TOWN OF GORHAM
CORRECTED
BOARD OF APPEALS MINUTES
MAY 15, 2003
The May 15, 2003 regular meeting of the Gorham Board of Appeals was held at the High School Auditorium.
Present: Chairman Mark Stelmack, Board members; Audrey Gerry, Joe Gwozdz, Clinton Pearson and Stephen Scontras. Town Attorney Bill Dale: Code Enforcement Officer Clint Cushman and the Deputy Town Clerk Jennifer Elliott.
Absent: Board members; James Pellerin and David McCullough.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to accept the minutes of the April 17, 2003 meeting as printed and distributed. 5 Yeas.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to take appeal # 03-159 out of order. 5 Yeas.
Appeal # 03-159. The appeal of Harvey Libby requesting a frontage variance of 50 feet on property he owns at the end of Davis Annex (Map 38, lot 2.001), which is in the Suburban Residential District. The applicant was granted a 50-foot frontage variance in December 2002, but failed to recode the Certificate of Approval within the 90 days as required by the Code.
Mr. Harvey Libby spoke on his own behalf and explained that he did not realize the time frame of the 90 days. He went over the appeal for the new Board members and stated that there was no new information.
There was no public comment and the hearing was closed.
The Board discussed the 4 criteria and how this appeal meets all the criteria.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to grant the appeal. 5 Yeas.
The findings of fact as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were Moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Chairman Stelmack stated to the Board that Robert Frazier had called him and was not going to be able to make the meeting. Bill Dale explained that an applicant can have an appeal tabled the next meeting but if they are unable to have that next appeal heard than the applicant must withdraw the appeal and re-file.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to table appeal# 03-157 to the June Meeting. 5 Yeas.
Appeal# 03-153 The appeal of Roger and Margaret Marchand requesting an 11 foot variance to remove an existing 12 foot by 20 foot garage and replace it with a new 16 foot by 28 foot garage on property they own at 150 South Street (Map 104. lot 8) which is in the Urban Residential District.
Roger and Margaret Marchand spoke on their own behalf and explained that the existing garage is useless in its present condition; it has no foundation and is very small. The exisisting garage floor is held up with wooden blocks. They explained that they have explored other options for placement of the garage but because it is a corner lot the replacement of this garage was the only option that could give them the space and ease of use that they have been seeking. They explained that they have been trying to deal with this problem for 26 years and have even thought about moving to alleviate the problem.
There was no public comment and the hearing was closed.
The Board discussed the criteria. They discussed a variance appeal versus a non-conforming structure appeal. The board discussed if there would be a reasonable return on the property if a new garage was not built, and if there would be a major difference in value.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to deny the appeal, as it does not meet all the criteria required. 4 Yeas. 1 Abstained (Gerry)
The findings of facts as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were Moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Appeal# 03-154 The appeal of Dennis Nickerson requesting a permit to remove and replace an existing non-conforming structure, namely a 24 foot by 18 foot garage to be replaced with a 36 foot by 32 foot garage on property he owns at 251 Narragansett Street (Map 35, lot 16.001) which is in the Narragansett Development District and would not encroach further into any required setbacks.
Dennis Nickerson appeared on his own behalf and explained that his house sits very close to the road. The house was built in 1924 and the garage was built approximately 15 years later.
There was no public comment and the hearing was closed.
The Board discussed the special exception standards, and after going through all 6 criteria they decided it met all the criteria.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to grant the appeal, as it met all the criteria. 5 Yeas.
The findings of facts as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were Moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Appeal # 03-155 the appeal of Janice McLaughlin requesting permission to replace and expand a non-conforming structure without further encroaching into required setbacks. The applicant also seeks an 8% variance from the 30% expansion allowed which would allow the new structure to be 38% larger than the existing structure on property she owns at Camp Road #2 (Map 73, lot 7) which is in the Residential/Manufactured Housing/Shore land Zone.
Janice McLaughlin spoke on her own behalf and explained that she would like to tear down the existing camp and build a log cabin and the new cabin would be 8% larger. She explained that she couldnThere was no public comment and the hearing was closed.
The Board discussed the special exception standards. They also discussed the variance criteria and that the applicant was asking for a 27% increase over what is allowed by the Code.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to deny the 38% variance request. As it did not meet the required criteria. 5 Yeas.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to Grant the expansion and replacement of the non-conforming structure. 5 Yeas.
The findings of fact as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Appeal# 03-156 The Appeal of Todd and Renee Greatorex requesting a 7 foot rear variance to construct a 24 foot by 30 foot garage on property they own at 28 Hidden Pines Drive (Map 30, lot 9.006) which is in the Urban Residential District.
Renee Greatorex spoke on her own behalf and explained that due mostly to the slope of her driveway, they need to set the garage back. She passed out photos of her driveway and rear yard to the Board members. The cost of fixing the slope problem and moving the power connection would be too costly for them. There was no public comment and the hearing was closed.
The Code Enforcement Officer stated that this was a rear variance, not a side yard variance, which had been stated in the agenda.
The Board discussed the fact that the applicant would be willing to drop 4 feet in the variance, from a 7-foot to a 3-foot variance. They went over the criteria for this appeal.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to deny the 7-foot variance and approve a 3-foot rear variance. 5 Yeas.
The findings of fact as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were Moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Appeal# 03-158 The appeal of George Kando requesting a 10, 000 square foot variance to convert an existing vacant storefront to a fourth apartment within this building, located at 828 Gray Road, Owned by Rhonda Haley (Map 111, lot 85) which is in the Village Commercial District. The Code requires 10, 000 square feet of lot per apartment and this lot size is about 9100 square feet in area.
George Kando spoke on his own behalf and explained that he has this property under contract and would be living in this apartment. The bank will not approve the sale unless this is an apartment. He stated that it would be an easy conversion with no sewer or parking issues.
The public hearing was opened and Mr. Haley spoke and explained that the storefront has been vacant for over 9 months and it has been almost impossible to attract business to this area. The applicant passed out a proposed floor plan to the Board. Wayne St.Ours spoke on behalf of the applicant stating that it is very hard for patrons to park on that part of Gray Road and that there is a real need for housing in this area.
There were no further public comments and the hearing was closed.
The Board discussed that this was very big variance.
The Code Enforcement Officer explained that the other 3 apartments were grand- fathered. They discussed if it became an apartment could it be turned back to a commercial use and the Code Enforcement Officer explained that with site plan reviews and routine processes it should not be an issue.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to grant the appeal as it meets the criteria. 5 Yeas.
The findings of facts as read aloud by the Code Enforcement Officer were Moved, Seconded and VOTED. 5 Yeas.
Moved, Seconded and VOTED to adjourn. 5 Yeas.
Time of adjournment 9:05 pm.
A TRUE RECORD OF MEETING
Attest:
Jennifer Elliott, Deputy Clerk
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