THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020 Page 7 CADDY FARM SITE Special Town Counsel advises City of Revere to deny developer’s request to accept Muzzey Street as public way (Editor’s Note: Special Town Counsel wrote the following letter this week to the Revere City Council and Revere Planning Board regarding a proposed development which town officials say would have significant impact on the Town of Saugus.) Re: Proposed Acceptance of Muzzey Street as a Public Way Dear Honorable City Council Members and Planning Board Members: This office is Special Town Counsel to the Town of Saugus. We write to you at the direction of Saugus Town Manager, Scott Crabtree, who has requested that we convey the Town of Saugus’ position with respect to the proposed acceptance of Muzzey Street as a public way. We previously appeared before the Planning Board at its January 21, 2020 hearing on this matter. At that time, we advised the Planning Board that the Town of Saugus is opposed to any proposal for the development of the Caddy Farm site that contemplates the use of local Saugus or Revere streets for general access to the site. As we explained at that time – and have reiterated multiple times to the developer’s representatives – the development of this site should proceed as part of a master plan involving both Saugus and Revere, with the proposed uses of the site identifi ed by the developer and a plan for access to the entire site via Route 1 only, with access to local roads for emergency access only. Under this approach, we have argued, the laying out of public streets should take place at the end of the permitting process – not at its outset. CORRECTION In the story “Residents address housing, traffic and open space At Master Plan Forum,” which was published in The Revere Advocate’s Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, edition, in a In order to understand what is at stake in this matter, it is necessary to consider the totality of the Caddy Farm site, which, in its entirety, is a massive tract comprising approximately 44 acres of land in both Saugus and Revere. It spans the area from Route 1 northbound on the west to the former MBTA Saugus Branch rail line (which is today part of the Northern Strand Community Trail) on the east. It is bounded to the south by high voltage electrical lines and to the north by a single-family residential neighborhood serviced by low-volume, dead-end residential streets such as Tuttle Lane, Norman Road, Hood Street, Eustis Street, Warden Street, and Laurel Street. The proposal that is presently before you seeks to lay out Muzzey Street as a public way of the City of Revere, eff ectively extending Eustis Street, which is a public way of the Town of Saugus. As proposed, it would lead from Eustis Street towards Route 1, and would dead-end at another point along the Revere/ Saugus line, with an additional road stub leading into Saugus, described as “future construction”. The roadway plan (copy attached) shows a connection to Treher Street and a future connection to Mildred Street, both unbuilt, private, paper streets in Saugus that lead to Route 1 northbound. Problematically, the proposed layout plan gives photograph caption it was incorrectly reported that Carlos Hernandez is the new Revere Housing Authority Executive Director when it should have been Carlos Lopez. The Advocate apologizes for the error. no information whatsoever regarding the intended use of the property; thus, there is no way to ascertain whether the road, if approved, would be adequate for the use(s) of the land. When requested to explain the proposed use of the property, the developer has stated only that the “market will dictate” the use. There is also nothing on the plan preventing the developer from creating additional connections to local streets, such as Laurel Street, to which the developer’s initially-fi led Muzzey Street layout plan showed a connection. Since it was laid out as a public street nearly 70 years ago, Eustis Street has always been a low-volume, dead end local street whose sole purpose has been to provide access to the single family residences that abut this road. 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BIRTHDAY PARTIES $11.50/Person, min. of 10 kids. Price includes Adm. + Roller Skates. Cake, soda, paper goods, 20 tokens for birthday person plus 100 Redemption Tickets and a gift from Roller World in one of our private BP Rooms. access to and from Route 1 to Essex Street and all local Saugus and Revere roads accessed thereby. This would result in the creation of a “cut-through” road, which would funnel signifi cant traffi c away from the larger “arterial” and “collector” roadways designed to handle such traffi c and towards Eustis Street, a local road that is simply not designed to handle this traffi c infl ux. MUZZEY STREET | SEE PAGE 8
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