The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals met for a brief meeting on Thursday, September 27,2012. The first hearing of the night was for Peter and Lynne Arruda of 10 Union Church Terrace who were seeking to drop a non-transferrable clause from a permit from the year 2000 for the creation of an in-law apartment at their home. Elimination of the clause allows the structure to be regarded as a multi-family home.
“It’s just so, if we sell the house, they don’t have to go through the whole process,” Arruda said, referring to the occupants of the apartment attached to his home.
The ZBA voted in favor of the language change on Arruda’s permit.
Then, the Board held a hearing for Joe Carreiro of 99 New Bedford Road, who would like to construct a 16-foot diameter above-ground swimming pool on the property. At the time of the meeting, no plans had been submitted to the Building Commissioner, who rejected the project because it did not meet setback requirements.
“You’re supposed to have about 40 feet from the property line to the edge of the pool and I came in around 29 feet,” said Carreiro.
Chairman Richard Cutler then said that Carreiro needed to prove hardship for the location of the pool.
“I don’t want to have to put the pool a hundred feet from my back deck,” said Carreiro.
“It appears as though, due to the location of the septic system, and the position of the driveway of the house, it seems that locating the pool where it would meet required setbacks would be very difficult,” said ZBA member Benjamin Gilmore. He said the hardship was proven by the orientation of the existing development of the property.
After no discussion, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to grant a variance from the setback requirements so Carreiro install the pool.
The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals will be on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall.
By Eric Tripoli