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Zoning board denies Oyster Way appeal, finds issue outside its jurisdiction
Summary
The Mashpee Zoning Board of Appeals rejected an abutters' appeal over building permits for 22 and 26 Oyster Way, ruling the board lacked jurisdiction because the frontage question was tied to a 2021 ANR endorsement and an earlier building-commissioner determination; abutters said they learned of the decision only recently.
The Mashpee Zoning Board of Appeals on July 22 denied an appeal from nearby homeowners seeking to block building permits for 22 and 26 Oyster Way, finding the board lacked jurisdiction to revisit a building-office determination and the planning-board ANR endorsement.
Attorney Tanya Trevison, representing the appellants, told the board that the 1973 Sandalwood subdivision plan contains a notation that the Oyster Way lots are not buildable and that River Road is a paper street that cannot provide the 150-foot frontage required under the town zoning bylaw. "River Road is not an actual way and it's not constructed on the ground," Trevison said, arguing the lots therefore lack legal frontage and the permits should be denied. She said her clients did not receive the building commissioner's January 30, 2026 notice and filed the appeal after the building commissioner failed to respond to a written request.
Town counsel materials in the record and a separate letter from a town professional framed the issue differently. The town's position, summarized for the board, said the building commissioner issued a determination on Jan. 30 and that the 2021 ANR endorsement by the Planning Board cannot be relitigated before the ZBA in an enforcement appeal. "Both state law and our zoning bylaws very clearly demonstrate he did not [have a duty to act]," the town summary stated (reading town counsel findings into the record).
Multiple abutters, including Mark Khan and Jeff Tomczyk, told the board they have long believed the lots are unbuildable and that River Road is only a dirt walking path and not adequate for emergency access. John Clark, who said he checked the town's online permit portal repeatedly, said the portal showed the applications as "more information required" and that he had not seen an issued permit online.
Rob Mills, counsel for the property owner/trust, countered that the land-court recorded plan is the plan of record and that the Land Court redraws the plan; those recorded plans, he said, omit the informal notations plaintiffs cited. Mills also pointed to email correspondence he said showed abutters had constructive notice of the building commissioner's handling of the matter.
After questions and discussion, the board adopted a motion to deny appeal AP 2026-29, saying the May 12 request for determination related to frontage on an endorsed ANR plan and therefore was not properly before the building commissioner or the ZBA under General Laws chapter 48 sections 7 and 8 and local bylaw 174-103. The motion carried by voice vote.
