Revere St. assisted living saga headed to court
By Jay TurnerClick here to watch the zoning board hearings courtesy of Canton Community Television.
The “11th hour” surprises kept coming last week in the curious case of a proposed assisted living facility on Revere Street — a project that will likely need the blessing of the courts if it is ever going to be built as planned.
The applicants in the case, Canton Holdings LLC, had gone before the zoning board last Friday fully expecting a resolution of the matter, only to be told this time that their special permit request was out of the ZBA’s hands due to a “jurisdictional issue” as determined by the Canton town counsel.
Specifically, the town counsel determined that the project in question — an assisted living facility with 105 sleeping rooms — did not meet the definition of a “nursing or convalescent home” as outlined by state statute and therefore it was not eligible for a special permit under the bylaws governing general residence districts.
“Based on the notion that we don’t have any jurisdiction, that we can’t render an opinion, that we can’t grant a special permit, that ties our hands,” said ZBA member Kevin Feeney. “We really can’t even consider the various factual issues that have been presented to us.”
The opinion by town counsel, which was handed down the day before the hearing, was merely the latest in a string of blows that have been dealt against the developer in the past month.
On October 17, the Board of Selectmen weighed in on the proposal with a strongly worded letter of opposition, citing a laundry list of concerns, including possible traffic and environmental impacts.
The selectmen’s letter, which was delivered on the eve of a prior ZBA hearing, also made mention of a larger, competing facility on Turnpike Street proposed by BrightView Senior Living. The board had expressed concern that the Revere Street project would compete with and possibly jeopardize the status of the BrightView proposal and the associated mitigation that the developer has agreed to give to the town.
Meanwhile, shortly after responding to the selectmen’s concerns with a point-by-point rebuttal, the Canton Holdings team received its second major surprise in the form of a last-minute letter from Richard Staiti, attorney for BrightView.
Staiti’s letter, which was sent on the day of another ZBA hearing, disputed the building commissioner’s original finding that the Revere Street project constituted a nursing home — a challenge that was subsequently upheld by the town counsel in its November 20 opinion.
Paul Schneiders and Richard Mann, attorneys for Canton Holdings, were both visibly frustrated and critical of Staiti’s tactics and the subsequent backing by town counsel.
“At 3 o’clock today [Staiti] decided he was going to get involved in the fight and try to cut the legs off from under us at the last minute,” Schneiders told the board on November 14. “I really don’t like the way this whole thing has gone. It’s got an odor about it and it’s just unfortunate.”
Mann further reminded the ZBA members on November 21 that the town counsel’s opinion is “just that.”
“It is an opinion,” he said. “It is not gospel, and it is not binding upon this board, and this board has an obligation to look at this matter through its own lens and read the bylaw as it has the ability to do and the obligation to do.”
Both Mann and Schneiders also repeatedly reminded the board of the unanimous approvals obtained for their proposal from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission, as well as the near-unanimous support of the direct abutters. However, two of the ZBA members (Feeney and Paul Carroll) remained unconvinced, opting to side with town counsel’s opinion and let the matter be decided in Superior Court.
A third member, John Marini, argued passionately in support of the developer, albeit to no avail.
“I personally think that what they’re proposing really is the best thing for the town of Canton,” Marini said.
“These guys have spent a fortune,” he added. “They’ve done every single thing; they’ve gone to every board … they’ve proposed a proper, beautiful project, and I just think the location is the perfect place. It would boost up all the property on that street. It would dress that whole area up. I just feel that this is the wrong deal.”
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=23177
Posted by Jay Turner
on Nov 27 2013. Filed under News, Town Government.
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