Conservation Commission Hit With More Resignations

The Conservation Commission has seen its fair share of turnover during the past year, and that trend looks to continue. During last Wednesday night’s meeting, Commission Chair John Shue announced the resignation of two of the commission’s newest members, Nathalie Pardo and Zachary Bisconti. While their tenures were short-lived, there was no great controversy with the resignations, as the two younger members of the commission are traveling well beyond the confines of Revere to pursue new opportunities.

  “I want to say that I am very sorry to see you go; I had been looking forward to working with you longer,” said Shue. “But on the other hand, I’m very excited by the opportunities you guys are going to be challenged with, going to Washington, D.C., and South Africa, so that’s going to be exciting. I want to encourage you to be active wherever you go, because I think it’s a very beneficial thing to do.”

  Bisconti and Pardo were appointed by the City Council to the Conservation Commission in July. Those appointments came on the heels of the resignations of Conservation Commission Members Nicholas Moulaison, David Eatough and Deborah Santiano-McHatton. At the time, Ward 3 Councillor Arthur Guinasso, who serves as the chair of the council’s Appointments Subcommittee, requested a meeting with Mayor Brian Arrigo to try to sort out why there were so many resignations on the commission.

  Guinasso noted that there are several major projects, including the Riverside and Suffolk Downs redevelopments, that need attention from people who have knowledge of conservation law. Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna said she believes the City of Revere and Conservation Commission should have a lawyer on staff who is well-versed in the conservation laws.

  Revere residents interested in volunteering to serve on the Conservation Commission, or any other volunteer board or committee in the city, can apply at revere.org/boards-and-commissions.

  In other business at Wednesday night’s Conservation Commission meeting, the commission recommended the acceptance of a parcel of land on Emanuel Street from Joseph Festa Construction for conservation purposes.

  “In the Conservation Commission, we are interested in land for conservation purposes to protect the wetlands and things like that,” said Shue. “This particular [parcel] is a little stranded, but the feedback from the city is that they take these and if they need to trade it with something later like the DCR, they can do that, so they are in favor of this.”