Demolition of the Comverse site began in 2023. On July 13, 2022, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to approve CC&F’s plans to construct 440 units of housing in three buildings at 200-400 Quannapowitt Parkway. Attached to that ZBA decision was a long list of conditions, including the required financial contributions accepted by the Town Council at its meeting on June 10, 2024.
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – The Town Council last night voted to accept nearly $4 million in contributions from Cabot Cabot & Forbes, the firm that is developing the former American Mutual/Comverse property at the head of the Lake.
On July 13, 2022, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to approve CC&F’s plans to construct 440 units of housing in three buildings at 200-400 Quannapowitt Parkway. Attached to that ZBA decision was a long list of conditions, including the required financial contributions accepted last night.
Attorney Brian McGrail, who represented CC&F throughout its process with the ZBA, appeared before the Town Council last night to ask the Council to formally accept the contributions. All are aimed at improving the environment, infrastructure and traffic conditions in the project area, including Lake Quannapowitt.
The first contribution was $1,750,000 for improvements to the Quannapowitt Parkway roadway. The condition allows CC&F to either do the work itself or make a financial contribution to the town in that amount.
Another condition of the ZBA decision requires CC&F to make a $600,000 contribution to the town toward future intersection/roadway mitigation to address the cumulative impacts associated with general growth in the area.
A third financial contribution accepted last night was $1,300,000 from CC&F to the Town toward water quality improvements to Lake Quannapowitt through the so-called “Main Street Project” or other similar water quality enhancement projects identified by the town of Wakefield’s Clean Lake Committee and authorized by the town.
The “Main Street Project” was designed by the town’s Engineering Department to construct treatment systems for storm water runoff on Main Street aimed at reducing the amount of phosphorous and nitrogen entering the Lake. Those chemicals contribute to summertime algae blooms.
The final CC&F contribution accepted by the Town Council last night was to the Inflow/Infiltration Fund of the town of Wakefield in the amount of $225,880. The fund is used to prevent groundwater from infiltrating the town’s sewer system.
Recently elected Town Councilor Douglas Butler was skeptical of the contributions, saying that the town was “probably getting ripped off.” He suggested that CC&F would have repaved the roadway leading into its project anyway.
But Town Engineer Bill Renault was also at last night’s meeting and disputed Butler’s assertion. He said that, while CC&F may have repaved the Quannapowitt Parkway as part of its project, the improvements that the $1.75 million will fund go much further than repaving. Those improvements to Quannapowitt Parkway were planned by the town independent of the CC&F project, Renault said.
The Town council vote to accept the CC&F was 5-1, with Butler opposed.
CC&F will construct the roadway improvements to Quannapowitt Parkway in accordance with the town’s engineering plans. They will deliver the remainder of the $3,875,000 in contributions to the town within two weeks.
