholomew St. for $127,000 on March 18, Registry of Deeds records indicate. He appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 26, applying for a variance that would allow him to create a "pork chop" shaped lot.
His attorney, Arthur Goldberg, told the board that the plan was to build two homes after demolishing the existing home on the property. According to minutes of the meeting, Goldberg said Ruocco, a 23-year resident of Peabody, would live in one home and his in-laws would live in the adjacent home and provide child care.
Goldberg said there was a "history of pork chop lots" in the area and promised the "integrity of the neighborhood" would not be destroyed if the board approved the variance. A letter with the signatures of 12 "immediate abutters" in favor of Ruocco's application was provided to the board.
The neighbors who live directly behind the property offered testimony in support of Ruocco. No one spoke in opposition.
The board then voted 4-0 to approve the application.
On June 25, Ruocco and his wife sold one of the new lots to Dimitra Mihalakakis, Ruocco's mother-in-law, for $90,000. Mihalakakis then sold the lot to Roger Barile, trustee of the Joseph and Avery Realty Trust, for $150,000.
Christopher said Barile was a builder in Peabody. He did not know what Barile intended to do with the lot. The city's lawyer would not speculate about why Ruocco did not just sell the property directly to Barile.
Christopher did not know how long Ruocco was a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals. In office for nine years, Bonfanti said he could not remember if he appointed Ruocco.
"(Ruocco) was the vice chairman, he had a lot of experience," said Jason Panos, an alternate member of the board. "I am not familiar with the circumstances of his resignation. You would have to ask him about it."
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