The Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on January 14 told the folks at Tabor Academy to come back again, and next time bring with them an actual safety plan that Tabor would like to propose as it starts a new path towards keeping its unpermitted backstop.
Head of School John Quirk again expressed his apologies for the history and placement of the backstop and for taking up so much of the Town’s time.
“We acknowledge the project … really could have gone better and should have gone better,” said Quirk. He proposed that removing the backstop now might not only be unnecessary, but also a detriment to the community in regards to safety.
Front Street residents Peter Smith and Shirley Reynolds were a testament to the need for safety, and perhaps further safety, claiming that both have experienced balls coming from the field and hitting their vehicles while driving by. Since the placement of the backstop, Smith said, he has been hit twice, most recently back on October 26, 2015.
“I could’ve had a heart attack,” Smith said. “There was quite a lump on it (the car).” It could have been a lacrosse ball, he said, but he never did find the ball. “It really hit the roof of our vehicle,” he added.
“Mine was a baseball on my car,” said Reynolds.
Smith noted that Tabor does not usually put up an additional safety net to keep balls inside the field during that time of year. He addressed the board, saying that after the second incident he finally called the school to complain.
“If the roof of my vehicle starts rusting, you’re going to hear from me and get a bill,” said Smith. “So far, you’re in luck,” he added, eliciting some laughs.
Quirk said removing the backstop would be a hardship for the school, given the topography of the land and the field’s proximity to the street. The backstop is needed to keep balls inside the field.
The board asked about how Quirk plans to enhance the safety of the backstop, and he responded that Tabor had not yet sought engineering for the project. He did suggest, perhaps, a 2- to 3-foot extension of the overhang pointed toward the fields. He said widening the backstop might also help.
Board members wondered why these details were not described in the variance application.
“We wanted to at least get a sense that we weren’t going to be ordered to remove the structure first,” said Quirk.
The matter was continued until February 11.
After Quirk left, the board spoke candidly about the matter amongst themselves and Building Commissioner Scott Shippey.
Board member Betsy Dunn said Quirk inherited the mess when he took his position at Tabor, and the ZBA chairman blamed Tabor’s former lawyer for dragging their feet. New member to the ZBA Kate Mahoney needed more details to wrap her head around the matter.
“They (Tabor) did lose in court, and they are trying to fix it,” said Shippey.
Relations with Tabor have improved recently, said Shippey, “I would hate to see something that would deter that.” He said, before, Tabor would just build whatever it wanted without permits.
Now, the board agreed, Tabor has used up its “get out of jail free card.”
Also during the meeting, the board continued the hearing for 20 Old Indian Trail, OIT Realty Trust, care of Jacqueline Gaffey, for the razing of a single-family dwelling to rebuild it on the same footprint, although the elevation would be raised, along with the concerns of abutting residents.
Patricia DeCosta, an immediate abutter, said when Gaffey raised the elevation to accommodate a new septic system, water started to escape the Gaffey property and pool onto other yards.
“There is so much water in the neighborhood,” said DeCosta. “It’s not staying on their property.” She said Gaffey’s property is already five feet higher than surrounding yards, calling the Gaffey’s proposed house “a house on a hill.”
“I don’t care what he does with the house. I think it would be an improvement,” said DeCosta. It is the fill that would elevate the property and create further flooding on others’ properties.
Thinking back to when the septic system application went before the Board of Health, Dunn said she remembered that hearing.
“You were assured by the engineer … that you wouldn’t have water. I remember that,” said Dunn.
Gaffey’s engineer Dana Nilson said water had always been an issue in that neighborhood, but neighbors rejected that defense.
“It’s a vernal pool,” said resident Lisa Riccardi. She said it was a wetlands violation the way the water from the Gaffey property flows into surrounding wetlands. She said the plan called for a swale, but there is no swale, she stated.
Abutter Ben Baptiste said he just paid about $20,000 to enforce his basement against flooding.
“All the water just goes into my basement,” said Baptiste.
The board continued the matter until February 11 so the property could be visited and assessed.
In other matters, the board closed the public hearing for a special permit to raze the existing house at 16 River Road to build a new house. The matter was taken under advisement.
The next meeting of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for February 11 at 7:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
