To read a Boston Globe columnist’s commentary on the 470 Atlantic Ave project, click here.
To read a Boston Globe editorial board commentary on this project click here.
This story ran on page C5 of the Boston Globe on 4/21/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper CompanyGROUP APPEALS DEP RULING
FOUNDATION HITS WATERFRONT PROJECT
by Matthew Brellis
With a deadline about to expire, the Conservation Law Foundation yesterday appealed a state Department of Environmental Protection ruling that allowed a developer to keep constructing a 14th floor on an Atlantic Avenue building that exceeds the state's Public Waterfront Act. The appeal requests that the developer, a unit of Modern Continental, not be permitted to have the 14th floor of 470 Atlantic Ave.Modern Continental, which has $2 billion in contracts with the Big Dig, had not received permits for the work on adding a 14th floor before it began construction. Modern Continental is owned by Les Marino.
"If he had not started building the extra floor, we do not believe the DEP would have permitted it," said Stephanie Pollack, vice present of the CLF. "The reason regulators make developers tear stuff down is because [of] the fear that if you don't, the message is that violating the law pays. They did not make him tear it down, they did not take away any profit he might make illegally from that floor." The DEP action, Pollack said, "was inexplicable" and "sends a signal" to other developers that they can flout the law and profit. A spokesman for DEP was unavailable for comment and an official at Modern Continental said the company was aware of the appeal, but had no comment. "CLF truly hoped that the state regulators charged with enforcing the rights of the public in our waterfront would force this developer to bring Independence Wharf into compliance with the law," Pollack said in a statement. The DEP instead ruled that the development could continue if an observation deck open to the public was included in the project.
This story ran on page C5 of the Boston Globe on 4/21/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company
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