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Town of Dennis Defends Bylaw Interpretation in Appeals Court Over ‘Matured Rights’
Summary
The Appeals Court heard competing interpretations of a 1973 Dennis zoning bylaw grandfathering clause: whether a vacant undersized lot acquired before the amendment retains an everlasting right to build or whether a building permit or use must have been realized to preserve preexisting rights.
The Appeals Court considered whether a 50-year-old Dennis zoning bylaw provision preserves a preexisting right to develop an undersized lot that the town says is now nonconforming.
Tim Burke, representing a trust that owns the lot, argued the bylaw’s grandfathering provision — which says revisions “shall not affect such rights or duties that have matured” — preserves rights that existed on the effective date and that extrinsic evidence from the period supports the trust’s position. Burke told the court…
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