Needham ZBA split over 378 Manning Street permit; unanimous vote required to overturn permit not reached

The Needham Zoning Board of Appeals on a divided vote failed to win the unanimous decision required to overturn a building permit for a proposed reconstruction of a two‑family dwelling at 378 Manning Street.

Neighbors, attorneys representing both sides and the town's building commissioner spent the meeting debating whether the property's two‑family use was abandoned for 24 consecutive months and whether a detached garage must be counted in the site's footprint calculation under the town zoning bylaw.

The outcome hinged on two central questions: whether the house had continuous two‑family occupancy over the record period and how to read the bylaw language that defines footprint. Attorney George Giunta Jr., representing the appellants who challenged the building commissioner's permit, said his clients had found multiple unexplained gaps in occupancy records and continued to "challenge and question whether or not the use of the property for a lawful preexisting . . . two family has been established or whether,…