Zoning board allows installed generator at 8165 Henry to remain with permits and inspections
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Summary
The Huntington Woods Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance Nov. 10 allowing a whole-house generator already installed at 8165 Henry to remain, conditioned on obtaining mechanical, electrical and building permits and passing inspections after staff confirmed the lot’s configuration left few practical alternatives.
The Huntington Woods Zoning Board of Appeals voted Nov. 10 to grant a variance allowing a whole-house generator installed at 8165 Henry to remain, subject to required mechanical, electrical and building permits and prescribed inspections, including a gas-pressure test.
Applicant Todd Johnson told the board the generator had been placed after confusion about which street is the legal front of the lot; staff advised the lot is platted off Wareham even though the house faces Henry, which makes the Wareham side the technical front yard. Planning staff Hank told the board the contractors were advised not to install the unit in the front yard and that the generator was installed without permits and without a gas-pressure test: "...it's already put in, installed, and running without a gas pressure test or any of those things."
Hank and other staff said that despite the permitting missteps, the installed location is one of the limited practical places on the property that would meet setback and window-clearance rules (mechanical-code rules prohibit placing generators within 5 feet of an openable window or intake). Staff recommended the board consider the spatial variance while also noting administrative enforcement steps would follow if necessary.
Board discussion weighed two factors: the board’s obligation to apply the ordinance standards and the practical constraints created by the historic lot and house orientation. One board member said the situation was "disconcerting" because the applicants proceeded without permits, but nevertheless moved to approve the variance because, in the member’s view, the lot’s configuration likely left no compliant alternative location.
A motion to grant the appeal was made and seconded; the board approved the variance and attached a condition requiring the applicant to obtain all appropriate permits and to complete the prescribed inspections before final acceptance of the installation.
The board also recorded that routine permitting steps — electrical, mechanical and building inspections and the required gas-pressure test — remain enforceable, and that any future code noncompliance would be handled through the city’s inspection and enforcement process.
