A Rocky Slope Was 'Unbuildable.' Now Someone Wants To Build There

MELROSE, MA — At the end of Montvale Street, a cramped one-way near Wyoming Cemetery, stands a rock ledge adorning a long slope filled with trees.

The slope is so wide and pronounced that it is under a slope protection ordinance. The real estate listing said it was "unbuildable."

Now the man who bought it wants to build on it, and the neighborhood is in an uproar.

Armando Plata bought the plot early last year for $17,500, records show. Plans show a decidedly modern, two-level, single-family home that starts at street level and eventually hangs over what is now stone.

People who live above and below the slope say the proposal would alter the natural landscape to the point of being unrecognizable and adversely impact their quality of life, both during and after construction.

And they say it's clear as day this piece of rock once deemed "unbuildable" should remain untouched.

"How unsuitable does a piece of land have to be in Melrose for this Planning Board to say no?" asked Lea Fasano, who lives atop the slope on Wyoming Heights. She argues the development threatens the structural integrity of homes on abutting properties, as well as that of her inground gunite pool.

But it's more than a pool issue for Fasano, one of more than two dozen neighborhood residents who voiced their opposition to the Planning Board, which voted Monday night to continue the hearing to a later date. The residents' primary point is that this development clearly violates the slope protection ordinance.

The slope protection ordinance exists for four reasons: To preserve and enhance the area's natural topography; to minimize the effects of grading to maintain the slope's natural character; to minimize water runoff and soil erosion issues brought on by grading; and to "encourage innovative architectural, landscaping, circulation and site design," according to the city laws.

This development, residents insist, does none of that outside of perhaps innovative architecture.

"This piece of property is the poster child for the slope protection ordinance," Fasano asserted. "This is the reason that slope protection was written."

Plata's attorney Bob Bell argues the ordinance does not prohibit building on sloped land and his client is experienced in building on such land.

"His design incorporates all the criteria of the ordinance, maximum retention of natural features, minimal alteration of the grades, minimal increase in water run-off (none), and innovative design that works well with the existing grades," Bell said. "He is entitled to the permit requested."

Fasano said her husband, Evan Zahner, offered to buy the property back from Plata with the intent of donating it to the city for conservation. Zahner had offered the purchase price for the land, but Fasano said Plata wanted double what he paid. Other residents who have been there for decades have offered to chip in a few thousand each to buy their peace back.

"If they allow him to put a house up here our whole lives change," said Ernie Karelas, who lives almost directly across from where the house would go. "They would take our parking, where they put our snow."

Karelas said he's got five generations of family members in Wyoming Cemetery. He spends time taking photos of the foxes and rabbits through the large windows in his living room. But if this gets approved, he said, he may have to move.

"It's just a postage stamp of rocks and trees," he said.

Karelas and others neighbors on Montvale are fearful of exacerbating the parking and water runoff issues so prevalent at the bottom of the slope, so they're urging the Planning Board to protect it.

Some say they haven't much help from the board.

"We've had a significant amount of trouble getting information," Fasano said.

Ward councilor Shawn MacMaster has joined his constituents' fight against the property.

"No matter how innovative the architectural design nor how experienced the applicant may be at building structures on rock, any construction to occur on this limited-sized parcel would indelibly alter the natural landscape," MacMaster wrote in a letter to the Planning Board.

For Plata's part, the project application says there is a plan to prevent erosion and that the amount of runoff won't exceed what it already is. It also says the footprint of the house will only occupy 17 percent of the lot, so trees and some other features on the other 83 percent will remain.

How Plata plans on cutting into the ledge is also a top concern. Plata plans on hammer-drilling, not blasting.

Neighbors questioned his credibility after he told the Planning Board neighbors had not expressed concern about the project — something they dispute.

Whatever method he uses will cut through the tranquil neighborhood.

"It's a beautiful place and it's a quiet place, but thinking about how the house will be constructed — it's not going to be gently lowered from the sky," Fasano said.

Fasano also said Plata told her his wife no longer wants to live in the house, citing neighborhood hostility. Neighbors worry a renter might be less attentive to the water mitigation efforts.

"This place would just be a mudslide all the time," Karelas said.

The land itself is home to animals. It abuts conservation land. It's not much, but they love their postage stamp.

"It's a small neighborhood," Fasano said. "But every single one of us would be impacted."

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook