What’s happening at 69 Pleasant Street?

Anyone who has passed by Wilson Farm in the past few months (or been stuck in the line of traffic extending up Pleasant Street from the farm’s parking lot) has surely noticed the old, white Greek Revival standing high on a hill overlooking the triangle at Pleasant and Watertown, which seems to have appeared out of nowhere. 

The house has actually been there since at least the mid-1800s (the oldest record of it is a map from 1848), but until recently, it was obscured from the road by acres of trees — mature pines, oaks, maples, the occasional cherry. 

The trees have been cleared to make way for a new housing development known as Linc Cole Lane, which will include 9 new single-family homes, expected to list for around $3 to 4 million dollars each, plus the big, old house, which will be divided into 3 units, including one moderate-income unit. The developer, Todd Cataldo, is a prominent local builder known for luxury developments. 

The new subdivision was granted a special permit for a site sensitive residential development by the Lexington Planning Board. But residents say the construction has been anything but sensitive — to either the natural environment or their complaints about noise, air quality, and, some allege, damage to their homes. 

“Nothing that has been done at the site could ever be considered ‘site sensitive’ using the English definition of that phrase,” said Jamie Frankel, who lives nearby. 

The frustrations began when the trees were chopped down, revealing the old house, which now looked plunked on a bald, hilly lot. Neighbors were taken aback by what they saw as “clearcutting” of a wildlife habitat that helped absorb heat and carbon and would take decades to replace. 

Then, one day in January, neighbors heard the first blast. Houses rattled, dogs barked, and neighbors texted each other wondering what had happened. 

The property sits on a ledge made mostly of granite and silica, and, in order to create a suitable plot for the new development, workers had to break through the rock by drilling holes in the ground and dropping explosives into them. That first explosion was just the beginning — since then, neighbors say, the blasts have been felt twice a day, most weekdays, for more than five months. 

“Two times a day, you’re on a zoom call for work, and you get this jolt — it’s like an earthquake going through the house,” said a neighbor, who preferred not to use a name. Another neighbor describes “massive dust clouds completely enveloping our property” every time the blasts go off, and worries about the health risks of breathing in all that particulate matter. (Several people we spoke to for this story asked to remain anonymous because they anticipate the possibility of legal action in the future).  

In the Moon Hill neighborhood, a historic district of 20th-century modern houses perched on the same ledge as Linc Cole Lane, many fear the blasts could damage their homes. Two local residents told LexObserver there were cracks in the foundation of their houses, which they say weren’t there before. “These are beautiful, historic homes,” one neighbor said. “Somebody’s gain can’t be somebody else’s loss.”

Three weeks after the blasts began, the developer filed a noise mitigation plan. The plan describes a “sound suppression berm” – basically a 10-ft tall mound of dirt — intended to contain the noise. According to the town’s noise control by-laws, the maximum noise level should be kept to under 85 decibels at the property line, but a neighbor measured levels higher than 100db during the blasts, occasionally reaching closer to 125. (The decibel scale is logarithmic — an increase of 10db sounds about twice as loud to the human ear). Chronic noise at that level can increase the risk of stress and its related ills — hypertension, stroke and heart attacks. 

When neighbors reported high decibel levels, they say they were told that their measurement instruments weren’t sufficient. When they complained of loud noise before 9:00 am, they were informed that “rock breaking” is only permitted between 9-5, while “rock crushing” is permitted beginning at 7:00 am. This distinction did not feel particularly meaningful to neighbors, who have begun referring to the site as a “quarry.” Many began to feel like their phone calls, emails, and even video evidence were being ignored. 

“The building commissioner has a certified noise level meter, he has been out on the site and did not record anything higher than 85,” said Town Manager Jim Malloy. “Any time there’s a construction project there’s going to be noise,” he said. “We do recognize that it has caused issues for these neighbors.” 

“The town’s Noise Advisory Committee surveyed 21 Massachusetts communities and found that Lexington’s noise control bylaw was more permissive than other municipalities, and that the Town frequently receives complaints from frustrated residents regarding noise pollution from construction projects,” said Town Meeting member Matt Daggett, who himself lives within range of the jolts from 69 Pleasant St.

Town Meeting revised the noise control bylaw in 2020, establishing stricter limits on when certain types of construction can take place and setting requirements for noise level mitigation. “After five months of daily ledge work at the 69 Pleasant Street development and no noise mitigation through the use of portable sound barriers, it is clear that the amended bylaw is not working as envisioned and needs to be revised.” Daggett said. Malloy says he put together a working group to review the noise bylaws that will hopefully come before Town Meeting in the fall. 

There is some evidence of clear but minor violations of the existing bylaws — a blast that went off before 9:00 am, hammering on a weekend and on President’s Day, a federal holiday. (Malloy said the workers didn’t realize it was a holiday and stopped once police arrived in response to a complaint; the resident who called the police disputes this). 

But the bigger issues are whether the spirit of the law is being respected, and whether the existing bylaws are strong enough. The project also raises deeper questions about how to balance the need for housing and development with environmental concerns and quality of life for residents. 

After more than five months of almost daily explosions, neighbors say they haven’t heard any blasts in the past few days, but have no idea if and when they might start again. And they are still waking to the sounds of trucks rumbling and rock crushing, walking their kids to school through clouds of dust, and looking out their windows at an enormous heap of rubble. 

“I moved to Lexington many years ago because of the wooded nature of the town, its proximity to Boston and Cambridge, and the size and supportive nature of the community,” Frankel said. “I would hate to see this change into a town that welcomes excessive development and an increased tax base over the values and concerns of residents.”

LexObserver reached out to the building commissioner and developer but did not get a response by the time of publication.