Uncertainty over the impact of a newly approved Massachusetts housing bill sparked Rochester’s Zoning Board of Appeals on August 8 to continue until September its Use Variance hearing for a plan to construct a second-story accessory building above an attached garage at 343 Neck Road.
The applicant’s engineering consultant, Michael McVeigh, referenced the Affordable Homes Act signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on August 6 as he began his presentation, saying its regulations may negate the need for the variance being requested.
The provision of the bill he noted states that no zoning ordinance or bylaw shall prohibit or unreasonably restrict or require special permitting for “the use of land or structure for a single accessory dwelling unit or the rental thereof in a single-family residential zoning district.”
ZBA Chairman David Arancio responded that the ink was not yet dry on this piece of legislation and that Rochester’s Town Counsel as well as legal counsels across the commonwealth have not had the chance to review and comment on the new law.
“You might want to ask for a continuance,” Arancio said.
McVeigh nonetheless chose to complete his presentation. On a 4.6-acre parcel with a substantial amount of wetlands, the applicant, Daniel J. Vareika, has knocked down a garage for a plan to rebuild it into a housing unit where he can live while he works on renovating his home, McVeigh explained.
“He’s using every bit of his time to improve his property,” he said.
ZBA member Richard Cutler asked why he wasn’t just building an addition to his house for the purpose. Vareika said his home is too close to his neighbor’s property line. Arancio asked how the topography, the sloping wetlands, should be considered by the board to be a hardship justifying the Use Variance requested.
Cutler added this petition is bad timing in another way. The chair of Rochester’s Zoning Bylaw Review Committee said its members are hoping to make use variances “go away” from town regulations and to also make accessory units permitted by right.
Finally seeing the need to do so, McVeigh requested the suggested continuance. The board granted it, rescheduling the public hearing for its September 12 meeting.
In other action, the board accepted a request to withdraw without prejudice the Use Variance application for a plan to allow an accessory dwelling, an in-law apartment, above the attached garage of a home at 48 Pierce Street.
The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals’ next regular meeting will be held on Thursday, August 22, at 7:15 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals
By Michael J. DeCicco