Mr. Bliss opened the meeting at 7:43pm.

 

Mr. Major wanted to go on record that he had spoken with Mrs. Ryan about her property and although he had some knowledge about the matter here tonight their discussions did not revolve around that. He said if anyone objected to him sitting through the hearing that he would recuse himself. There was no objection and the hearing proceeded.

 

Mr. Ryan said that their house was placed 40 feet from its original site. Not realizing they went forward with the building of the house. As a result the garage area which is on the south side of the house and abuts the Lynch property is short on set back space. Instead of having a ten foot setback which is code they are asking for a four foot setback. There have been other issues for example, the septic system was partially placed on the Lynch’s property.

 

Mr. Miller asked how they could have put the septic system on the neighbor’s property. Mr. Ryan said that the house was started in April 2005 and the original builder turned out to be a crook and got an excavator off the street. The excavator assured them they were doing it of the site plan. Mrs. Ryan said the general contractor stole their money and was absent.

 

Mr. Major asked if they had looked at the possibility of doing a property swap with the Lynch’s. Mrs. Ryan said that they had approached them and they would have nothing to do with them. Mr. Major asked how significant of an impact it would be to have a four foot setback as opposed to a two foot setback. Mr. Conte said the basic standards for a turnaround is a 28 feet minimum from the garage door out. Mr. Major said that in his recollection that they have never done a waiver down to two feet.  He wanted to know the minimum.

 

Mr. Major asked Mr. Conte the reasonable width of a planting bed that could sustain a hemlock or some other evergreen tree. Mr. Conte said that they have gone down no less than five feet.

 

Mr. George Guidera, Attorney who represents Diane Lynch and Curtis Morikawa said that the setback was in the neighborhood of 33 feet and is asking for a variance of 8 feet to the side line.  He said he is left with 25 feet and is 25 feet enough for backing.  Mr. Guidera said the width is considerable wider than 33 feet, he said it is probably 75 feet. He said they want to make it 33 feet and they contend that 25 feet will do it. They also contend that they can make the driveway wider and the house is cocked so to have that space come this close in this area.

 

Mr. Guidera said if you came in to P&Z today and asked for a neighborhood parking plan your parking plan would require you to have 25 feet of backup space to the next row of cars. Mr. Guidera said he does not need the extra 8 feet. He said what he wants is more space than is provided for in a shopping center parking lot. Mr. Guidera said that they felt 25 feet is enough, they do not need more than 25 feet. There is a limit, taking into account, balancing the needs and the desires of the neighbors in that particular neighborhood. He asked the Selectmen to deny this and let them work with their 25 feet setback.

 

Diane Lynch said that she and her family are the ones that have been victimized in the development of the property. The Ryan’s have destroyed matured trees and plantings on her property by installing a septic tank and leaching fields. They have damaged other mature trees on her property, some of which will die according to the arborist who have surveyed the damage. They have placed stock piles, boulders and debris on her property and have constructed a portion of their driveway on her property. She said she hopes that they were not naïve in assuming that there rights would be protected as defined in the Towns rules and regulations, and that they could expect the rules and regulations would be enforced and upheld. There is no reason to permit any variance in this instance.

 

Diane Lynch said that the Ryan’s chose to ignore Mr. Turner, Weston’s Code Enforcement Officer when he advised them ten months ago that they were violating Town regulations.  She said they had enough time to relocate the opening to the garages so as to comply with Town regulations.

 

At 8.27pm Mr. Major made a motion to close the hearing. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted

Judy M. DeVito

Administrative Assistant

Approved 6/07/07