The Community First

Write to M.E.P.A NOW!!!

Address your letter to:
Ian Bowles,Secretary,
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Reference # 13836
Attn:Holly Johnson, MEPA

You can E-Mail your letter as well.
Send it to: holly.s.johnson@state.ma.us


Don’t forget to include the project name and EOEA# below:
Stoneham Crossing Retail & Office, 225 Fallon Road, Stoneham - EOEA# 13836

Don’t know what to write? Here are some ideas.

• An additional 4200 “average “ vehicles per day will now travel the already congested residential and Middlesex Fells Parkway surface roads

• There will be a huge increase in commercial and construction trucking using these already congested residential and Middlesex Fells Parkway surface roads.

• The surface roads affected by this overdevelopement are used by the nearby neighborhoods to access many DCR activities by foot including, the Fells Reservation, The DCR Swimming Pool, Stone Zoo and Spot Pond Boating. If the road widening and new slip ramp to 93 north is allowed, these tree lined side-walked streets will be impassable for pedestrians and the noise and speeding dangers will be unbearable for the many people who walk this area.

• The Mitigation Proposal for this Project will only divert traffic to already congested residential and Middlesex Fells Parkway surface roads. It does not lesson, alleviate or mitigate it. Gary Hebert Stoneham’s traffic expert said as much.

• Noise pollution, automobile Exhaust, A reduction in pedestrian and vehicle safety on the residential and Middlesex Fells Parkway surface roads has not been mitigated.

• All the wetland resource areas being affected by this development are not accounted for. There is one Between N. Border rd and 93 North. MEPA has made it clear in the EENF under the Wetlands subheading, "all resource areas will be viewed Cumulatively" . It should be added to the total.

• The wetland resource areas on the site are relatively small, but because of their close proximity to each other as well as the woodlands that physically connect them ,they should be looked at as a single entity. Destroying one of these wetland resource areas will reduce the ability of the others to survive.

• The area has a rash of level-of-service F, or traffic failure locations even after the project is complete and supposedly Mitigated.

• The estimate if new traffic from Home Depot is for the average peak day during the year , not a peak retail day

• In one instance the proposed Mitigation makes the traffic worse.

• The South School morning and afternoon pedestrian traffic concerns have not been addressed.

Click on “MEPA LETTER” in the upper left hand corner of this page for a sample letter

The deadline for comments to the developers Draft Environmental Impact Report is: September 21, 2007

Stoneham Planning Board and Board of Selectmen have shown Their lack of vision and leadership. They have abandoned the will of the people and approved the Home Depot proposal on Fallon Road. Fortunately the project must still get approvals from several key decision-makers and agencies.
This is where YOU can make a difference!
We are calling on all concerned citizens of Stoneham to call, write, and E-mail the state agencies involved. It is a proven fact, If enough of us contact these decision-makers and tell them that many people in Stoneham oppose the Home Depot, we stand a good chance of having the project stopped.

To make it easy for you, we have written suggested letters to each decision-maker and placed them right on this website. All you need to do is cut and paste the text, add your name and address, edit the sections in the brackets such as the date, sign, and mail. To access the letters click on the "LETTERS" link in the upper left corner of this page.

You don't think this will make a difference? Think again - we have been told that even a handful of letters can affect the decision. Remember, right now these agencies are being told by your elected leaders that "Stoneham wants Home Depot" we KNOW that’s not true! Please click the "letters" link now to access the sample letters and help us stop this destructive project.

On Tuesday, June 26th the Stoneham Selectman unanimously approved the permit to build a 133,000 square foot Home Depot and a 15,000 square foot office building at 225 Fallon Road in Stoneham. The traffic mitigation proposal includes a partial dead end on Park Street at its intersection with North Border Road.Attempts by the taxpaying residents in that area to have the town temporarily close Park Street as a traffic test fell on deaf ears as usual. The Selectmen must already know as we do, what will happen to the traffic on Park, Marble, and Main St if the partial dead end is realized. It seems leadership is in short supply in Stoneham these days.

It was a forgone conclusion the town’s Leaders were going to pass this overdevelopment. Their track record demonstrates the willingness to accept ridiculous proposals and then watch them grow old at the state level where the responsible state agencies acknowledge the blatant disregard developers have for the people, parks and conservation land that border these attempts at suburban sprawl. Our fight is here now. Forget about the town Leaders. They have made their bed of overdevelopment and now they will have to lie in it - probably for a long time

Wednesday April 11th the Planning Board chose to ignore the Stoneham Special permit Bylaw and vote unanimously to accept the Proposed Home Depot. After hearing many residents, Traffic experts, and attorneys explain the true adverse impacts a big box store will have on the neighborhood, they decided to approve the proposal anyway. This vote is the result of pressure our town’s leaders have put on the Planning Board to approve ANYTHING that might bring in revenue. Our spineless Planning Board has AGAIN ignored the town bylaw and approved a project that will forever change the Town! Our town’s "leaders” are out of control! This is their attempt to save face and say to us "I did something to help the town budget". I believe their mind was made up in September and this was just a big waste of time for all of us.
The Commander and Chief of the organization CEDFRA played a major part. CEDFRA gave the Planning Board members the impression that our community “liked the Cul-De-Sac idea”. Unfortunately, that is all they needed. Be careful what you wish for!

Stoneham's traffic expert is concerned about the cul-de-sac idea.
At the February 28th Planning board meeting Mr. Hebert, Stoneham’s Traffic Guru expressed his concern that the Proposed Cul-de-sac will just place the burden of traffic on roads other than south Park St. He specifically mentioned Marble St, north Park St, Summer St and Pond St as the recipients of the increased traffic burden.
!!!Click on read more !!!