The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals heard one public hearing during its August 12 Zoom meeting. In Case No. 1167, Mark Woodward Jr. sought a variance on his property at 519 County Road for a garage exceeding 1,000 square feet under Chapter 20.40, E.2 (7) of the Rochester Zoning By-Laws.
Woodward explained that he needs a space to store his and his wife’s vehicles and to work on his motorcycles. As it is, Woodward stores a motorcycle at relatives’ homes. He wants better security and control, while no longer imposing on family.
ZBA Chair David Arancio asked if there is any reason the garage cannot be attached to the house. Woodward said he preferred to have the garage across his driveway.
It was pointed out in the August 3 revision that the house is 5 feet closer to the road than the proposed structure, but Arancio drew a different conclusion using a paper as a straight edge and making a parallel line from the road across the front of the house, saying that the corner of the garage is the point closest to the road. Nonetheless, Arancio said that, if the building commissioner has accepted the conclusion that the house, not the garage, constitutes the closest point to the front property line, he will concur.
While ZBA members continued to mull over Arancio’s measurement on their own copies of the plan, Woodward told the board he can move the garage back a few feet, “No problem.”
Member Kirby Gilmore then motioned for a continuance of the case, suggesting that the matter will not be resolved on August 12 and that the applicant should revise his plan to move the garage back 15 feet and then come back before the ZBA.
Before the vote was taken, Woodward was further instructed that three conditions need to be met to be granted a variance by the ZBA and that he should study those criteria before the hearing is continued on August 26. The board voted to continue the hearing to August 26.
Case No. 1166, continued from July 22 in which Mark and Ashley Briggs seek a special permit for a building at 0 New Bedford Road to be used for the restoration, detailing, and storage of collectible cars with limited private sales within the Limited Commercial District was not reopened on August 12.
The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to be held on Thursday, August 26, at 7:00 pm.
Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals
By Mick Colageo