by Frank Schroth

Win Swenson, a resident of Hemenway Drive and Partner with the Compliance Systems Legal Group, has authored a paper, Integrity: The Missing Link in Mill Creek’s Proposed Milton Mews Development. It is a strongly worded, substantially researched report that is the latest salvo in opposition to the proposed development of a large apartment complex on Brush Hill Road just off Rte 138. Mr. Swenson is expected to present the report this evening during the Citizens Speak portion of  the Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

Mr. Swenson states that Mill Creek, the firm proposing the Milton Mews development, “fails to meet objective, widely accepted business standards for operating with integrity.” He cites three “red flags” regarding this in his report:

• Its failure to follow established business practices for managing compliance and ethics;
• Its troubling track record; and
• Its attempt to evade its troubling track record by changing its name and morphing into a new corporate entity.

Mr. Swenson notes that in conversations with Mill Creek executives, it became clear that Mill Creek lacked a program that would oversee the firm adhered to ethical practices. Further, Mr. Swenson writes that a member of the senior team, “didn’t know what a compliance/ethics program is.” Other construction firms are not unfamiliar with these programs and Mr. Swenson identifies Pulte Homes, who were awarded the bid to develop the town farm here in Milton, as an example of a firm with stated policies on corporate governance.

The report goes on to address Mill Creek’s “Build at any Cost” compensation system, their history of construction projects and associated complaints, and their  Trammel Crowe heritage as problematic and of serious concern. Regarding the Trammel Crowe parentage of the Mill Creek, Mr Swenson why they would spin off into a separate entity and answers the question, “they had built a mess of distressed and poorly manage properties, with a trailing track record of litigation, and desperately wanted to create a clean slate so they could still attract capital.”

The report concludes that Masshousing must reject the proposal because “lacking a compliance/ethics program and having a history of litigation and bad projects, Mill Creek is simply not a ‘presently responsible’ company that should be allowed to operate in the proposed neighborhood.”

Opposition to the development has been strengthening. The Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) has initiated an online petition (see related post here). The Board of Directors and residents of nearby Fuller Village have also been vocal in their opposition, have retained legal counsel, and have appeared before the Board of Selectmen on several occasions to urge a strong response from them to oppose the project.