PEABODY — Emerson Park neighbors Monday night passed a bowl around the social hall of St. John Lutheran Church on Ellsworth Road to raise $500 so they could form a limited liability corporation to fight a 133-condominium housing plan which developers want to build at the former J.B. Thomas/Curahealth hospital site.
They took up the collection at the urging of attorney Jarrod Hochman, a resident of Ellsworth Road and member of the Peabody School Committee, who called for the community meeting to come up with a strategy to fight the redevelopment of the vacant hospital site at 15 King St.
“I’m not opposed to affordable housing, I’m opposed to a project of this size and scope,” said Hochman to a standing-room-only crowd of 100 jammed into the basement of the church’s social hall.
Those in attendance included Councilor-at-large Anne Manning-Martin, who had signs made stating: “Stop overdevelopment everybody loses;” Councilor-at-large Jon Turco, Councilor-at-large Tom Rossignoll, Councilor-at-large Tom Gould; Ward 2 Councilor Peter McGinn; Ward 5 Councilor Joel Saslaw; and School Committee member Joe Amico.
Hochman said Manning-Martin was gracious enough to have 100 signs printed, and he asked that anyone who wanted one to reimburse her the cost of the sign at $5 apiece.
“This is not a NIMBY issue,” Hochman said. “We don’t want this kind of development anywhere in the city.”
Hemisphere Development Group LLC is looking to build King’s Residences, “a multifamily residential community,” under the state’s affordable housing law Chapter 40B.
This law allows developers to skirt most local zoning rules in communities with less than 10% of its subsidized housing inventory deemed affordable. Developers want to seek a comprehensive permit before the Zoning Board of Appeals, in exchange for 25% of the condos, or 34 units, being affordable.
It’s a different proposal than the 110-unit senior condo plan Hemisphere proposed last year. Hemisphere withdrew its application for a special permit amid opposition to the plan.
Before they can go for a special permit, developers must get site approval from MassHousing in Boston, with Tuesday, Feb. 18, the deadline for comments.
After a Jan. 29 meeting called by Mayor Ted Bettencourt, the city plans to have hand delivered today to MassHousing a packet of about 50 letters and a petition with more than 500 signatures opposing the project.
Neighbors and the city oppose what they view as a large-scale condo development of three, five-story buildings they say could impact the neighborhood and the city. Opponents say the plan would strain infrastructure and services, generate more traffic on neighborhood roads, clog streets with overflow parking and overwhelm the rundown Center Elementary School on Irving Street with more students than it can handle.
Hochman said the purpose of the meeting was not to rehash what the neighborhood would like to see built on the vacant hospital site, but to figure out a way to oppose the 40B project, including continuing to write letters and emails to MassHousing and to local newspapers.
Hochman became animated talking about how the state would allow a developer to come to Peabody and circumvent local zoning. The city already has an inclusionary zoning ordinance, Hochman said, and the development Hemisphere is proposing would create only six more affordable condos than the city’s ordinance would provide.
Hochman suggested residents picket to protest the development, and he suggested the creation of a neighborhood corporation, “Emerson Park Neighborhood LLC,” so residents could be a party to any appeals. The fee to file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth was $500, said.
Hochman was critical of the developer’s failure to negotiate with the neighbors, but Amico sounded a note of caution, saying that nearly all 40B projects that have been proposed on the North Shore have been approved. If the neighbors lose, they will be stuck with the proposal. He suggested negotiation with the developer.
“Even 50 (units) would be an impact but if you lose this 40B, you are getting 140 units,” he said.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2534, by email at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @TannerSalemNews. Find us at 300 Rosewood Drive, Suite 107, Danvers, Mass.
