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Woburn ZBA continues Milligan Road addition request after survey questions
Summary
The Zoning Board continued Scott Hamilton’s petition to August 14 after members said plot plans and aerial images conflicted over an existing porch and stairs and asked for an updated as‑built survey to determine whether relief should be by special permit or variance.
Scott Hamilton asked the Woburn Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday to continue his petition for a special permit and variances to build a rear addition and deck at 1 Milligan Road so he could provide an updated survey showing the existing porch and stairs.
Hamilton told the board the lot is irregularly shaped and that site conditions — including slope and proximity to wetlands — limit where he can expand. He said the proposed addition would bring a corner of the house to about 33.5 feet from a wetland buffer and that one side yard currently measures roughly 11.3–11.9 feet while the other is already nonconforming.
Board members pressed Hamilton on whether the existing enclosed three‑season porch and exterior stairs are shown correctly on the certified plot plan. The chair said the precise as‑built measurement determines whether the project may proceed under a special permit to extend an existing nonconformity or whether it requires a variance to create a new one. "I would not vote in favor of a variance" absent a hardship tied to the real estate, the chair said during the hearing.
Neighbors who spoke at the meeting offered mixed input. Carol Mahalbert, whose family previously owned the property, told the board she and relatives were "very, very, very pleased with what Scott has done keeping up the house." An adjacent owner, Alberta Wong Marshall of 1 Ellen Road, testified she had not seen the plans before the meeting but expressed no objection after viewing the drawing on screen.
Given discrepancies the board identified between the aerial imagery and the certified plan — particularly where the stairs sit relative to the house — members asked Hamilton to produce an as‑is overlay from his surveyor showing the current footprint and the proposed work. Hamilton requested a continuance and the board voted to continue the matter to its August 14 meeting to allow the applicant time to supply corrected documentation.
The board asked that the updated materials be submitted as soon as possible so staff and members could review them ahead of the next hearing.
