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Council committee grants 90-day extension amid dispute over rockfall fixes and storage containers at 20 Sonar Drive
Summary
Petitioners seeking to mitigate dangerous rockfalls at a garage on Sonar Drive presented three mitigation options — including converting storage containers into ballasted barriers — and the special permits committee granted a 90-day extension with a 45-day status update and an explicit condition that container-based options not be proposed again.
The special permits committee voted to grant a 90-day extension for the Garage/20 Sonar Drive petition while requiring a 45-day written status update, after a contentious hearing in which petitioners outlined three possible rockfall-mitigation strategies and councilors and neighbors strongly objected to retaining or converting storage containers on site.
Attorney Ryan Tarver and property representative David Vanforth described eight options studied since the special permit issued in November and said the team had narrowed those to three: (1) convert existing storage containers into welded, ballasted barrier units; (2) similar containers with additional ballast and precast block integration; or (3) an engineered rockfall mesh/barrier system priced by the petitioner at approximately $700,000. Tarver said a structural engineer had been retained and that any container solution would be converted to a structure (sealed, welded and filled) and would require Board of Appeals variances before returning to the council.
Several councilors and nearby residents pressed the petitioners on safety and precedent: many said the containers were placed on site without prior approval, objected to the visual impact and warned that allowing modified containers could set an undesirable citywide precedent. Councilors proposed alternatives including pinned dual-jersey barrier schemes, steel sheet piles or phased installation of engineered barriers. One councilor described a boulder that had cracked a Jersey barrier and questioned whether container-based measures would withstand similar impacts.
Petitioners said they had engaged a structural engineer and civil consultants and that some options would require tree removal or other site work; they also presented cost and constructability considerations. After debate the committee approved a 90-day extension, conditioned on a status report at 45 days and agreement by the petitioner not to return with a plan that retained or repurposed the containers as a long-term solution.
