News

Plan urged to rescue downtown

By Matthew K. Roy
Staff writer
Published: September 5, 2008

PEABODY — City officials last night detailed plans to save a downtown that has been battered by flooding and languished in the shadow of the popular Northshore Mall.

Mayor Michael Bonfanti began a meeting with the City Council by highlighting the close relationship between Peabody's flooding woes and the poor economic health of its downtown.

"If we don't address the flooding, we will not achieve revitalization," he said.

Peabody has had five major floods, including three federal disasters, since 1996. It cost $12 million of federal, state and local money for the city to recover from the Mother's Day flood of 2006. Meanwhile, the commercial vacancy rate in Peabody Square is 35 percent.

City-hired engineers outlined a three-phase plan to address flooding and then Community Development Director Jean Delios shared a vision of a transformed downtown with a two-lane Main Street instead of four and the infusion of mixed-use buildings beside new parks and walking paths.

The flooding plan involves:

Relocating and enlarging Goldthwaite Brook and cleaning approximately 990 feet of the original Foster Street culvert. ($13.4 million).

Widening approximately 1,600 feet of the North River ¬­— from Goldthwaite Brook to the Howley Street Bridge. The river will be widened to 38 feet, from 11 to 22 feet in spots. The Caller Street Bridge will need to be replaced. ($7.6 million to $9.3 million).

Widening a portion of the river that extends into Salem, and potentially realigning a 90-degree river bend at a railroad crossing. ($10.2 million).

The city of Peabody is responsible for the first two projects. The Army Corps of Engineers will complete the third.

The changes are meant to get the city through a "50-year-flood," which is 5.4 inches of rain over 24 hours.

The estimated cost of the project is $31 million. The city thus far has secured $11.1 million in grant funding and is waiting for word on an additional $10 million in assistance. Public Services Director Dick Carnevale said that trying to find a solution to address a "100-year-flood" would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars."

"What this plan does," Barry Sinewitz said, "is give people hope."

All three phases of the plan have a projected completion date of 2012. The city hopes to get a state waiver to begin phase one without having to include it as part of an environmental impact study that could take a year to complete.

Given that the majority of phase three is in Salem, the council last night voted to meet periodically with their colleagues in Salem.

"This is not an easy project," City Council President Arthur Athas said. "It might not be a perfect plan, but we have to have a plan, and this one is pretty close to being workable."

Halfway through a meeting that extended past four hours, Delios gave a presentation that focused on ways to redevelop and enliven downtown. She talked about narrowing Main Street to help slow and control traffic.

"It's the Indy 500," she said of the road's current state.

Delios also discussed rezoning land that previously housed the city's once-thriving leather industry to accommodate new uses, such as coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, theaters and pubs. Condominiums and apartments would top ground-floor businesses in buildings that were a maximum of four stories high.

After nearly a year of making no progress on City Hall's controversial plan to rezone downtown, many councilors viewed Delios' presentation as a breakthrough.

"We have a vision," Barry Osborne said. "We have a plan."

But Councilor Rico Mello was wary about what such changes would do to the city's tax rate, citing the higher taxes paid by Salem residents. Councilor Jim Liacos still wondered how Peabody Square could compete with the mall.

Lawyer David Ankeles, who represents a property owner with three acres to develop downtown, urged the council to act on the zoning proposal.

"It can be something downtown," he said. "It's not going to be anything if you sit here and do nothing. Please move this forward, and do it expeditiously. Get something done."