U.S. Rep. William Keating has joined an intensifying effort by some North Plymouth residents to halt plans for a controversial 163-unit condominium development next to a Superfund site.
In a Feb. 12 letter to the regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the congressman urged agency regulators to reassess the safety of the once contaminated site adjacent to the proposed Pulte Homes project.
Vocal opposition to the plan grew after the Independent in January disclosed the project’s proximity to the formerly contaminated Plymouth Harbor/Cannon Engineering Corp EPA Superfund site.
The site – where officials once found lead, fuel oil and other hazardous substances – was removed from EPA’s priority list in 1993 but is still subject to federal monitoring and a deed restriction prohibiting the development of housing or recreational facilities there.
“The introduction of high-density housing fundamentally alters the underlying exposure assumptions the EPA established during the cleanup,” Keating, a Democrat, said in his letter to regional EPA director Mark Sanborn.
“For decades, the Cannon site and surrounding properties were designated for commercial and industrial use, which assumes a limited presence of onsite workers and no permanent residents.”
The EPA’s final record of decision, he wrote, was “predicated on these land-use restrictions.”
Keating urged the EPA to conduct an immediate updated risk assessment on the Superfund site, issue a formal opinion on construction impacts, and organize a public forum in Plymouth to “clarify the EPA’s ongoing oversight.
“Residents deserve a transparent explanation of the EPA’s role in the permitting process for abutting properties,” he wrote in the Feb. 12 letter. As of Tuesday, he had not received a reply.
Hundreds of vocal residents have already signed a petition asking the EPA to intervene to stop the six-story project proposed for Sandri Drive in North Plymouth. Now they are hoping Keating’s voice will put more pressure on the agency.
With his letter, Keating becomes the latest elected official representing Plymouth to oppose the Pulte project, which is expected to come before the town Zoning Board of Appeals for a vote on its permit request in April.
Vocal opposition among the town’s representatives is unanimous — and unprecedented, according to select board member Bill Keohan.
All five Select Board members, the town’s two state representatives, Michelle Badger and Kathy LaNatra, and state senator Dylan Fernandes are fighting the project.
“This is truly unique,” said Keohan, who was a member of the town’s ZBA for 17 years. He said he has never seen such widespread opposition to an affordable housing project. The project is being proposed under the state’s 40B law, which allows developers to skirt most local zoning rules if they agree to make 25 percent of their units affordable, based on state guidelines. The law leaves municipalities with little discretion to deny 40B proposals.
“It’s coming from environmentalists, people concerned about traffic and safety, and people worried about the encroachment into their neighborhood and elected officials,” Keohan said.
Fernandes, Badger and LaNatra have all asked the head of the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, the agency that approves and oversees 40B housing developments, to step in to halt the project.
For months, in hearing after hearing, residents have denounced the proposal for three buildings spanning almost three acres between Prince St and Sandri Drive.
Pulte representatives generally have not responded to the complaints, though they have steadfastly asserted the project will be good for the neighborhood and the town.
Keohan said he is concerned Pulte representatives may not have provided all the information ZBA members have requested.
Though the company has submitted thousands of pages of drawings, plans and reports, Keohan and ZBA members have alleged the company hasn’t disclosed key details or provided information the board has requested.
For example, critics say the company did not volunteer how it planned to build next to the Superfund site. Nor did it mention another potential public health hazard: arsenic in the neighboring property where it wants to build.
The information came to light only after stories about potential environmental issues appeared in the Independent last month.
Petrie told ZBA chairman Michael Main the company would provide whatever documents or information the board requested.
No one from Pulte responded Tuesday to a request for comment.
ZBA members – including the most vocal critic, Ed Conroy – have made it clear they oppose the project.
A town can reject a 40B plan with proof of valid health, safety, environmental, design, open space, or other local concerns outweighing the need for affordable housing. Under the plan, 41 of the project’s 163 units would be considered affordable.
But the Board’s lawyer, Carolyn Murray, has said the bar is high and if the board denied the permit, the decision would likely be overturned by a state appeals committee.
In that case, the town would have a choice — fight in court or give up and possibly lose the right to impose any meaningful conditions on the project.
The neighboring town of Kingston last week filed a court challenge to a Housing Appeals Committee decision striking conditions the town wanted to impose on a relatively small 40B condo project.
The town has been battling Riverview Properties’ effort to build a 20-unit condo project since the developer first submitted a request five years ago.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.