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After
experience in Randolph, Canton native tells her home town to
keep fighting project
By Jay Turner
Citizen Staff
While Canton
continues its legal fight to block an affordable housing
development from being built near the Randolph town line,
construction is now underway on a similar development on the
Randolph side — and it is already causing major headaches,
according to one Canton native who has become the unofficial
spokesman for a group of upset neighbors.
Jackie
Gorman, a Blue Hills Regional grad and one of 13 Piazza siblings
raised in Canton, was happily running one of two family-owned
businesses when she and two of her brothers, Christopher and
Rick Piazza, decided to try their hand as real estate developers
in the summer of 2006.
Organized as
CJR Estates LLC, the trio purchased 15 buildable lots on Canton
Street from the New Jersey-based Roseland Property Company,
which at the time was moving forward with its own plans to build
a 276-unit apartment complex after getting a favorable ruling
from the state’s Housing Appeals Committee.
But
according to Gorman and court documents filed by CJR’s
attorneys, the situation soon deteriorated as another company,
AvalonBay Communities, succeeded Roseland as owners and began
making unauthorized changes to the plans that had been approved
as part of the Chapter 40B comprehensive permit — changes that
Gorman insists have rendered her land useless and left the
entire area with water pressure and fire protection problems.
“We the
community of Randolph would appreciate it if Canton citizens
support us as much as possible and not let this happen to them
as it has with us,” wrote Gorman in an email to the Citizen.
“We have been promised a lot of open-ended promises.”
Under
conditions of the permit established by the Randolph Zoning
Board of Appeals, the developer was required to build a looped
system of water mains for the benefit of the neighbors in the
area, including an 8-inch main on Canton Street “in a westerly
direction” toward the Canton town line.
Avalon,
however, commenced construction in May under the new plans,
which reportedly had the new main stopping several hundred feet
to the east and leaving six of CJR’s lots without access to
water. In addition, the plans, approved by the Randolph DPW,
relocated a fire hydrant further away from the Canton line,
which Gorman asserts will leave the residents west of the
hydrant without adequate fire protection.
CJR is
currently suing both the Randolph ZBA and Avalon in land court,
hoping to get a cease and desist order issued before the road is
paved, as Randolph enforces a five-year moratorium once the
pavement is applied. Gorman also obtained the signatures of more
than 100 neighboring residents requesting that the “substantial
changes” be brought back to the ZBA for a public hearing — an
action, she said, that should have occurred immediately after
Avalon proposed its new plans.
Meanwhile,
Avalon is faulting Gorman for the changes to the comprehensive
permit.
While they
did not want to provide specific details due to the pending
litigation, the company’s Vice President of Development Scott
Dale, reached by telephone on Monday, explained that the running
of the water line along Canton Street was “prevented by the
actions of Ms. Gorman.”
“Because of
her, we sought an alternate route,” Dale said, “and we have
since completed the extension of the water line.”
But while
Gorman acknowledges that she took a risk in buying the Canton
Street properties, she said she feels cheated by Avalon and has
been ignored by town officials; and having spent much of her
time recently talking to nearby residents, she has learned that
she is not alone.
“What is
driving me is the community,” she said. “I have put it in my
mind that they’re like my family now.”
In addition
to the water pressure concerns, Gorman said she has spoken to
neighbors who have complaints ranging from dirty water in their
homes, to the developer’s use of side streets for heavy
machinery storage, to the disappearance of wildlife in the area.
As a proud
native of Canton, Gorman said she would not only appreciate
support from the town’s residents, but also hopes that they do
everything in their power to prevent the Canton project from
being built.
“We would
hope that the town of Canton continues their fight against
Roseland Holding LLC,” she said, “not allowing them to do what
[Avalon] has done with the community of Randolph.”
Canton had
scored a victory against Roseland in 2006, when a state Superior
Court judge allowed it to reject the development on the grounds
that the town had already met the state’s 10 percent affordable
housing threshold; however, selectmen reported in April that the
state Supreme Court reversed the ruling, arguing that Canton was
under the threshold at the time the ZBA first rejected the
project in 2003.
The case has
since been remanded back to Superior Court, where Canton is
continuing its appeal based on factors other than the 10 percent
threshold.
“We’ve
always felt that this was not an appropriate development,” said
Selectman Victor Del Vecchio, who was chairman at the time of
the initial Superior Court ruling. “We believe we continue to
have good arguments, and we will continue to defend our position
in court.”
A
spokesperson for Roseland declined comment for this story.
August 7, 2008
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