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Longtime resident says Highland Lane rebuild and parking plans will ‘change the neighborhood for 100 years’
Summary
During the Board of Appeals hearing, resident and licensed Title 5 inspector Luther ("Luke") Grant urged the board to consider a 2005 Board of Health deed restriction and raised septic, site‑coverage and staging concerns about the proposed two‑story rebuild at 5 Highland Lane; the board recorded his materials and noted Board of Health jurisdiction for septic issues.
Luther Grant, who said he has lived in the neighborhood for decades and identified himself as a licensed builder and Title 5 septic inspector, told the Howard Board of Appeals on July 9 that the application for 5 Highland Lane contains errors and would materially change the neighborhood.
"This is 0.09 [acres]," Grant said of the lot-area figures on the applicant’s site plan, arguing the plan’s listing of 0.99 acres was a typographical error that could mislead lay readers. He also said a recorded Board of Health deed restriction from 2005 limits the dwelling to 1,174 square feet and three bedrooms, and he urged the board to include that decision and related drawings in the hearing record.
Attorney Michael Donovan, representing the applicant, and the board responded that the Zoning Board of Appeals does not enforce Board of Health deed restrictions; Donovan confirmed the applicants plan to seek a Board of Health variance in August. Chair Brian Sullivan said the board would note the material in the record. "It was discussed in the meeting," Sullivan said as the board agreed to include the earlier health‑department decision in the hearing documents.
Grant pressed technical concerns as well: he called for clarification on dry‑well locations relative to septic setbacks; he noted the application proposes an increase in site coverage from 42.9% to 55.6% and said that scale—together with a proposed roughly 2,400‑square‑foot house—would double the size of typical renovated cottages on nearby streets.
Contractor and applicant representatives told the board they plan to stage demolition off‑season, to use smaller containers and to coordinate with neighbors so dumpsters and trucks can be moved quickly if egress is needed. "We'd bring a dumpster in, fill it and take it right out of there," one representative said, adding that a house that size could be removed in around two days with smaller containers.
The board stressed that septic design and any deed‑restriction enforcement are Board of Health responsibilities; the record will note Grant’s submission and the applicant’s plan to proceed with health‑department permitting. The board granted the special permit for 5 Highland Lane with conditions requiring, for the life of the project, that construction vehicles be parked on the applicant’s property when possible and that egress along public or private rights‑of‑way not be blocked (with a limited exception allowing temporary use of Wallace Road).
