The house at 619 County Road has a long history with the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals, pointed out Chairman Richard Cutler, but the board and the property owner were intent on cleaning up the circumstances surrounding the house in order to convert the non-conforming two-family house into a conforming two-family house.
On August 10, the ZBA continued the public hearing for the Special Permit for property owner Francis Jones, who had only owned the house for about six months, to convert the house into an accepted conforming multi-family.
Cutler gave a crash course on the history of the house.
In March 1989, the former owners applied for a variance with the ZBA to add a 30-foot by 30-foot second floor addition, which was granted with the stipulation that the house had to remain a single-family dwelling that was at the time situated within the agricultural/residential zoning district. That district has since changed to a zone that allows for some commercial use.
Continuing with the history, Cutler said in July of 1991 a stop work order was issued for work not in compliance with work issue, which included the unpermitted addition of a kitchen and a subsequent tenant was allowed to live in the upstairs unit. The next day, the owner filed an application to convert to a multi-family house, which in September 1991 during the public hearing, the ZBA approved with the condition that the special permit for the multi-family use was not transferable to subsequent owners. Furthermore, the house was limited to only three bedrooms total. Still, there is no evidence of an eventual inspection of that work and no certificate of occupancy was ever issued.
“Lots of good stuff,” declared Cutler.
The house, vacant for now, actually has five bedrooms. The homeowner does not plan to alter the floor plan or the structure, only some interior and exterior cosmetic work.
The two-family would not be owner-occupied, which did not appear to be a top concern of the abutter directly in front of the house, Louise Hebert, who wrote a letter in support of the project and also attended the meeting.
Cutler asked Building Commissioner Jim Buckles, “If we grant this … Special Permit tonight, what about the fact that the house hasn’t been inspected properly?”
Buckles replied, “I won’t sign off on it…. There’s no record of any inspection. We want people to be safe. This is the worst possible way to create a two-family – one on top of each other.”
Buckles said what he would like is a letter from an architect or certified engineer stating that the building meets all code requirements for a multi-family home.
ZBA member David Arancio pointed out his concern: “The plan doesn’t show a true representation of what’s there [or] the right of way.” A right of way is used for the property, but the deed the homeowner had that night had no mention of it. “I have some concerns that to clean this up, we need to have accurate information … of what’s there, what were actually working with,” said Arancio.
Wrapping things up, Cutler confirmed with Buckles that he would want a letter stating that the building meets the required code, to which he replied, “Yes.”
The board also requested two additional copies of the plans and a copy of the deed to include the right of way.
“And if the architect says everything is OK … then I’m assuming at this point our building department would be satisfied,” said Cutler.
In other matters, the board approved the variance request for Paul Estrella of 79 Bradford Lane for a garage exceeding a 1,000 square-foot floor area to be constructed in the front yard of the property.
Estrella said the one-story garage would be used to store cars and tractors and would not be used for commercial use. There are no plans for water service to the garage, but Estrella may install a woodstove and eventually run electricity to the garage.
The project had already received approval from the Conservation Commission.
With no correspondence for or against and no abutters present with concerns, “I guess the neighbors like you, or don’t care,” said Cutler.
The only advice to Estrella was to watch the overhang so that the building does not encroach the property line and violate the setback.
Conditions of approval include no housing of animals, limited to only one-story, no residential occupancy or commercial use of the garage, and no more than a 1-foot overhang along the perimeter of the garage beyond the plan as drawn.
The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for August 24 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals
By Jean Perry