ZBA Minutes

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Zoning Board of Appeals

Minutes

August 1, 2018

Land Use Meeting Room

 

Members in Attendance: Acting Chair Shawn Leary Considine, (SLC); Robert Fuster, (RF); Robert Fuster Jr., (RFjr); Clayton Hambrick, (CH)

Absent with notification: Clifford Snyder, (CS); Ned Douglas, (ND)

Staff present: Gwen Miller, Land Use Director, (GM); Peggy Ammendola, Land Use Clerk, (PA)

 

Clarence Fanto of The Berkshire Eagle was present for the Selke hearing only. He and the staff recorded the meeting.

 

The Board advised applicants that the Board only had four members of a five member board for tonight’s meeting and explained that all four sitting members would have to vote to approve their requests in order to grant permits. The applicants were also informed that they could chose to wait until five members were present or proceed with four members and have a fifth member listen to the tape and participate in a continued hearing.

 

Christian Selke, 35 Walker Street, (Map 43, Parcel  160) Special Permit to operate a Bed and Breakfast Inn under Section 8.8.2 to provide for lodging of up to 18 guests.

 

Also present for this hearing was Attorney Michael Hashim of Hashim & Spinola who represents Christian Selke, Mary Jo Piretti of Piretti Real Estate, Jim Crane and Susan Foulds.

 

The only correspondence received was from William and Suzanne Dakin, who currently own the property. The letter stated that they have a fully executed Purchase and Sales Agreement with Christian Selke to purchase the property and that they are aware that Ms. Selke had petitioned the ZBA to obtain all necessary permits to use the property as a B&B.

 

Attorney Hashim presented the application for a change of use from a single family residence. Prior to becoming a single family residence in 2005, it had a history of being an inn and restaurant.  He stated that the carriage house would be renovated to accommodate 60-75 people year round. A caretaker’s apartment would be on the second floor.  The main building would have a restaurant and bar that would be opened to the public and the open porch would be used seasonally for light fare and drinks. It would also be open to the public. The petitioner also proposed to erect a tent to accommodate up to 150 people for special events. For such events, plans are to provide off site and off street parking with shuttle service.  The tent would remain up from May to October.  Attorney Hashim stated that Ms. Selke wanted permission to have live music until midnight during those events.   

 

The consensus of the Board was that what was being proposed was not sufficiently advertised.  It was suggested that the Petitioner limit the request to a Special Permit to provide for lodging for up to 18 guests with 9 guest rooms and then seek in stages permits for the other requests.  Attorney Hashim indicated that it was financially necessary for the Petitioner to have an idea of what they could count on.

 

Discussion ensued with regards to continuing the hearing and amending the petition to reflect the details of the proposal. A new public hearing notice would be required and abutters would be re-noticed. A fifth member would have the opportunity to listen to the audio and participate in the continued hearing.

 

RF made a motion to continue this hearing to August 22nd at 7:00 PM.  CH seconded the motion and the Board voted to agree 4-0. (This was later withdrawn.)

David and Gina Kirchner, 170 New Lenox Road, (Map 21, Parcel 131) Special Permit under Section 5.3.5 “Nonconforming Single- Family and Two-Family Residential Structures” to construct a new garage attached by breezeway to the home.

 

RFjr disclosed that he and his wife own property on New Lenox Road and stated this this will not affect his ability to be impartial.

 

Presenting the application was Mr. Kirchner. He said that his proposal is to attach a 7’ wide breezeway and 24’ X 31’ two car garage. The property is nonconforming because of the lot size and lack of the required frontage in this zone.  The distance from the edge of the house to the property line is 42 feet, and with the new construction it will encroach into the setback substantially. The siding will match the existing home.

 

There was no correspondence and no members of the public present.

 

RFjr made a motion to grant the petition as applied for. CH seconded the motion and the Board voted to approve 4-0. 

 

Approve Minutes: July 18, 2018-Approved by consensus.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Peggy Ammendola