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Photo Derek Burritt
Selectmen Dale Donovan (left) and Ira Wood address a crowd of more than 65 residents Tuesday night. |
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Blasch house permit appealed
By Derek Burritt
Banner Staff
WELLFLEET — Selectmen rocked the house Tuesday evening with two controversial decisions.
After more than three hours of discussion, selectmen decided Tuesday to appeal the building inspector's decision to grant Mark and Barbara Blasch of Newton, Pa., a building permit for their proposed tear-down and reconstruction of the so-called “billboard” house.
They also directed the planning board to work with town counsel, Cape Cod National Seashore and the Cape Cod Commission to revamp the zoning bylaws to better protect Seashore property.
More than 65 residents showed up at the board of selectmen’s meeting Tuesday night to help influence the way zoning in town will go forward. The session concluded with a 3-0 vote, with chair Jacqueline Beebe recusing herself due to a conflict, on a motion made by Selectman Dale Donovan appealing Building Inspector Paul Murphy's decision granting a building permit to the Blasches for the property at 1440 Chequessett Neck Road.
The motion and vote were made on advisement by town counsel Elizabeth Lane that “the ideal person to bring an appeal to the [zoning board of appeals] is someone who can withstand a challenge to standing and thus go forward to appeal in court.” “Standing” is defined as the right to file a lawsuit.
Bringing an appeal before the zoning board of appeals doesn't necessarily mean a case will go to court, if the parties are satisfied by the board's decision, Lane said. However, any party can make an appeal to the court, even if they weren't the initial party appealing to the ZBA, including abutters and “other people who are aggrieved by definition, including regional planning agencies,” Lane said.
Lane advised that going to the ZBA with an appeal allows the town to “take advantage of additional information that can be brought out in public.”
Selectman Ira Wood expressed his initial reluctance to vote on the motion because the project has been approved by the conservation commission, board of health and building inspector, and while he doesn't want to “undermine their work,” he also said, “I do not believe this project is compatible with the Park.”
“I believe that although this project is as sustainable a project as has come before a board on Cape Cod, it does deserve a second look having to do with the criteria of the National Park district,” Wood said.
Michael May, serving as chair after Beebe's recusal, wanted assurance that the town wasn't going into this alone while the National Seashore sat on the sidelines. He directly asked National Seashore Supt. George Price, who was present at the meeting, if the Seashore would partake in the appeal as an aggrieved party, and Price responded affirmatively.
While this appeal will address the immediate, high-profile zoning matter within the Seashore, the bigger, town-wide zoning issue was also moved to be tackled in a revised zoning bylaw that will go before the town in a Special Town Meeting this fall. Also on a motion by Dale Donovan, selectmen voted 4-0 that the planning board would tackle this initiative with the help of town counsel and the cooperation of the National Seashore and Cape Cod Commission.
“Taking and looking at the relationship of these houses and the mass to the landscape is probably the future ... where we can probably derive some consensus on how to protect this area we care so much about without infringing upon property rights,” said Paul Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission.
The debate is likely to continue at future public meetings before the ZBA, planning board and Special Town Meeting.
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Mar 13th, 2008