Upon discussion of the minutes of a recent public meeting that included the Heron Cove public hearing, Marion Zoning Board of Appeals member Dana Nilson asked a question as to whether developer Ken Steen’s ultimatum regarding water-metering methodology was based on dwelling units or buildings. “I’m looking for clarification on what they’re looking for so we don’t go the same road as we did with Marion Village Estates,” said Nilson.
The minutes were tabled for the board’s next meeting, but the conversation that wrapped up the ZBA’s February 10 meeting overshadowed two public hearings that reached favorable conclusion.
ZBA Chairperson Cynthia Callow and board member Tucker Burr discussed a January 27 conference that they recently attended, in which Mark Bobrowski, the attorney representing Steen in the latter’s role as developer of Marion Village Estates and Town Counsel Jon Witten met to discuss disagreement over whether changing the water-metering practices at the affordable-housing development constitutes a “substantial change” as opposed to an unsubstantial change.
The ramifications of “substantial change” necessarily include a public hearing. On December 23, Witten advised the ZBA to consider a change from three meters to measure water consumption in 60 residential units (one meter for each 20-unit building) to 60 meters (one for each unit) as a “substantial” change because it would drastically decrease the revenue generated to the town.
Thusly, Steen’s request to proceed without a public hearing was rejected. Prior to that decision, Bobrowski had already notified the board that a “substantial” judgment on the part of the ZBA would result in his immediate appeal to the state housing court.
The Bobrowski-Witten conference was a prescribed next step toward resolution. Bobrowski had contended during the prior public meeting that Steen was originally supposed to pay for water on the town’s lowest rate tier, but he argued that since the project was completed, the town “moved the goalposts” by changing the tier system and by determining the tier for Village Estates based on the consumption recorded by each meter rather than each residential unit.
As a result, Bobrowski said Steen pays Marion the highest water rate possible, something he insists never would have happened had the water been metered to individual units.
Bobrowski and Witten met before Lisa Whelan of the state Office of Community Development. According to Callow, Whelan heard the arguments and suggested mediation. Witten, said Callow, told her the town never says “no” to mediation. “Bobrowski, I think, is trying to keep us out of the equation, and I don’t like when people try to keep me out of an equation that I think I should be in,” said Callow.
The conference concluded, said Callow, with instructions for both sides to submit a summary of decision by February 28. Callow reported that Witten advised her that the process will take a long time and most likely will be remanded back to the ZBA.
Burr said that the contentious situation about water metering at Marion Village Estates is distracting to the same issue as it applies to Heron Cove. He questioned how the ZBA can confidently go about its business knowing there is an ongoing effort by the same developer to exclude the ZBA from vetting the same request at another development.
Callow asked Burr and Danielle Engwert to vote in the public hearings heard by the ZBA on February 10 in order to ensure a five-member quorum.
In Case 798, Terrence and Kym Lee were voted a Special Permit under Section 230-6.1C of the Zoning bylaw to allow their construction of an addition to the existing nonconforming residence at the corner of Holmes and Front streets.
Represented by Will Saltonstall (Saltonstall Architects,) the Lee’s, 43 Holmes Street, applied for the Special Permit to add onto the main structure of the house an addition measuring 41.8 feet long (the length of the house) and 10 feet wide. The addition will be one story with a shed roof off the back of the Cape-style house.
As Saltonstall displayed via computer screen sharing, the east side of the house is 13 feet from the lot line and therefore noncompliant to the side setback. The addition proposed would extend what looks like approximately 24 feet of the nonconformity by another 10 feet. The addition will be set back 6 inches from flush to the side of the house because the house is not exactly parallel to the lot line, but it will at its outermost point come to within 13.1 feet of the lot line.
Saltonstall said he had not seen any pushback from abutters.
Kym Lee told the board that she reached out to abutters and 9 of the 11 she had email addressed for “were okay” with the plans. She noted that ZBA member Will Tifft is one of the abutters. She said Tifft wrote back “in the affirmative” but noted he would have to recuse himself from participation in the case. Lee said she did not hear back from everyone but received no negative responses.
Terence Lee said he would soon by turning 59 and that the couple wants to create space for first-floor living. He said the second floor would be left to “the kids and grandkids.” At the same time, the applicants told Callow that there are no plans to add residents to the home.
ZBA member Margie Baldwin supported the project, noting that there is significant distance between the addition and the closest abutter. Terence Lee said that a fence erected by the former owner of the bordering property obscures the view.
In Case 801, the ZBA voted applicant MRF Nominee Trust on behalf of Patrick Fischoeder and Allison O’Neil, 498B Point Road, a Special Permit under Sections 230-6.1A and 230-6.1C of the Zoning bylaw to allow their construction of a single-family dwelling to replace two existing, non-conforming dwelling, resulting in a decrease of the non-conformity but increase the building area and volume as allowed under Section 230-7.1, Section 230-7.2 and Section 230-7.3.
Acknowledging Callow’s recap that a Special Permit had been issued at this address but that the applicants came back before the ZBA because they wish to change the plan, representative Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon and Leone Inc. explained that the September 24, 2020 approval was scrapped and that the applicants have gone back to the drawing board.
According to Davignon, the main house caught fire on January 16, 2019, and six months later, both the main house and the secondary house (farther from the shore) were demolished. Those two structures housed a combined six bedrooms, and the original Special Permit approved a plan for a single, five-bedroom house in their place.
Under Board of Health, Conservation Commission and ZBA approval, the previously planned structure would have sat 19.5 feet off the northern property line and 16 feet off the southern property line. The new application, which sits on the same general space in the lot, proposes a house of a different shape with more depth on the north side and less on the south side. The setbacks are nearly identical at 19 (north) and 17.3 (south) feet.
Davignon said the Conservation Commission recognized less work inside its jurisdiction with the new application and filed the plan without hearing it again.
Abutter Jane Deland, 498 Point Road, supported the project.
Nilson motioned to accept, and a unanimous vote awarded the Special Permit and carried the project forward.
The next meeting of the Marion ZBA is scheduled for Thursday, February 24, at 6:30 pm.
Marion Zoning Board of Appeals
By Mick Colageo