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Zoning board grants rehearing for Chesley Hill farm application
Summary
The Rochester Zoning Board voted to rehear an application by Brooke Horton for a special exception to allow a farm at 104 Chesley Hill Road after a member said the original filing appeared incomplete and that board discussion after a motion may have affected the vote.
The Rochester Zoning Board voted on a motion to rehear an application by Brooke Horton seeking a special exception to permit a farm at 104 Chesley Hill Road (Map 246, Lot 25).
Lance Powers, Zoning Board member, moved to rehear the case, saying the original filing appeared incomplete and that the board discussed case-specific details after a motion had been made and seconded. "I believe this was an incomplete application," Powers said, and he added that post-motion discussion on case specifics may have changed members' votes. Another member seconded the motion and the board took a roll-call vote to rehear the matter.
The rehearing will return the case to the board's public process so the applicant may address the items identified as missing and the members may re-examine the application without the procedural concern Powers described. The board characterized the rehearing request as a procedural reconsideration rather than a new substantive determination; no additional evidence or decision on the merits was recorded at the meeting.
The rehearing request was considered a procedural, non-public-hearing agenda item. The filing being reheard was listed on the agenda as case Z24-61: Brooke Horton, special exception from Table 18(e) and Section 22.3(e) to permit a farm in the I-1 zone; the property address was listed as 104 Chesley Hill Road, Map 246, Lot 25, in the Residential 1 zone. The transcript records board members voting on the rehear motion by roll call; individual votes in the transcript include James Connor, Randy LaValley, Susan Pastor and Lance Powers recorded as voting yes, and at least one member recorded as voting no. The board chair called for the rehearing by roll call and the motion carried.
No timetable for the rehearing was announced during the meeting. The rehearing restores the public portion of the process for Z24-61 so abutters and the applicant may present testimony at the rehearing date.
The board noted that rehearing a case does not itself decide the merits of the underlying special-exception request; it only reopens the application for further presentation and deliberation.
