Rochester’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved the construction of a deck on an under-sized house lot at 560 Snipatuit Road in a swiftly moving meeting on August 22.
In a meeting that took a mere 25 minutes, Walter and Doreen Gonet proposed a 9.5-foot deck extending 31 feet into the side setback of their 905 square-foot residential lot, a variance of town bylaw’s 40-foot setback limit.
The zoning panel noted only one complication, that the extension into the side setback needed was larger than stated on the Gonets’ plans. The stairs make it a 28.5-foot encroachment on the setback, board member Jeffrey Costa said.
ZBA Chairman David Arancio first reviewed the three points required to qualify for a variance: a unique circumstance to the topography that the applicant would otherwise suffer a substantial hardship, and that the plan would cause no harm to the public good. Gonet said his application met all three qualifiers.
The board then unanimously approved the setback variance with the conditions that the deck stairs be no more than 28 feet into the side setback and the deck no more than 31 feet in the setback.
The zoning panel opened its meeting at 7:15 pm and adjourned at 7:40 pm.
The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals’ next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 12, starting at 7:15 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals
By Michael J. DeCicco