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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-03-17 Zoning Board of Appeals MinutesTown of Reading Reading, Massachusetts 01867.2693 (617) 942-0500 ~rNCOK ZONING BOARD of APPEALS .6 LOWELL STREET ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS READING, MA MINUTES - MARCH 17, 1988 Members Present: Catherine A. Quimby John A. Jarema Sally Nitzsche Chairman Quimby openend the meeting at 7:30 PM, March 17, 1987 in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 6 Lowell Street, Reading, MA. The discussion began with the reading of a letter from Stuart LeClaire to the Busy Bee Florist notifying them of a "cease and desist" on their business. Another letter was then read.from Ms. Sandy Roberts regarding a course on sales and marketing of real estate which had space available if any Board member was interested in attending. It was also noted at this time that an appeal had been made on the recent granting of a Special Permit on the Machnowski case. The minutes of February 11 where then reviewed and amended, and John Jarema made a motion to accept these minutes as amended. The motion was seconded, and the minutes were unanimously approved by the Board. The first hearing of the evening was the petition of Mr. Gregory Christos of 199 Forest Street, Reading, seeking a Variance for a deck located on the property. Chairman Quimby informed the Board of a conversation she had today with the attorney for the petitioner, Ms. Lisa MacDonald, regarding his request to withdraw without prejudice in order to resubmit his application seeking Special Permit rather than a Variance. She was informed of the procedure to either put the request in writing and present it to the Town Clerk's office today, or appear tonight and state her request before the Board. As a March 17, 1988 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Page 2 letter was not received by the Board and the Petitioner or representing attorney failed to be present, Mr. Jarema left the meeting to attempt to reach Gail Faller by phone to inquire whether she had seen a letter requesting the withdrawl. After speaking with her and asserting she had not received the written request, he phoned the Petitioner and was told that the attorney had submitted the letter. It had apparently not been expedited to the Board for their use tonight, therefore, Mr. Jarema again accepted a verbal request by phone in addition to the request received verbally from the attorney by Chairman Quimby. Chairman Quimby opened the scheduled public hearing at 7:45 PM and relayed the previous information to those in attendance. At this time, Mr. William Wagner, attorney for one abuttor to the property, stated his view that this issue was first brought up in July of 1987 by the Building Inspector, and had since been literally ignored by the Petitioner. In Mr. Wagner's opinion, the Petitioner was again attempting to stall the proceedings as evidenced by his withdrawl only one day before the scheduled hearing. How much longer would he be allowed to do so? The Board then discussed this point and decided to schedule tonight's hearing as a continuance on April 7 and to hear the petition for a Special Permit immediately following the request for withdrawl without prejudice in order to finalize this issue. John Jarema then made a motion to continue this hearing until April 7 at 7:45 PM in the Selectmen's Meeting Room. Sally Nitzsche seconded the motion, and it was unanimously voted by the Board to continue. * * * * * * * * * * * * * The second hearing was then opened at 8:15 PM which was the petition of Mr. and Mrs. William Dennis of 629 Haverhill Street, Reading, seeking Special Permit for construction of an accessory apartment on the premises. It was noted that the Board had made a site inspection on Tuesday evening. John Jarema inquired whether the Petitioners had spoken with the Building Inspector. He was informed they had not. The Board was concerned with the square footage area of the proposed apartment. Mr. Dennis then commented that there had been changes made to the figures initially submitted. The gross area was now 1,603 i.e., upstairs was 930 sq. ft. and downstairs family room was 675 sq. ft. After some calculation, it was determined that the maximum square footage of the accessory would be 482 sq. ft. or 30 percent of the total area. John Jarema noted there may be a problem with the height of the family room as it must be 713" in order to be considered livable space. March 17, 1988 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Page 3 The Board then stated they would need a more accurate floor plan including the construction diagram showing electric and plumbing and accurate square footage figures to be confirmed by the building inspector. Mr. Dennis then noted that there would be no changes to the exterior of the dwelling except for the garage doors. John Jarema then made the motion to continue this case to April 7 to allow for the completion of the floor plan and time for the building inspector to verify measurements and sign his approval on the plan. It was then seconded and voted unanimously by the Board to continue the case to 8:15 PM on April 7. At 8:45 PM the petition of Robert and Marilyn Pawlak seeking Special Permit to indicate a buildable lot was opened by Chairman Quimby. Mr. William Wagner, attorney representing the petitioners, then began discussion on the case noting the lot was an undersized lot (8,612 S.F.) and clarifying the six items indicating a buildable lot. They were as follows: 1) lot was conforming at time of purchase 2) lot was held in common ownership with ajoining lot 3) lot had at least 5,000 S.F. of area and 50 feet of frontage 4) area and frontage similar to lots in immediate area 5) all abutting lots where built upon 6) all zoning requirements other than area and frontage were met Chairman Quimby then stated the requirement of a certified plot plan had not been met. At that time, Mr. Wagner requested the Board to waive this request, as he felt such a plan was to verify the location of a structure on a lot, and there was no current plans for building on the lot. Chairman Quimby stated that Mr. Wagner was correct but that the plan could also help in the determination of where lot lines were located. She noted that upon an "eye view" of the lot, it appeared to be smaller than what was presented to her. John Jarema then inquired who current legal owner was. It was clarified that the land was in probate currently and was left to the Pawlaks by Mrs. Swift who had recently passed away. A lengthy March 17, 1988 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Page 4 discussion then ensued regarding whether the common ownership law was transferrable. Mr. Wagner stated it was. Catherine Quimby would discuss this with Town Counsel. The floor was then opened to the abuttors. Mr. Augustus Goulet of 13 Lawrence Road then spoke regarding the fact that all abutting lots where actually two lots each and to allow building on the lot in question would in essence be creating two non-conforming lots. He added that he realized the Pawlaks would gain much financially if granted the Special Permit, but all the abuttors would lose considerably. Mr. George Brooks of 19 Lawrence Road then addressed the Board siting the potential detriment to the neighborhood and indicating he had made a measurement from the Swift home and including the entire width of the lot, the total measurement was only 63 feet. This would leave only 3 feet to side lot line. John Jarema stated if this were the case, Item 6 of the six requirements would not be met. Mr. Rupert Stuart of 34 Lawrence Road then stated that there was a possibility that the lot in question was taken into consideration when a Variance had been granted previously on the Swift home. Mr. Wagner made repeated attempts to indicate these lots were two separate lots and had to be considered as such, but the Board indicated they felt differently. If the lot in question was a deciding factor in the previous granting of a Variance, this would make a definite difference in their decision. As the land was in probate, and there was no immediacy on this case, the Board began leaning toward continuing the case to allow time for the Petitioner to obtain certified plot plans for both lots, and research to be done for any previous Building Permits and/or Variances on the property. Ms. Nancy Brooks of 19 Lawrence Road then added her hope that the Special Permit would be denied. Dale Stuart of 34 Lawrence Road reiterated this comment. Mr. Timothy Pressy of 32 Hampshire Road stated he was told this parcel was made up of ledge and inquired about the procedures for obtaining a blasting permit. Chairman Quimby stated there was not a public hearing for blasting, but that blasting companies normally covered themselves for any damages due to the blasting. John Jarema then moved to continue this hearing until April 21 at 7:45 PM. Sally Nitzsche seconded the motion, and the hearing was unanimously continued. The Board then briefly discussed any further developments with the Eric's Greenhouse proposed negotiation. Chairman Quimby stated that the Town Manager realized their position on this, but had no problem with open storage on the site. Following further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM. Respectfully submitted by Pamela A. Spang, Recording Secretary to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Date: Signature: