Town leaders looking for ways to block a proposed North Plymouth condominium project are urging the sellers of the land on which it would be built to back out of the deal and work with them to come up with an alternate plan.
Developer Pulte Homes’ proposed 163-unit project — which comes before the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals Monday evening — threatens “the character and stability” of the quiet neighborhood, according to a letter sent to Gerald and Maureen Sheehan, whose family trust, Eight Mates LLC, owns the land.
The letter was signed by 10 people, including four of the five Select Board members and six other community leaders. Select Board chair David Golden’s name is not on it.
The proposed complex, a six-story building and two smaller buildings on Prince Street and off Hedge Road, “would bring traffic, public safety, and infrastructure impacts that the area cannot reasonably absorb,” the letter said.
Instead, the Oct. 30 letter suggests, a park could be created to honor Luigi Cortelli, who in 1898 founded the L. Knife & Sons company, now owned by the Sheehans, his descendants.
Such a park would recognize the family’s commitment to conservation and community well-being, the letter said.
Select Board member Deb Iaquinto called the correspondence a “hail mary pass” — knowing that the town has limited power to stop the project, a 40b affordable housing development. Under state law, 40b developers can bypass local zoning restrictions if 25 percent of the units they build qualify as “affordable,” based on certain household income parameters.
“When I went on the site visit,” Iaquinto said, “I could feel my blood pressure rising as they (Pulte representatives) described what they wanted to do. I have a very good imagination, but in my wildest imagination I could not imagine 163 condos stuffed into that small, tight-knit neighborhood.”
She said the Sheehans have not yet responded to the letter. They could not be reached for comment.
Conservation lawyer Meg Sheehan, one of the family members, has said she opposes the project and would like the land to be set aside for conservation. She has also said she would not accept her share of any sale proceeds.
Besides concerns about the project’s height and density, some have questioned whether there are already too many condos in the neighborhood.
Brian McLaughlin, who developed a luxury condo complex at the end of Hedge Road — about a half a block from the ocean and close to the site of the six-story building on Sandri Drive — still hasn’t sold all the units— more than a decade after they first came on the market.
Opposition to the project is widespread.
“I cannot understand why Pulte wants to do this when nobody in the community wants it,” said Robert Zupperoli, a North Plymouth town meeting member.
For the first time in 25 years, the town in June filed a formal request to MassHousing, asking the state agency to reject the proposal.
The town was unsuccessful, but it was an indication of how strongly officials oppose the plan.
Neighbors such as Alex Cook and Carol Jankowski have posted critiques of the project on Facebook and are urging people to attend Monday’s ZBA meeting at Town Hall, starting at 6 p.m.
Pulte project manager Essek Petrie could not be reached for comment. But another Pulte official, Mark Mastroianni, vice president of land planning and entitlement, has previously called it “a great project.
“We have a great location for residential housing which can take advantage of all the services and amenities the town can provide,” he said in August.
The ZBA must decide whether to issue a required comprehensive permit that would allow work to start. The board could attach conditions that are so onerous the developer might walk away, or appeal if the ZBA denied a permit.
For example, the plan now calls for no visitor parking, and what might be considered an insufficient number of resident parking spaces.
In that case, the back and forth between the developer and the town could drag on long enough for Eight Mates LLC to be able to back out of the deal without financial consequences.
According to the letter, if Pulte doesn’t meet certain conditions by May 2026, the sellers can terminate the agreement.
Zoning boards in other towns have used similar tactics to kill or delay 40b projects.
In Scituate, for example, it took five years for a 250- home 40b Pulte project to fall apart.
In 2003,thattown’s zoning board refused to grant a waiver that would have allowed Pulte to connect to the Scituate sewer system, saying the developer had “a snowball’s chance in hell” of getting approved.
The company appealed to the state and won. But by the time the decision came down, five years had passed, and Pulte walked away, according to news stories from the time.
In 2022, Manchester-by-the Sea officials rejected a 40b permit request for 136-unit condo project called “The Sanctuary.”
Again, the developer won on appeal, but the town and a local conservation group filed suit to try to block the project. The lawsuit is ongoing, according to court records.
“Plymouth shouldn’t just roll over and take it,” said Select Board member Kevin Canty, who lives in North Plymouth and has been vocal in his opposition to Pulte’s plans. “Even if it looks like you’re going to lose, sometimes you just have to fight.”
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.