For Rachel Westgate, expanding her small Tobey Lane home means making room for her family to return to Mattapoisett full time.
The Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a special permit on Thursday, August 20, allowing Westgate, who is also known as Rachel Briggs, to construct an addition to her single-family home at 12 Tobey Lane.
Westgate told the board that her family’s connection to Mattapoisett stretches back generations.
“I have a long history in this town, like way back to the whaling days,” she said, noting that her great-great-great-grandfather was a whaler here.
Westgate purchased the house in 2017 when she was single. She has since married and now has a stepdaughter and two dogs. Although she moved away, she said she always intended to return and has continued spending summers in Mattapoisett.
“Now we’re all moving here full time, and so we just need more space to accommodate my growing family,” she said.
The house, built in 1952, is already considered a pre-existing nonconforming structure because it does not meet the Village Residential District’s current front setback requirement. The proposed addition would extend toward the rear of the property, leaving a 25-foot rear setback where a 30-feet setback is required.
Attorney James W. Walsh, representing Westgate, said the 5-foot difference would not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood. The addition would remain within the home’s existing side building lines, and existing fencing and mature vegetation provide screening.
The project would add an upstairs bedroom and a downstairs kitchen and family room, along with a basement.
One board member noted that although the project had been described as a “modest addition,” it would significantly increase the footprint of the existing small house.
Neighbors who spoke during the hearing supported the project, and Westgate said she had spoken with surrounding neighbors beforehand.
“Good move to talk to neighbors ahead of time,” a board member told her following the vote.
“It always is,” another replied.
The board approved the special permit without opposition.
By Jeanne Hopkins