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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-07-10BOARD OF APPEALS HEARINGS IJuly 10, 1975 A regular meeting of the Lexington Board of Appeals was held on Thursday, July 10, 1975 at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room of the Town Office Building. Present were three regular and two associate members: Chairman D. E. Nickerson, Ruth Morey, W. Brodhead, all regular members; Irving Mabee and Haskell W. Reed, associate members. Also present were a room full of towns- people and a Minute -Man reporter in addition to petitioners and/or their attorneys. Public open hearings were held on the following petitions, notice having been mailed as required by law to abutters, etc. and to town boards and officials. Notices were published in the Lexington Minute -Man newspaper as required. See permits and denials for more information on all those listed below. Loring M. Thompson and Pearl E. Thompson - variance to maintain an existing dwelling at 5 Middle Street with a front yard of 24 ft. instead of the required 30 ft. Robert DeVenezio - special permit under Section 30 to maintain the existing house at 53 Taft Avenue with a frontyard setback of 13 ft. instead of the re- quired 30 ft. and to replace an old deck with a new deck with a frontyard set- back of 28 ft. instead of the required 30 ft. John Cupp - variance of Section 27 to build a garage at 135 Woburn Street with a side yard of 4 ft. instead of the required 15 ft. Harry B. Dunn - variance from provisions of Sections 26 and 27 so as to allow for construction of a single-family home on a lot containing 30,063 sq. ft., said lot being located at the end of Third Street and having frontage on Third Street, of approximately 40 ft. The applicant is the owner of the property. Varian Associates, Vacuum Division Lexington - special permit, Section 25.84, to operate a vending food service for the convenience of employees in the building at 121 Hartwell Avenue. Vending service is available to all employees during normal working hours, 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. five days a week. A hot meal is served at lunch time only. The food is prepared outside of the plant and delivered in containers and then placed on a steam table for serving. The hot food is served five days a week. Following the hearings the Board made the following decisions, all in open public meeting: Thompson - granted unanimously, DeVenezio - granted unanimously, Cupp - denied unanimously, Dunn - granted unanimously, with certain conditions, Varian - granted unanimously, with certain conditions. All pertinent material is on file in the Board of Appeals' office. Other business: "To compensate for the fact that the Board of Appeals must by law notify not only abutters of properties covered by petitions for hearings, but also abutters of abutters causing geometrically increased numbers of people to be noti- fied before the hearings and advised of the decisions after the hearings it becomes necessary to charge the sum of 75 cents for each notification over the number of 20. This charge is influenced by the large increase in postal costs. Example: If 40 July 10, 1975 (continued) -2 abutters and abutters of abutters must be notified, the regular fee will be charged plus 20 x 75 cents or $15 for the notifications over 20." (D.E.N. quote) Action on above: Fees for mailing to abutters, etc. approved by Board. The statement above will be submitted to Town Counsel. Petitioner D. M. Gill, 66 Spring St. (see June 19, 1975) made the following request by letter. A copy of the letter below. July 8, 1975 Dear Mr. Nickerson, I had supposed, perhaps too innocently, that there would be no problem over my appeal to maintain my garage too close to the lot line, for the town has clearly 'allowed' the garage to remain in place for nearly 30 years. The vote to deny seems to have placed me in a worse position than if I had not appealed, for it may make it more difficult to convince a potential buyer that the garage is not at risk: the precise reverse of my intentions. I understand from our telephone conversation, and from the report in the Minute- man of the board's deliberations, that it was in no way your intention to make diffi- culties for me. This, however, does not come over in the notice of your decision. I wonder, therefore, if you would be prepared to give me some document, possibly a letter, which explained your meaning more fully? I would be particularly grateful if you could find words forceful enough to convince a purchaser, his lawyer and his bank, that there is no substantial risk of my garage being ordered removed and that the town is content to have it remain standing indefinitely. I thank you, /s/ D. Michael Gill Formal action re. letter to D.M. Gill was put off until the next scheduled hearing night, July 24, 1975, when hopefully regular members would be in attendance. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. 1 Respectfully submitted, Evelyn F. Cole, Secretary/Clerk