Town Council notebook
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The long-awaited rehabilitation of the former Ristorante Molise building at 460 Main St. is apparently moving forward, as the owners have hired local zoning and land-use attorney Brian McGrail and a development team has been assembled, including an architect and an engineer.
Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio provided the update at last week’s Town Council meeting, adding that the owners intend to file their plans for the property with the Zoning Board of Appeals by February of 2023. Those plans will include a mixed use of the property with residential units combined with retail or restaurant use.
The property in question is directly across Main Street from the Americal Civic Center and once included Ristorante Molise. But the block of store fronts has been vacant for many years and is now boarded up and marked with large “X’s” per request of the Fire Department due to safety issues.
Last October, Alexandros Tsitos, the owner of the property, appeared before the Town Council with his son, Andreas, and his Lynnfield attorney Thomas Colonna. At that October meeting, Town Councilors communicated to Tsitos in the strongest possible terms their wish to see the long-blighted property cleaned up and put back into productive use. Councilors had also expressed an interest in seeing some more immediate, temporary measures to improve the exterior look of the building.
But Maio told the Town Council last week that it was neither practical nor safe to have anything in those buildings at this time. He said that the buildings were marked with an “X” for a reason.
Town Council Chair Mehreen Butt said that she didn’t want to see another July 4th parade with those X-covered buildings in the background. (The parade reviewing stand faces the building.) She also asked about the possibility of having high school art students decorate the facade for the holidays. But Maio reiterated that the buildings really are not safe and he would prefer to keep everyone away from them for now.
Councilor Edward Dombroski said that, at minimum, he would like to see some kind of temporary screening in place before next year’s July 4th Parade.
In answer to questions from the board, Maio said that it was not yet determined what form the redevelopment of the property will take, but it will be some combination of residential and commercial.
Attorney Colonna explained at the October meeting that when his client purchased the property in 2011 it was contaminated. Tsitos has spent a lot of money cleaning it up, Colonna said. One of the reasons it has taken so long, he added, was because the contamination had seeped into an abutter’s property. In addition, the original cleanup company that was hired did not work consistently to complete the job.
Finally, the owner hired a new Licensed Site Professional to come in and finish the cleanup of contamination. The cleanup of the site was completed in August, Colonna said, and Tsitos would now like to work with the town to make the property presentable again.
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In other business last week, the Town Council:
• In one blanket vote, approved the renewals of a wide range of local business licenses across the following broad categories: Common victualler (restaurant) licenses; Entertainment licenses; Liquor licenses; Lodging House licenses; Fortune teller licenses; Automated device licenses; Class I (new car) dealers licenses; and Class II (used car) dealers licenses. The board did not list each individual license renewed.
• Approved a request to accept and expend gifts in the amount of $540 to the Council on Aging from various donor(s).
• Approved a request to accept and expend gifts in the amount of $100 to the Youth Council from various donor(s).
