Reconsider N. Woburn Project

On March 7, 2012, The Dolben Company along with their legal team and numerous contractors spoke to the North Woburn neighbors and concerned citizens about their new design proposal to build 168 mixed income rental units at 1042 Main Street. The mayor also spoke as to the history of this project, and the decision by HAC to the issue Woburn Heights a comprehensive permit in 2006. This issue is perhaps the heart and soul of North Woburn, yet Mayor Galvin did not feel it necessary to stay for the remainder of the meeting to hear what the residents concerns were. He merely wanted to deflect any responsibility for this project.

The project is now before the Board of Appeals to issue permits for a project that has substantially changed since the original comprehensive permit was issued. The Dolben Company along with the contractors they have hired, seem to have all the answers to the issues we have raised. They quote the removal of material to be just 25% more, but the math doesn't add up. The original permit states that appoximently 120.000 cu yards would be excavated. The figure of 200,000 cu yards was withdrawn without prejudice in 2011 by Woburn 38 as the amount needed to be removed by special permit. Well my math says that 25% of 120,000 = an additional 30,000 cu yards, which is a total of 150,000 cu yards. That seems to be a far cry from 200,000 cu yards as originally stated. I ask what is the true estimate? This is perhaps the biggest issue with this project. The blasting and removal of this amount of material from a residential area.

The removal estimate is 60 trucks a day every ten minutes, for 8 hours a day. Most noise was from truck traffic, because giant boulders being dumped into trucks make no noise, nor does a rock crusher, because the walls created by the blasting will absorb the noise, and this rock is hard, so it grinds easy. This is the bag of goods we were being sold.

Their traffic study takes no construction issues into concideration. Final result was that out of 168 units, only 87 vehicles would come and go from the completed project daily during peak hours. That figure seems a little off to me. I guess either only half work, or own cars, yet there are 300 parking spaces. I might mention several studies occurred during Holiday weeks like July 1st, and I think September 7th, the day before Woburn started back to school. I have a feeling so many of these surveys take place when traffic is at it's lowest to make it seem they have no impact.

This site could not have been a more inappropriate tract of land for something as monsterous as this. We have no real guarantee that our homes or our sanity will with stand the construction phase of this project. I do not believe all the facts and figures presented by them, given that simple math seems to be a problem in their calculations, and studies are done to skew the results in their favor.

In closing, I did not hear anyone from The Dolben Company sympathize with the residents and the sacrifice they will make for a project that reaps no benefit to them. They forgot about the elder with dementia, the veteran suffering from PTSD, the poor working stiff who just wants to get to work on time and the frustrated Mom who can't put her babies down for a much needed nap. Who benefits? First and foremost the contractors, then the City of Woburn. Many believe these low income apartments are for residents of Woburn. I bet most will have no connection at all to the City of Woburn. Jobs? No control of those either. Probably be picked up and dropped off by the truck load. So I ask the City and the Developers, where do we figure into this equation? This just seems a bit too much to ask of us. Someone asked at the meeting, "What are you going to do for us?" No answer came back!

Please give this matter before you careful consideration. Our future depends on it.

Sincerely,
Tim & Linda Ahern

Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are printed upon receipt; content is unedited and is the letter writer's opinion.