Crickets From The Zoning Board Of Appeals

To the editor: We are writing today to encourage the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to modernize and humanize the way it communicates with abutters.

In March, the ZBA granted zoning relief to the renovation of a non-conforming, 328 square-foot shed-turned-condo (the size of a large bedroom), on a postage stamp-sized property. The shed is jammed up against five different property lines, with only a two-foot buffer on three sides. The zoning relief allows the owners to dig out a basement, expand the first floor, add a second story, front porch, and window wells. It is a deeply controversial project and out of character for a dwelling in our neighborhood.

The ZBA approved this special permit without input from any neighbors because none of us knew the meeting was taking place. To date, we can confirm that at least 27 neighbors did not receive the abutters notice and, more importantly, we cannot locate anyone who did. However, all 27 of us received the March communication announcing the ZBA’s final decision to approve. What happened to the abutter letters that were supposedly mailed in December? It seems statistically impossible that all were lost in the mail.

More upsetting still is to be told by the ZBA, sorry you didn’t get the letter, but our decision is final and you have no recourse.

Discouraged but undeterred, we wrote to the ZBA board members and spoke during public comment at the May meeting, asking them to please consider re-opening the case and listening to neighborhood voices. We have gotten no response. It seems the inflexible rules and regulations that govern the ZBA leave no room for fixing problems of their own making.

The ZBA relies on snail mail and notices in the newspaper to communicate with abutters. Both have proven to be unsuccessful in reaching neighbors about important decisions that will affect their properties for years to come.

We wonder how many other communications regarding ZBA meetings never reached abutters, depriving homeowners of a seat at the zoning table to voice their concerns? Why not modernize the process and use email and snail mail?

We know the ZBA depends upon neighbors and abutters to help them make informed decisions, and we know they didn’t intentionally cut us out of the process. However, when they use unreliable means of communication, and are implacable about responding and making changes when these operations break down, they risk pitting neighbor against neighbor and neighborhood against the town­—an outcome that none of us want.

Anne and Todd Knutson