Pulte Homes has backed out of its plan to build a condominium project near the North Plymouth waterfront — a proposal that sparked fierce opposition among neighbors and town officials.
“Pulte does not intend to pursue the projects,” Pulte attorney Stephanie Kiefer wrote in an email Thursday notifying the town of the company’s decision.
She did not elaborate on the reasons, and a Pulte official did not respond to a request for comment.
The terse email likely marks the end of a yearlong fight between neighbors and the giant real estate development company, which pushed for the project through nine zoning board hearings and assorted traffic, environmental and parking studies.
Reaction from opponents of the controversial project was swift.
“It’s amazing. It’s wonderful,” said Carol Jankowski, a neighbor who attended virtually every meeting on the project.
“This was definitely the right decision for Pulte to make,” she said.
Select board chair Deb Iaquinto called Pulte’s decision “the best news I’ve had in a long time.”
“I think we should have a giant farewell party and not invite them,” she quipped, referring to Pulte officials.
Select board member Kevin Canty called it “fantastic news for all of Plymouth that Pulte will not be building these projects.”
“We do not need more hostile 40B developments like this in Plymouth,” he said. “Good riddance to a bad project.”
The public battle began in earnest earlier this year, when the Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals approved the comprehensive permit required to move ahead with the three-building, 163-unit affordable housing project.
The project was approved under the state’s 40B law, which allows developers to bypass local laws if they set aside some of the project for affordable housing.
At hearing after hearing, Pulte representatives sat expressionless while neighbors pleaded with zoning board members to deny the permit.
They cited increased traffic, lack of sufficient parking and a size grossly out of scale with the quiet, tight-knit neighborhood lined with narrow streets.
Zoning Board of Appeals members said they too disliked the project but were hamstrung by state law.
Had they denied the permit, they reasoned, the company would have appealed to state housing authorities, who would have almost certainly overruled the town.
Neighbors and several elected officials asked state and federal regulators to step in, arguing the complex would pose serious risks to people and the environment.
In January, the Independent reported that part of the complex — a six-story building on Sandri Drive — would be built next to a weedy lot once declared a toxic waste site by federal environmental authorities.
Though the site was cleaned up and removed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1993, it still remains subject to five-year reviews.
In addition, there was a continuing deed restriction on the property prohibiting construction of housing on the site.
The project looked like it was proceeding as planned until the spring, when it came time for the town’s conservation commission to review the project and decide whether to issue required environmental permits.
The commission requested a “peer review” — an analysis by an outside environmental consultant who could help the panel evaluate the project.
Plymouth Conservation Commission member Paul Denoncourt, who was acting chair on the case, told the Independent in August the panel requested the outside analysis because of “the ‘complicated’ nature” of the project.
Denoncourt said they wanted an outside firm’s advice on the controversial aspect of the location, and an interpretation of the state’s Wetlands Protection Act.
“We want to do the right thing and that requires that we know and understand all the facts and can discern facts from opinion,” he said at the time.
But the peer review was never done, commissioners said, and Pulte asked for two continuances.
In August, Pulte officials asked for a third continuance, this time not appearing in person to explain why they needed another delay.
The conservation commission then voted to deny the permits, leaving Pulte with two options: appeal the decision to the state Department of Environmental Protection, or reapply for permits and start the process over again.
It did neither.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.