Surfside Crossing Developer Faces Complaint Over Commercial Events At His Home On South Shore Road

The Surfside Crossing development isn’t the only dispute brewing on South Shore Road.

Neighbors of Surfside Crossing 40B developer Jamie Feeley, who owns a residential lot at 59 South Shore Road, have filed a zoning enforcement request with the town, alleging that Feely is utilizing the property for large-scale commercial events in violation of the town’s zoning code.

Those events include several high-profile gatherings in 2024 such as a large wedding in September that was attended by celebrities Beyonce and Jay-Z, as well as a fundraising event in May for Boston sports radio host Greg Hill’s foundation, where the band Barenaked Ladies played for those in attendance.

“It has come to our attention that the property is being used as an event facility,” Boston attorney Kathleen M. Heyer wrote on behalf of her clients, Zachary Way residents Holly and Stephen Visco, whose property is located a short distance away from Feeley’s home. “The commercial use of the property for large-scale events is both contrary to the zoning bylaw and a nuisance to those in the area.”

The original complaint was filed with Nantucket Building Commissioner Paul Murphy, who declined to take any enforcement action and stated the activities described by the Viscos did not violate the town’s zoning bylaw. The Zoning Board of Appeals - the same board that is currently reviewing Feeley’s Surfside Crossing 40B proposal - will hold a hearing on the matter this Thursday at 1 p.m.

In a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals, Heyer also noted that the home is listed as a short-term rental, available for $65,000 per week.

“The Property is marketed for ‘events’ with a ‘commercial-grade catering kitchen with multiple refrigerators and freezers, soft serve ice cream machine, and a commercial range, making it easy to cater for any event’,” Heyer wrote. “The Property includes a full band set-up in the bar/game room with a huge bar, drum set, DJ station, and other clear indicia that, while it includes a structure that is ostensibly a residential dwelling, the Property was designed and is being marketed and used as, a commercial event space.”

For the Viscos, the decision to bring the complaint was not something they took lightly, and the couple said they had never done anything like it before during their three-plus decades of living off South Shore Road.

“It’s something that we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while and we’re mostly concerned with where it’s going based on what we’ve seen, which is a lot of commercial activity in a quiet, residential neighborhood, which is unheard of for South Shore Road,” Holly Visco told the Current. “Most people have lived there for a long time and have been respectful of each other. And all of a sudden there was something different happening."

“We reached out to all the different town departments and asked ‘Is what’s happening here allowable and legal?’ And we couldn’t get any answers,” Visco added. “We’ve lived here for 35 years and it’s very out of the ordinary for South Shore Road. We felt that we didn’t have any other choice. We went through all the right avenues and talked to all the right people and got nowhere.”

Reached by the Current last week, Feeley emphasized that the property is the primary residence for his family, and acknowledged that the wedding attended by Beyonce and Jay-Z was a “live-and-learn experience.” Feeley provided a written statement in response to the Current’s questions about the complaint by his neighbors.

“There is no question that this is our primary residence - it clearly is,” Feeley wrote. “Yes, we have rented our home weekly during the season, as do many other year-round residents. There was one well-documented event, a wedding during one of these one-week rentals that became a live-and-learn experience for us. In the past two and a half years since moving in, we have only selectively rented it for a total of five weeks. Granted, it is a very special and unique five-acre property where we’ve had the privilege to host some fundraising events, but never for money, and always in support of worthy causes. Similarly, we have hosted special occasions for ourselves and our friends in the community as is our right to do, but again, never for money or any type of compensation.”

“The only aspect of our property that is used in a commercial capacity is my wife’s counseling practice that she runs as a sole proprietor, and which serves a critically important service to the community,” Feeley added. “That use is consistent with and protected under the local zoning by-laws."

The dispute over allegedly commercial uses in residential neighborhoods has played out in several other high-profile zoning cases in recent years, including the Ward short-term rental case that is, once again, on appeal to the Massachusetts Land Court.

The Viscos’ attorney specifically mentioned the Ward case in her memo to the ZBA but said the complaint against 59 South Shore Road is most similar to the Lynnfield case, also known as the Styller case. That lawsuit reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2021 after Alexander Styller, the owner of a home in Lynnfield, Mass., appealed a decision by the local building inspector that prohibited him from offering short-term rentals of his home based on the fact it was located in a residential zoning district. After losing at the local Zoning Board and the Land Court, Styller appealed to the SJC, which also ruled to uphold the building commissioner’s decision. The decision stated: “Short-term rental use of a one-family home is inconsistent with the zoning purpose of the single-residence zoning district in which it is situated, i.e., to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood.”

“The courts have repeatedly ruled that the short rentals for the purpose of holding events such as these conflict with the notion of residential uses,” Heyer, the attorney for the Viscos, wrote to the ZBA. “In fact, this situation is remarkably similar to that in Styller v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Lynnfield…The property at issue in that matter was a single-family home in a residential zoning district. The owners lived on the property and rented it out to others for various activities, including large gatherings of people for weddings and other events.”

The Viscos stated that they had also received a letter from Feeley’s attorney alleging that they had filed their complaint due to their objections related to Surfside Crossing, which Feeley is developing with his partner Josh Posner just down the road.

“The property owner thinks we have some vendetta against him because of Surfside Crossing, but the two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other,” Holly Visco said.

Several other neighbors on South Shore Road wrote letters to the ZBA in support of the Viscos’ complaint.

According to the staff memo released ahead of Thursday’s meeting, it would take a “concurring vote of at least four members of the Board of Appeals” to overturn Building Commissioner Paul Murphy’s decision on the request for zoning enforcement.