Beverly's largest taxpayer, Cummings Properties, should have anticipated the outcry from residents of the Dunham Castle condominiums when it set about clearing the woods that separated those residences from Route 128.
Having recently purchased the 54 acres of property that includes the former Parker Brothers headquarters off Dunham Road, and after consulting with the city's conservation office to make sure the work would not infringe on any wetlands, the developer had a legal right to take down the trees and brush that surround the office building. But as a matter of common courtesy, residents of the condominium complex should have been advised of what Cummings had in mind before the bulldozers and other heavy equipment showed up late last week. (Neither The Salem News nor the North Shore Music Theatre, which flank the Cummings property, received advance notification either.)
Going forward, Cummings ought to provide for a reasonable buffer between the residential buildings and whatever is built on the property, as well as the nearby highway.
The clear-cutting was understandably upsetting to those who live nearby (not to mention the wild turkeys, deer and other animals for which the woods provided habitat). On the other hand, the work might be viewed as a positive sign for Mayor Bill Scanlon's effort to secure funding for a new interchange at Route 128 and Brimbal Avenue that would provide a direct connection between the highway and properties along Dunham Road — including the music theater, which draws large crowds for many of its shows.
A savvy businessman, Bill Cummings is not going to invest his money (he paid $2.3 million for the Dunham Road property in December) without a reasonable expectation of making a profit. And Scanlon sees the new development an interchange might promote as a way to grow the city's tax base.
But lest anyone accuse the company of not caring about the environment, the latest issue of the newsletter distributed to tenants at the giant Cummings Center complex near downtown Beverly urges them to contact the MBTA to protest proposed fare hikes and service cutbacks. While many commute by car, the company realizes the value of having alternative means of transportation (the T wants to eliminate the North Beverly-Salem bus route that stops at Cummings Center, and do away with all late-night and weekend train service at the nearby Beverly depot) for those who work there.
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