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MARSHFIELD
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD
Approved Minutes of
August 3, 2006
Board Members present: James Arisman and Tom Daley. Also
attending: Planning Commission member Jean Matthew,
Zoning Administrator Bob Light, Trevor Tait, and Ron
Devincenzi.
At 7:10 pm DRB clerk Tom Daley reported to acting Chair
James Arisman that Jean Matthew would be sitting as a
DRB alternate for the next several meetings, serving in
the absence of Gary Wilson.
The Board then held an initial meeting with
Trevor Tait,
who has submitted a new
Subdivision application for property he owns with
Ellen Cooke on Ennis Hill Road. He wishes to convey a small piece of
land to the smaller adjacent parcel that serves as
Ellen’s home lot. An accessory building has been erected
on Ellen’s lot, without benefit of a Zoning Permit, that
is closer to the property line than is allowed under
Marshfield’s Zoning Regulations. The purpose of this
Subdivision proposal is to bring Ellen’s lot back into
compliance with the Regulations.
After looking over Trevor’s application, the
Board felt that his proposal qualifies as a boundary
adjustment which, under Section 2010(E) of the
Subdivision bylaws, can proceed directly to Final
Hearing without the necessity of a Sketch Plan
determination. Final Hearing is tentatively set for
Thursday,
September 7, 2006 at 7:15 pm. The Board reminded Trevor of his obligation to notify each
adjoining landowner of this hearing, and to post notice
of the hearing along the public road. They also
requested that the final survey plan he submits show the
setback distances from the proposed new boundary line to
the closest existing structures.
At 7:30 pm the Board heard from
Ron Devincenzi,
who is preparing a
Subdivision application for his property along Route 2. He wishes to
convey the portion of the property that lies on the
opposite side of the road from his home. Discussion
followed with the Board and Zoning Administrator Bob
Light regarding his alternatives, the basic dimensional
criteria for building lots under the Zoning Regulations,
and the steps involved in the Subdivision hearing
process. Realizing he will need the results of his
pending land survey before he can properly evaluate his
options and proceed to a permit hearing, Ron elected to
hold back his application for now. When he’s ready, he
will submit the application to the Town Clerk, who will
distribute copies to the Board members.
At 8:00 pm the Board discussed with Bob the question of
how best to treat properties which are divided by a
public road — specifically, whether Marshfield should
continue to require Subdivision permit approval when
landowners want to convey all of the property on one
side or the other of that Right-of-Way. Since he has
received an opinion from Town Attorney Paul Gillies that
indicated this was not advisable, Bob would like the
Board to re-examine its position and advise him how they
would like to treat these cases from here on. James
agreed that the existing difference of opinion on this
issue puts Bob in a difficult position. The Board will
confer on this matter, review the court cases cited in
Paul’s memo, and share their conclusions with Bob at the
first opportunity.
Brief discussion then followed about the boundaries of
the Zoning Districts in various parts of town. At 8:30
James moved to adjourn the DRB meeting. Seconded by
Jean, all in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Daley |