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ZBA separates porch request from larger site‑plan violations at 37 Hall Street; continues matter to June
Summary
Owners of 37 Hall Street sought to regularize a covered porch and a widened paved area; the board required corrective site plans and engineering/DPW review, then continued the larger compliance and paving issues to a June meeting.
The Zoning Board of Appeals on April 27 split a contested application at 37 Hall Street into two parts: it treated the covered‑porch request as a discrete, modest matter while deferring resolution of wide‑ranging paving, parking and encroachment concerns until applicants deliver corrective site plans and counsel is engaged.
Representatives for SAO Family Trust described multiple objectives: regularize a covered entry that replaced a failed stoop and to address chronic drainage and erosion that had limited parking access. Counsel said the owners consulted with DPW staff and argued the emergency pavement improved access and safety. “We were talking to Travis [DPW]… we put stakes in, and then he came back and said, well, look… we don't have funding until July of next year,” one applicant representative said, explaining why they completed the paving.
Board members and staff said ad hoc consultations do not substitute for permits. Mr. Foley and other staff flagged multiple zoning infractions: the site’s driveway openings exceed zoning‑allowed widths for the district, paving extends onto town property, and some hardscape sits in required vegetated buffers. Conservation and engineering staff had already required partial removal of patio pavers within the 50‑foot wetland buffer.
The board asked the applicants to produce a corrective site plan showing proposed restoration, a plan for lawful driveway/curb cuts with DPW, and any mitigation required by Natural Resources. The chair suggested one final continuance: the board continued the larger 37 Hall matter to the June 20 meeting to allow the applicants to engage counsel, deliver stamped plans, and coordinate with DPW and engineering. The board warned that continued noncompliance could jeopardize issuance of certificates of occupancy or lead to enforcement steps.
