ZBA declines enforcement appeal on 32 Monomoy Road, denies appeal as moot 4-1

The Zoning Board of Appeals voted on March 13 on an appeal of the building commissioner’s decision declining to enforce zoning against a property at 32 Monomoy Road (the Copley Monomoy LLC property). After extended legal argument, public comment and statements from the building commissioner and town counsel, the board failed to secure the four-vote supermajority required to overturn the building commissioner and instead voted 4–1 to deny the appeal as moot.

The appeal, filed by neighbors and represented at the meeting by attorney Kristen Gagellas of Anderson & Krieger, asked the ZBA to overturn Building Commissioner Paul Murphy’s December 2024 determination that the property’s use did not violate the zoning bylaw. Gagellas told the board the property had been operated year-round as a short-term rental and argued that a dwelling held out for rental 365 days a year cannot be an accessory use to a residential primary use.

Attorney Robert McLaughlin, representing the owner (Copley Monomoy LLC), told the board the owner is marketing the property for sale, said it had not operated as a short-term rental in recent months, and offered to put that promise in writing with an enforcement mechanism. He urged the board to decline to hear the appeal while the related Land Court litigation is pending.

Building Commissioner Paul Murphy told the board he had…