Project near T is in limbo

The future of a 500-unit apartment project near Ashland's commuter rail station is unclear, now that the town's Planning Board has accepted a request from the property owner to withdraw the proposal.

The board agreed late last month to allow the withdrawal without prejudice, meaning the proposal can be resubmitted.

But it's unclear what will happen to the parcel, which is an important part of the town's economic development strategy.

In 2000, Town Meeting changed the zoning of the land in the area to a rail district, hoping to promote large-scale residential development that would take advantage of a commuter rail station that opened there in August 2002. The zoning measure is considered a model for other communities, but Ashland's district remains dormant.

Gena Blinderman, who chairs the town's Planning Board, said it was ''pretty sad and ironic" that the 40-acre Jefferson at Ashland apartment project hadn't been developed.

''It's a key, integral part of the development not only of the rail transit district, but also the downtown," she said.

Plans discussed for other parts of the rail district have included a 190-unit residential development aimed at people 55 and older and a golf course.

''I'm certainly looking forward to development plans being submitted. It's my hope that there will be development not only on the portion that is zoned for the 500 apartments, but also for the rest of the site, including the golf course," Blinderman said.

The proposed development is tied up in a complicated legal dispute between the developer, JPI, of Irving, Texas, and the property owner, Megunko Transit District, of Stow, which is managed by New Hampshire resident Robert Gayner.

The developer sued the property owner in January 2003 in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge. Gayner filed a counterclaim a month later.

Each has accused the other of not fulfilling the terms of a purchase and sale agreement the two parties signed in November 1999 under which JPI agreed to buy the property for $13,333,500, according to court documents.

JPI has said that Gayner neglected to gain access to a public way from the property or to get clearance from environmental agencies for developing the land. Gayner has said that JPI has failed to get necessary permits, including a sewer permit, and that JPI is trying to protect money it has spent so far on the estimated $80 million project by tying up the matter in court to prevent Gayner from selling the land to another developer.

The parcel abuts the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump Superfund site, which has complicated the drainage system for the proposed development, according to court papers.

In a separate but related matter, Gayner is involved in a dispute with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority over the T's eminent domain land taking of a portion of his property in 2000 to build an access road from Route 135 to the commuter rail station. Gayner has said the MBTA didn't pay him enough for the strip of land.

Gayner sued the MBTA in August 2003, saying the authority was holding up granting access from his land to the access road with a demand for a ''global settlement" that Gayner said was designed to get him to drop or drastically reduce his eminent domain case.

The MBTA has denied Gayner's arguments, saying that Gayner has had access to the road. The case is pending.

John S. Leonard, a lawyer with the Boston firm Menard, Murphy & Walsh, which is representing the MBTA, declined to comment, citing policy.

Lee Kozol, a lawyer who represents Gayner, declined to comment on the lawsuits, but said all parties are trying to resolve the cases. ''With a resolution, this property will be developed, because everybody wants it to be developed. I don't think there's any question about that," said Kozol, a partner with the Boston law firm Friedman & Atherton.