March 4, 2009
By Robin Kaminski/The Daily Item
The next steps in the process of making the Waterfront Master Plan a reality were detailed Tuesday at a public hearing at City Hall.
With the passage of the overall master plan on the books, city officials are now focusing on the process of creating a Municipal Harbor Plan (MHP) which will act as an overlay to the master plan to assist individual property owners in quickly and easily obtaining permits for construction.
Drafted by Sasaki Associates, the MHP addresses all properties located east of the Lynnway between the General Edwards Bridge and the Nahant traffic rotary.
Varoujan Hagopian of Sasaki said the plan would also address specific Chapter 91 issues pertaining to waterfront development and state policies for the 25 acres of land which will be protected out of the 300-plus total acres in the plan.
"We have been asked to address the long-term marine industrial use to make sure we are protecting the port area for future use," he said. "A water ferry, which is in the works for the city, is a permitted use along with boat storage, boat repair and boat manufacturers. No water parks, residences or anything like that would be allowed."
The public hearing also acted as a forum for property owners and concerned residents to express their views and inform the city of any issues they wished to have addressed.
Several concerns were raised over pollution, building height restrictions and green space. The probability that the plan would actually take shape as detailed was questioned, due to the fact there are buildings currently occupying the proposed redevelopment parcel.
Referring to a map of the projected outcome, Hagopian reassured the group of roughly 15 people that the process would take between 15-25 years to fully develop and that there would most likely be changes along the way. One of which would be the possibility of current landowners selling their property for a hefty profit to make way for development.
"Is the future going to be developed exactly like this?" he said. "Of course not. This is a footprint. Sometimes you can't see it, but it will happen because I've seen it happen all over the east coast while working at this job for the past 35 years."
Hagopian said a six-week period would follow the meeting to create a draft plan, followed by meetings with city and state officials, the coastal zone management and additional public hearings before it is approved.
On Feb. 12, a meeting was held with property owners that discussed objectives of the MHP, which include setting the process to be followed in preparing the plan, detailing the type and form of information to be included in the plan and determining the effects the plan will have on future uses of property located in the planning area.
The Waterfront Master Plan ties in with the relocation of the South Harbor power lines that are currently obstructing construction on the Lynnway.
A $4 million bond was approved last month by the City Council to aide the relocation of the power lines and to pave the way for the massive project to revamp the waterfront district.
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