Minutes of the West Roxbury Neighborhood Council Meeting

22 September 1997

The meeting was called to order by Council President Judy Settana. Judy welcomed back members from the summer recess.

Inspectional Services Commissioner John Eade addressed the Council regarding the lawsuit between the city and the West Roxbury Crushed Stone (the quarry). The dispute between the neighbors and the quarry has been ongoing for a while. Eade summarized the BFI (Browning Ferris Industries, owners of the quarry) position as having three arguments; 1.) They were established in 1870, grandfathered zoning-wise in 1924. They have been doing their business long before there were any homes in the area and therefore everybody else "came to the nuisance." 2.) They are not bad neighbors. They obey laws and blasting is merely part of the business. 3.) The city is unfairly targeting them.

The city has asked for the quarry to be shut down. The city argues that 1.) their scope of activities has enlarged beyond what is allowed. 2.) The "character" of the quarry has changed, (e.g.; rubble crushing) and 3.) They are a neighborhood nuisance who could do more in the areas of dust control and other things.

Eade described their blasting monitoring and recording as woefully inadequate. He was hoping that a teleconference with the judge in the case scheduled for 9/23 might result in some decision.

Questions about the ultimate use of the land prompted Eade to describe the market for their product to be very strong due to the Central artery project. There is currently high demand for the crushed stone. Eade speculated that perhaps the end of the Central artery project (2002?) would be close to the end of the useful life of the quarry anyway and that ultimately it was very valuable land which developers would be interested in building on.

One resident in attendance commented that last friday's blast was a bad one. "It rocked the Beethoven School." she said.

Police Report - Sgt. Chambers gave the monthly Police Report. From June 1 through September 22nd, 64 Arrests, 30 Housebreaks, 1 Robbery and 29 Carbreaks occurred in District 5. Chambers mentioned that radios and cellular phones are frequently the targets of carbrakes. A lot of these occur early in the morning (2 A.M. - 4 A.M.).

The subject of crowded side streets around Billings Field was mentioned again. This is a problem on weekends when youth soccer crowds the field. Residents are worried that fire apparatus could not get to homes. Also inconsiderate parking in front of driveways was mentioned. Chambers commented that Police will ticket cars at the field if notified.

Traffic on Washington St. was discussed. Drivers ignoring the "No Turn on Red" sign at Washington and LaGrange, as well as speeding along the former state highway were discussed. Some felt a consistent speed limit would be better than the fluctuating limit. The street now falls under the city's jurisdiction (not the state anymore) and therefore will be looked at according to Lisa Becker from Maura Hennigan's office.

Basic Services - Steve Smith summarized the Basic Services meeting held on 9/15. Among the items discussed were a crosswalk near Knoll St. (close to Christy's - Centre/Weld intersection.), football game related noise problems at Kelleher's, repairs (or lack thereof) to the Park St. bridge, and the continuing issue of if Sprint PCS should be erecting antennae in West Roxbury and if so, where.

Zoning - Bill McDonough summarized the zoning subcommittee meeting. (Next meeting 10/21) The committee recommended approval of four projects at 51 Caldonia, 112 Manthorne, 124 Church and 65 Heron St. He also mentioned that the efforts of the community had been successful in keeping the closing hour of Kelleher's to 1 A.M. Kelleher's had wanted to remain open until 2 A.M. on weekends.

A motion to adjourn passed unanimously as the room was being set up for the elections on Tues.

The next West Roxbury Neighborhood Council meeting is scheduled for October 27th.

Attendance:

L. Costello, E. McCormack, J. McDonough W. McDonough,

K. Ryan, J. Settana, B. Smith, R. Simonson, S. Smith, V. Tisei, A. Trabucco

Minutes submitted by Larry Costello.

These minutes and prior minutes are available over the internet at:

http://members.aol.com/lcostello/wrnc