The new owner of a Front Street house that was historically used as a two-family wants the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals to grant a Special Permit for an official conversion of the single-family to two-family, but opposition from a neighbor and a cautious ZBA could keep it a single-family house.
Richard Schaffer, the attorney for 444 Front Street owner Chris Shachoy, said history of two-family use goes back a long way, but two years has lapsed since the last time it was used as a two-family dwelling.
Plans for the house include the enlargement of a rear deck plus an additional deck, but the footprint would remain the same and the window arrangement of the house would be the only visible change from the front.
“The neighborhood would not be changed,” said Schaffer, “[we’re] just taking an older house and updating it and making it look more attractive.” The house, said Shaffer, was originally built by the younger brother of Elizabeth Taber. “This particular addition … would not be a detriment to the neighborhood or the character of the town.”
ZBA Chairman Eric Pierce asked if the home would be owner-occupied, and Schaffer said yes, at least in the beginning.
Pierce wanted to do some research on the request before making a decision, saying the board had never dealt with a case such as this. He wanted to be sure the board wouldn’t be “putting our foot in a bucket.”
Resident Helen Hills said that her family sold the house to Shachoy, that the house was built in 1838, and that the entire second floor was made into a separate unit in 1960 when her cousin’s older brother got married. She claimed it became a rental property in 1990 and was rented a long time, and various other families lived there until her cousin died four years ago.
“It’s a beautiful house, and I’m glad to see it fixed up,” Hills said.
There was concern from neighboring resident and realtor Bernadette Kelly over the existence of several other two-family houses on that part of Front Street. She wondered what the Town’s plan was for that stretch of road at “the entryway to our town.”
“It is a lovely house [and] it would be great to see it preserved,” said Kelley, “I’m not particularly comfortable that it’s going to be preserved as an investment property.” It is being lovingly maintained for now, she said, but that is not always the case with rental properties, she commented.
Schaffer brought up the nearby Marion Village Estates, saying this house was only adding one unit, and rental properties in Marion are in demand. The one unit would not burden the town services, said Schaffer, and a house can be run-down whether or not it’s a rental.
“A lot of houses in town that are not rented are run down,” argued Schaffer.
Kelly disagreed with Schaffer’s reasoning.
“How does this actually fit into the existing character of the neighborhood, because the Baywatch neighborhood does not fit into the character of the neighborhood,” said Kelly.
Schaffer replied, “The single-family dwelling could be rented out as it is already. So there’s no difference.”
Hills’ comment was that Shachoy was within his right to tear the old house down, but he chose to renovate it. She argued that the recognition as a two-family would not make any difference.
“We will have to dig a little deeper into the bylaws,” said Pierce, and the hearing was closed for the application to be taken under advisement. When Schaffer asked Pierce to keep the public hearing open in case issues arise that he would like to address, Pierce refused, not even sure if he could re-open the public hearing or not.
The hearing was already closed, the matter would be taken under advisement, the board would render a decision, “…And then you can sue us,” said Pierce.
“Appeal,” Building Commissioner Scott Shippey corrected Pierce.
“Appeal,” said Pierce. “Sorry.”
The next meeting of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for December 10 at 7:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
