City Council looks for answers on Overlook Ridge

  The City Council’s issues with the Overlook Ridge residential development off Route 1 and its promises to improve traffic near the development stretch back for decades.

  City Council Vice President Richard Serino is once again hoping to hold the property management company for Overlook responsible for past promises. Last Monday night, the City Council signed off on a letter drafted by Serino requesting representatives from Roseland Residential/Veris Residential appear before the City Council. Serino is specifically asking for an update on a 2019 Master Plan for transportation improvement projects to mitigate the traffic on Salem Street and in North Revere. He said the council informally asked for an update in February, but has not heard back from the property management company.

  “As traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels combined with the fact that more residential apartment buildings on the Malden side of the property have been constructed over these last two years, the time is now for Roseland/Veris to step-up to make good on these commitments to transportation improvements for the neighborhood,” Serino stated. “The residents of North Revere who live on Salem Street and on the abutting streets have seen a significant increase in traffic as Overlook Ridge has been built-out, yet they have received little tangible mitigation for this encroachment on their quality of life.”

  The traffic improvements that were in the works according to the 2019 plan include the elimination of the existing Lynn Street on-/off-ramps from Route 1 northbound; construction of a new on-/off-ramp system to Overlook Ridge Drive that provides a safer connection than the current Lynn Street ramps; and reconstruction/realignment of portions of the existing Overlook Ridge Drive to support Route 1 access and to complete related roadway improvements. In addition, Serino said the plans called for installation of a fully signalized intersection (with pedestrian safety improvements) at a relocated intersection of Overlook Ridge Drive and Salem Street; reconstruction/realignment of Salem Street in front of the Overlook Ridge site; and installation of new MBTA bus stops/shelters on Salem Street.

  “The traffic improvements described in your 2019 Master Plan are not only palatable, but are sorely needed today – not in two years from now or five years from now, but as soon as possible,” Serino said. “There is a constant flow of vehicles entering and exiting Overlook Ridge Drive at any given time, and during the morning and evening rush hours, many North Revere residents traversing Salem Street report being cut off by erratic drivers from Overlook Ridge as tenants seek to enter or exit the property in a rush to get to and from the Route 1 ramps.”

  Serino said the City of Revere needs to hold large-scale developers like Roseland accountable to the people of the city.

  “This is really one of the reasons why I have a lot of mistrust to developers that come into this community,” said Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo. “This goes back – Councillor Serino alludes to a master plan from 2019, but you can go 15 years before that, and that’s when it really started and promises were made. They have fulfilled none of what they promised the city.”

  Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky noted that he was on the council in 2003 when the plans for the development got underway. “We were promised in 2009 that they were going to start all the reconstruction and that they would be finished by 2014,” he said. “Gee, I think it’s [2022] now and what have you seen? Zero, nothing; I don’t trust them. I know they have changed management companies since the place has been sold. I do not trust them.”