Published in the June 21, 2017 edition

LAST WEEK, the Wakefield selectmen approved adding language to an amended sewage agreement reaffirming the Wakefield Zoning Board’s decision prohibiting National Development or any business in the complex from advertising Exit 42 in Wakefield as an access point to MarketStreet. This is the only MarketStreet signage visible from Audubon Road.  (Dan Tomasello Photo)

LAST WEEK, the Wakefield selectmen approved adding language to an amended sewage agreement reaffirming the Wakefield Zoning Board’s decision prohibiting National Development or any business in the complex from advertising Exit 42 in Wakefield as an access point to MarketStreet. This is the only MarketStreet signage visible from Audubon Road. (Dan Tomasello Photo)

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — As part of an amendment to a 2008 agreement allowing sewage from Lynnfield’s MarketStreet development to come through Wakefield’s system, the town of Wakefield will seek to include a clause reaffirming an earlier zoning decision that MarketStreet will, in all of its marketing, advertise only Route 128 Exit 43 in Lynnfield for access to the complex, and not Exit 42 in Wakefield.

The move comes in the wake of news that the MarketStreet Advisory Committee (MSAC), a panel of residents and town officials appointed by the Lynnfield Board of Selectmen, discussed asking the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to overrule the Wakefield Zoning Board’s decision that prohibits advertising access to the mall via Exit 42 in Wakefield.

Due to concerns over traffic headed for MarketStreet backing up onto the highway, Lynnfield Selectman Dick Dalton, the selectmen’s liaison to MSAC, suggested reaching out to MassDOT to see if the original Wakefield Zoning Board decision could be overturned to allow Exit 42 in Wakefield to also be advertised as an access point to the mall.

Several years ago, when National Development wanted to place a sign for its MarketStreet complex on Audubon Road near the Four Points at Sheraton, the Wakefield Zoning Board of Appeals insisted upon an agreement that Exit 42 would not appear in any advertising or marketing for the complex.

At its meeting on June 12, the Wakefield Board of Selectmen discussed an amendment to a 2008 agreement between National Development, the MWRA and the towns of Wakefield and Lynnfield that allows sewage from the complex to flow through Wakefield’s system to the MWRA system. Lynnfield does not have its own sewer system.

That original 2008 agreement was based on an estimated daily sewage flow from MarketStreet of 76,350 gallons per day. However, since the mix of businesses at the complex has moved away from retail and more toward restaurants, Wakefield now calculates the rate of flow at 97,643 gallons per day.

Wakefield seeks add’l payments 

Wakefield Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio and Wakefield DPW Director Richard Stinson stated at the Wakefield selectmen’s meeting that MarketStreet has been paying for the additional sewage flow. However, what has not been paid is the additional inflow/infiltration rate associated with the additional flow. That amount would be $425,860.

Wakefield is also seeking an additional payment in the amount of $100,000 from MarketStreet to be used solely for purposes that will benefit the residents of Wakefield, as determined by Wakefield, Maio told the board.

The proposed amendment to the 2008 sewer agreement provides for the payment by MarketStreet to Wakefield for the additional sewage flow, and establishes the procedure and methodology by which MarketStreet will make a final one-time payment to Wakefield for future additional sewage flows created by the remaining office/retail buildout of the Lynnfield project as authorized and approved by Lynnfield. The amendment to the sewage agreement already includes estimated flow based on a planned new medical building at MarketStreet.

Sign prohibition reaffirmed

The Wakefield selectmen approved adding language to the amended agreement reaffirming the Wakefield Zoning Board’s decision prohibiting National Development or any business in the complex from advertising Exit 42 in Wakefield as an access point to MarketStreet.