Acceptance of Revised Easement at 105 Walton Park in Melrose
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
A. (ID # 2026-1531): Acceptance of Revised Easement at 105 Walton Park in Melrose Jay Coy, DPW City Engineer, and Paul Finocchio, PGF & Associates, discussed a revised drainage easement at 105 Walton Park. Jay explained that the homeowners needed to redirect a drainage pipe to accommodate a home addition, with the homeowner covering 100% of costs. There is no expected impact on neighboring properties, and it does not need Zoning Board of Appeals approval, just acceptance of the easement change from city council. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Vandiver Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver NAYS: None ABSENT: Cal Finocchiaro, Ryan Williams 3
Transcript
▶ 1:13:16 Devin Romanul: Look forward to learning more. All right. Up next, we have order ID number 2026-1531, acceptance of a revised easement for 105 Walton Park in Melrose. Joining us, Mr. Coyle from DPW. Good evening.
▶ 1:13:39 Speaker 3: Evening, Council. I'm here with... Go ahead, introduce yourself.
▶ 1:13:42 Speaker 8: Paul Penoke with PGF & Associates. I prepared the easement plan
▶ 1:13:48 Speaker 9: that was submitted into the city.
▶ 1:13:50 Speaker 3: Give you a little bit of a background on this property. A little while back, the homeowners had approached the building department wanting to do an addition to their home. But unfortunately, there was an existing drainage easement that ran through about one-third through their property. Very weird. Normally, they're along the edge of the property, but this one went right through pretty much the middle of their property, impeding on them being able to add an addition to their home. So they had approached engineering asking if there was any solutions. And we had allowed them to redirect and realign the drainage pipe to go around their new addition in the event that they would have to re-record the revised easement at 100% cost to them for no cost to the city. So they had hired a contractor. They installed the new drainage in accordance to the approved plans. We had a revised plan that we sent earlier today. It was a very, very minor, inconsequential change to the original plan that was in the order. And then the only other thing that needs to still be submitted is the easement documentation. References the previous easement plan, and then on the last signature page, it shows a month of March. So this still needs to be finalized and updated, but they don't change the actual easement for the plans or anything like that. So once those are finalized and can be reviewed, they can be recorded with the Registry of Deeds.
▶ 1:15:32 Devin Romanul: Fantastic. Thank you very much. Do any other councilors have questions?
▶ 1:15:38 Speaker 7: Councilor Chen.
▶ 1:15:41 Speaker 3: It sounds like we already approved this by approving the work in general. This is more a formality just to say, "Yep, the work is finished, and here's the final easement." Yeah. So engineering and DPW approved moving of the drain line, but because the drain line moved outside of the existing easement, now we need to revise the easement in order for the city to have the right to maintain it as needed- Okay ... because now it's not quite within the existing easement. It starts and ends in the existing easement, but it bumps out and kind of comes back in. Yeah, because the neighbor put an addition or the- Exactly. Here. Yeah. So the plan that was submitted today, you'll see this actually has the final house on it, so it bumps out. So the easement plan just kind of bumps around it so that it can accommodate the change. And how much do you expect to need to access this easement? Well, we've probably never accessed it in the entire time that it's been built since then. And with how it was built, it was built much better than pretty much all of our drainage infrastructure, so I'm hoping never. So overall, the city got a great section of- Yeah ... drain pipe for- Yeah. Upgraded drain through their property and something that's going to outlast what it was connected to. Thank you. Yeah, exactly.
▶ 1:16:58 Devin Romanul: Up next, Councilor Kam Chetty.
▶ 1:17:00 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you. Thank you for being here. Yeah, so I guess that is sort of an extension of my question, not knowing really anything about easements and drainage, so I will just put that out there. But just curious about the changes, like what the impact might be in any way, shape, or form to the rest of the neighborhood and/or the street. Just sort of curious if you could speak to that.
▶ 1:17:23 Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely no impact at all. So it's not adding or subtracting any drainage. Basically, there's a street above the house that it collects, and it just passes through the yard into the next drainage structure into Walton Park. So really, it's just a conveyance that rather than taking a straight path, it just meanders around. So there should be no impact at all to anyone.
▶ 1:17:49 Manjula Karamcheti: Okay. Yeah. Just because I've seen in other places where drainage has gotten changed, then all of a sudden, you have water flowing on the street, and then it freezes and... But we're not- Absolutely ... expecting any of those kinds of impacts. No, not at all. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:18:04 Devin Romanul: Perfect. Any other councilors? Councilor Park.
▶ 1:18:06 Speaker 3: Just a quick question. Has this already been reviewed by the Zoning Board of Appeals, and is this something that would come up to them, and why specifically would it be coming up to the Appropriations not- No, so it doesn't need to go through Zoning Board of Appeals because it doesn't meet any zoning requirements. So it's going through the City Council because the city easement needs to be accepted. The revised easement needs to be accepted. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:18:35 Speaker 7: Up next, Vice Chair Vanderberg.
▶ 1:18:37 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. This sounds reasonable to me, and I make a motion to recommend. Second.
▶ 1:18:42 Devin Romanul: Motion to recommend made by Vice Chair Vanderberg, seconded by Councilor Kam Chetty on discussion. See none. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
▶ 1:18:50 Speaker 2: Yes. Vice Chair Vanderberg? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Kam Chetty? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Abrumsky? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romanul? Yes. All in favor.
▶ 1:19:04 Devin Romanul: All in favor? That will move forward to our next City Council meeting a week from tonight with a favorable recommendation. Thank you so much for joining us.
▶ 1:19:11 Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
▶ 1:19:12 Devin Romanul: Thank you. All right. And last but not least on our agenda, ID number 2026-1533, grant of easement for 204 Tremont Street. Apparently, it's easement night here in the- ... Rome Region second meeting. Joining us this evening, Denise Gabie. How are you?