Special permit approved for five-story apartment building construction; Rookie officer resigns following crash, alleged OUI charge

Special permit approved for five-story apartment building construction

Abutters claim building will leave Green St. residents in the shade

By Barbara Taormina

The City Council voted 10 to 1 in favor of a special permit for the Sica family to build a five-story apartment building at 21 Green St. with Councillor-At-Large Michelle Kelley voting against the permit.

Neighbors of the proposed 49-foot-tall building, which will house 29 one-bedroom apartments, raised several issues of concern to the council and the council’s zoning subcommittee.

“It’s too big and it will make the quality of life (on Green Street) miserable,” said Shawn Mackell who lives a few doors down from the proposed development. Mackell’s chief concern is the building will block out the sun and leave the rest of Green St. in shade throughout the day.

Mackell said there’s often talk about hardships from developers at city zoning meetings.

“What about constant shade, isn’t that a hardship?” he asked.

The architect for the project presented a shadow study that showed most of the shadow cast by the building will fall on the Lee Burbank side not on Green Street. But Mackell said the study’s measurements were inaccurate.

Neighbors also raised concerns about parking. There are only eight spaces available for the 29 units.

However, attorney Larry Simione, who represents the Sica family, said leases for the building would exclude vehicles. Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna said there are plans in the works to have permit-only parking on Green Street. Residents in the new building would not be eligible for permits.

“It’s too tall,” said Amanda Mackell adding that the Green St. Neighborhood is primarily single and two-family houses. The proposed apartment building would be completely out of character. “And we’ll all be living in this building’s shadow,” she said.

Neighbors also raised concerns about landscaping planned for the Green St. side of the building which they say will actually be in the street and will create a bottleneck on the road.

Despite those concerns, the council followed the favorable recommendation from the zoning subcommittee and voted to approve the special permit.

Rookie police officer resigns following crash, alleged DUI

By The Advocate

Rookie Revere Police Officer Matteo Velasquez has resigned after being charged with suspicion of drunk driving and reckless driving to endanger following a crash on Cushman Avenue early Sunday morning. Velasquez, 24, pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday in Chelsea District Court.

On Sunday shortly after 6 a.m., police responded to a crash on Cushman Avenue where a car had plowed into a brick retaining wall. Velasquez was alone in the vehicle and was not injured although the front end of his vehicle was heavily damaged. A section of the wall was demolished. Velasquez was arrested at the scene and charged with suspicion of drunk driving and driving to endanger.

He was placed on administrative leave without pay, but on Tuesday the Revere Police Department announced that he had resigned.

Velasquez graduated from the Lowell Police Academy last October and, like all new officers, was on probation.