Council Approves Additional High Street Apartments

Council Vice President Melinda E. Barrett was the only councilor present to oppose approval of two additional apartments.

City Councilors Tuesday night voted to approve a special permit allowing two additional apartments at a previously approved five-unit building at 13 High St. in Haverhill.

At a public hearing, postponed from the previous week, Councilors heard from Anthony Rossi, speaking on behalf of applicant Ronald T. Romanowski, regarding details of the special permit.

“I purchased this property a little over a year ago. It was in pretty bad shape,” said Rossi. “Everything they did was horrible, so I literally took over and gutted the whole building,” he added.

Rossi addressed several minor modifications made to the special permit request that would ease parking concerns at the building. Amendments included a provision assigning tenants their own parking spaces. Fines would be issued to cars parking in unauthorized spaces. Another amendment would allow for a snow plow contractor to remove snow from the lot during the winter.

“That was one of the nastiest buildings on High Street,” said Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan.

“I want to thank you for making us feel better about the lease. The towing, the parking, it seems like you have everything ready to go,” Sullivan said to Rossi.

Councilors approved the amendments by a vote of 8 to 0 with Councilor Mary Ellen O’Brien, absent. The special permit was approved by a vote of 7 to 1 with Council Vice President Melinda E. Barrett opposed.

In other business, the City Council unanimously approved City Purchasing Director and Energy Manager Orlando Pacheco’s request to postpone the approval of purchasing electricity from an anaerobic digester operation at Crescent Farm, 1058 Boston Road. The approval was put on hold until all permits for the project have been filed. Under the agreement, Haverhill would buy electricity from  Haverhill AD 1 initially at 13 cents per kilowatt hour. There was no further discussion.

One thought on “Council Approves Additional High Street Apartments