August 26, 2014 — “The applicant has concluded that is is best to withdraw the application at the present time.”
Local developer and former mayoral candidate Mac Bell says that state and city regulations have combined to put a damper on his proposal for a seafood restaurant and fish market on the Commercial Street waterfont, and he has temporarily shelved the project.
Lawyers representing Bell wrote to the City Council Thursday asking that Bell be allowed to withdraw his application for a special City Council permit “without future prejudice to its future right(s).” The letter was sent by attorneys from Blatman, Bobrowski & Mead LLC, based in Newburyport.
Bell had first brought the idea to city officials in July, when he filled out paperwork asking the City Council for a special permit allowing restaurant use on the site, which is zoned in the marine industrial district. The site is also in the state-controlled Designated Port Area (DPA), which states that a property must have a water dependent use.
The developer was also asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to change the use of the site from a “commercial fishing and fish processing facility and marine industrial use space” to also include restaurant use.
Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times