City councillor Pietrantonio constructs driveway without permit

By Neil Zolot

Ward 6 City Councillor Peter Pietrantonio paved a driveway on his property at 44 Alfred Street despite not having a permit to do so. An application submitted after the fact was denied by Building Inspector Michael Desmond in July and a request for a variance was denied by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in a contentious meeting Monday, September 15.

“For the reason(s) outlined below your request for such permit is respectfully DENIED,” Desmond’s letter reads. “Pursuant to Section 17K of the Zoning Ordinance, no vehicle may be parked nearer to any street lines than the minimum specified building setback. The minimum building setback from the street for a corner lot in the Dwelling District is seven feet. The parking area in question extends from the dwelling to the property line.”

In other words, the driveway is too close to an intersection, in this case Heath Street, which could affect traffic safety.

The ZBA voted down a request for a variance 3-2 with Ashmael Bruce, Rebecca Edmondson-Korom and Jean Thermitus in the majority and Mary Gerace and Derek Shooster dissenting.

Pietrantonio was granted a permit for a curb cut for access to the driveway, but not the driveway itself. “He got one for a curb cut, but did the driveway as well,” Director of Inspectional Services David Palumbo said. “He didn’t apply for a driveway permit. Maybe he didn’t understand the procedure. Sometimes people don’t know the rules. I can see it being confusing. The driveway didn’t meet setback requirements, but it needed an official denial as a way to get to the ZBA.”

A driveway permit is also necessary to ensure its porous enough and/or is accompanied by a stormwater runoff system to prevent flooding on the street.

Pietrantonio, who was the Everett’s Dept. of Public Works director under Mayor Carlo DeMaria until he left to become Operations Manager for the Melrose Public Works Dept. in 2019, had no comment when asked about the issue before the City Council meeting on Monday, September 22.

Ward 3 member Anthony DiPierro sponsored a September 22nd meeting agenda item asking the Dept. of Engineering or Public Works to address the curbing at the intersection of Sycamore and Ferry Streets in his Ward following reports of residents tripping on them. He’s very familiar with the area, having grown up on Sycamore and said some people have had trouble finding wheelchair access ramps and are tripping on the curbs. He suggested plants be installed or color coding be used to distinguish the ramp from the sidewalk. “There’s enough space to differentiate what’s there,” he feels.

The matter was referred to the appropriate City departments for review.

The Council also heard from City Solicitor Colleen Mejia about tree work waivers at Pietrantonio’s request. He said a McKinley Street resident had been mistakenly asked to sign a waiver exempting the City from liability for work by Tree Warden Jacob St. Louis because the work was on public property not private property. “He shouldn’t have dropped off the waiver,” Pietrantonio said. “I called the Tree Warden and he realized he shouldn’t have. They didn’t go on private property.”

Mejia explained when City employees work on private property, property owners are asked to sign a hold harmless or waiver of liability document, although “we can’t ask the resident to waive all liability. Gross negligence would be extent from that.”

She also said some changes have been made in the waiver and the Tree Warden has been informed about them. St. Louis was not present.

The resident affected, Laura Fahey spoke in Public Participation but didn’t address the issue directly. She only said if the City can sue residents for things like unkempt property or improper trash storage, residents should be able to sue the City for the same things as well.