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ZBA grants use variance for cabinet manufacturing at Penrook Road property after split deliberations
Summary
After divided deliberations over original rezonings and whether the property was an anomaly, the board granted a use variance allowing Top-Notch Cabinetry to operate an internal cabinet-manufacturing business at 70 Penrook Road, finding the use would be internal, low-impact and consistent with the property's industrial pattern.
The Conquered Zoning Board granted a use variance allowing Top-Notch Cabinetry to manufacture cabinets in an existing building at 70 Penrook Road in the Opportunity Corridor performance district. Applicant representatives said the operation will be internal (no public sales or regular customer visits), will run weekdays with dust mitigation and limited noise, and would have been allowed prior to a 2019 rezoning.
Matt Johnson, representing the applicant, told the board the space is about 6,500 square feet in a million-square-foot complex used for mixed light-industrial, storage and nonconforming commercial uses. The applicant said prior variances (including an automotive repair variance in 2018) and the property’s configuration make the requested relief reasonable.
Board members were split. Some emphasized that the 2019 rezoning sought to encourage residential redevelopment and that allowing new industrial uses undermines that policy; others said the building is a longstanding, unique case where industrial tenants already cluster and that denying the variance would unfairly penalize an applicant who contracted for a lease under existing physical conditions. The board recorded an initial 4–1 vote to deny but then subsequently recorded a 4–1 vote to grant the variance; the final recorded outcome is that the variance was granted and the applicant may proceed to permitting.
