A Westport Island neighborhood setback dispute for a proposed home goes before the appeals board on Thursday. In question is the property’s non-conforming size near an abutter.
Abutting landowners Deirdre Dunlop and Dianne Roberts have contested the home’s building permit as being invalid and the building lot size as non-compliant with the current town ordinance that requires a minimum of two acres for either residential or commercial purposes.
In addition, Dunlop has also requested an assessment abatement on her own home she considers unfair.
“I am challenging the value and fairness of the assessment of my house, land, and property at 21 Dewey Lane,” she wrote in an email to selectmen Monday.
Daughter Teresa Dunlop served as spokesperson at the board meeting Monday and said her mother also desires an appointment with town assessors’ agent Eugene Huskins.
The issue surfaced during the citizens’ comment section of the board’s agenda when Teresa asked questions concerning the situation and requested the appointment with Huskins.
Both Deirdre Dunlop and her sister Dianne Roberts have requested the appeals board review and enforce ordinance requirements, including the site plan review ordinance, minimum lot size ordinance, and shoreland zoning ordinance they believe the proposal violates.
They question whether owner George “Chuck” Richardson, III can count the land between the high and low water marks as part of the acreage.
Richardson, III, owns the property in question made up of three parcels, which Dunlop claims do not total two acres, and she has challenged the building permit deputy code enforcement officer Ron Stoodley issued. Stoodley has since admitted he took Huskins’ word on sufficiency of the acreage.
Also, no record exists about combining the lots into one, but the town ordinances do allow for considering adjoining lots as one under the same name, according to M. Ruth Nelson of the planning board.
First Selectman George Richardson said in the past people used to buy small strips of land, enough for a cottage, and family members would buy abutting strips. As long as the strips were under the same name, the town considered them one lot.
Because the board voted two weeks ago to uphold the permit as Chuck Richardson requested, Richardson was able to secure a loan for the construction of his proposed home from a local bank.
Following the board meeting, Teresa Dunlop said there are several issues she and her mother hope the appeals board can resolve Thursday in the municipal building at 6:30 p.m.
Dunlop wonders whether the town rightly considers a section of Jewett Cove Road as a driveway and/or right-of-way only in the section where Richardson plans to build. If it qualifies as a road, the setback from the road must comply with the town ordinances, the Dunlops argue.
“They’re saying it’s a driveway, but I don’t know how you can have a driveway for a commercial fishing wharf,” Teresa said.
Dunlop referred to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) permit for a commercial fishing hoist on the wharf at the property. The Dunlops also wonder how the town can allow both a commercial and residential use on the same acreage and still be compliant with the town ordinances.
The current plans for construction call for a 42-foot setback for the main house and a 30-foot setback from a porch extending beyond the house. Dunlop said, “If it’s legal, we don’t have a problem.”
Dunlop said her mother has tried to get some kind of response from DEP shoreland coordinator Richard Baker but has received no word from him yet. “Baker said such issues should go through the planning board,” she said.
Another issue she feels the town ought to resolve is tree replacement required under shoreland regulations. “I see they are going after other people cutting down trees,” she said.
The Dunlops want to see the same treatment for their property and Richardson’s as other people receive, but contend that has failed to happen so far.
The board also appointed Adam Webber to a three-year team on the shellfish committee.
