By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – At the request of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the residential building proposed for the present site of Willow Tree on Salem Street has been reduced in height by about three feet. In addition, the applicant agreed to various changes to a proposed retaining wall and the grade of the area in front of the building.
Representing the owner of the property at 314-336 Salem St., attorney Brian McGrail presented the latest updates to the plans at last night’s ZBA meeting.
At the board’s Sept. 27 meeting ZBA members requested that the height of the building be reduced as much as possible. Civil engineer John Ogren told the board at that meeting that the bottom level garage floor could be lowered by about 1.5 feet. Going any further down would impact the ability to connect to existing sewer lines and would also affect drainage on the property, Ogren said at the time.
He also said at that previous meeting that the ceiling heights of each floor could possibly come down a little, providing some additional reduction in overall height.
McGrail said last night that he, Ogren, ZBA member Chip Tarbell and Town Engineer William Renault had met to discuss the goal of lowering the building as much as possible.
After that meeting, Tarbell said that he agreed that reducing the height by about three feet was the best that could be done. In the end, it was agreed that the height of the building would go from approximately 42 feet to about 39 feet.
There was also some discussion of the retaining wall in front of the building. McGrail showed some renderings of the proposed building and pointed out that the fieldstone wall was consistent with similar walls in front of neighboring properties. Tarbell felt that the wall should be shorter and that the slope of the landscaped area from the wall up to the building was too steep.
McGrail noted that changing the pitch of the area between the retaining wall and the building would involve revising the landscape plan, so he wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page regarding those changes before he asked the landscape architect to make those revisions.
The board indicated that they were OK with the direction of the plans.
When the hearing was opened to public comment, Jane D’Addario who lives on Hope Terrace, directly across Salem Street from the site said that she was happy with the way that the plans were developing and looked forward to seeing the finished product built.
The hearing was continued to the board’s Oct. 25 meeting.
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The board also discussed the plans for 460-472 Main St. (the former Ristorante Molise building). McGrail said that he and board member Jim McBain had met with Town Engineer William Renault to discuss how the project would tie in with the planned Envision Wakefield Main Street improvements.
It was agreed that the building project would be completed well before the Envision work, anticipated in 2025-2026. The mixed-use plan calls for 16 garden style apartments on the upper level and in the rear along with six retail spaces at ground level on Main Street.
McGrail said that civil engineering plans for the site are being finalized and ready for the next ZBA meeting. In the meantime, he said that he hoped to get the board’s final blessing on the architectural plans.
Steve DeFuria of Phoenix Architects provided a brief review of the architecture, which he said hadn’t changed much since the last presentation. The Main Street-façade will feature a khaki brown hardy plank on the upper level.
In response to a question from the board, McGrail said that a partial demolition of the current building is planned. He said that, while a recent fire in the building had proved challenging for firefighters, it had not caused a lot of structural damage.
The hearing was continued to the board’s Oct. 25 meeting.