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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1965-08-31BOARD OF APPEALS HEARINGS August 31, 1965 A regular meeting of the Lexington Board of Appeals was held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building, on Tuesday, August 31, 1965. Present were Chairman Nickerson, Members Abbott, Hoyt, Ripley and Wadsworth. At 7:30 p.m. the following hearings were declared open: Chester T. Cook - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to allay his dwelling U 26 Wyman Rd., Lexington, to remain with one corner of same 26 ft. from Wyman Rd. instead of the 30 ft. required. Mrs. Rabb Schontag - for permission to continue operation of a kindergarten five days a week at her home 296 Woburn St. Vincent McCarthy- to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to erect a single m dwelling at XU Bow St. with a 94back of 20 ft. instead of the required 30 ft. Norman McGinnis - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to erect an addlTrRn 7a37 Normandy Road which would result in a 20 ft. setback Instead of the required 30 ft. Irwin I. Shairo - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to permit e structure located at 17 Lantern Lane to remain as is having a side yard of 13 ft. instead of 15 ft. Yale Altman - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to add a carpor�ex sting house at 10 Marshall Rd. which would have an 18 ft setback instead of the required 30 ft. Patricia J. Garrity - for permission to operate a nursery and kin- dergarten from 9 to a.m. and 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. for 15-20 children at 21 Butler Avenue, Lexington, known as the Arlex Nursery and Kinder- garten. John H. Milliken - to continue retail sale of nursery stock and allied p`roTuc s a ancock Street, and also to sell Christmas trees, wreaths, etc. from December 10 to December 24, inglusive. At the close of the hearings an executive session was held during which the following decisions were reached: Chester T. Cook - granted Mrs. Ralph Schontag - granted Vincent McCarthy - granted with a setback of 21 ft. instead of the requested 20 ft. Norm McGinnis - denied Irwin I. Shapiro - granted Yale Alun - granted Patricia J. Garrity - granted with the following conditions: 1. That not more than 10 children shall be in attendance at any oris time. ' 2. That an assistant shall be employed if more than 6 children are in regular attendance. 3. That no portion of the basement shall be used for the children attend- ing the school. 4. That the children shall be properly supervised at all times. 5. That the premises shall be kept in a neat and orderly condition at all times. 6. That the play area shall be enclosed by a fence. 7. That this Permit shall expire August 319, 1966. John H. Millicent - granted with the following conditions: 1. To continue retail sales of mrsery stock only of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees and similar products of the soil, and, in connection with the sale of such products, such fungicides, insectivides, chemicals, peat moss, humus, mulches and fertilizers as are intended to be used in preserving the life and health of the products sold. 2. No articles other than those included in the prior paragraph shall be sold on the premises (the term "premises" includes all land and buildings at 93.Hancock Street) and no part.of the present parking area shall be used for sales purposes. 3. Retail sales shall not be made before 7:00 a.m. nor after 9:00 p.m. on any day and none shall be made on Sundays. 4. The premises shall not be unduly.lighted at night. 5. The Board reserves the right to add further terms and limitations from time to time if it determines that such are necessary in the public in- terest. ' 6. The permission here given to use the addition for purposes of retail sales, limited as above, shall expire on September 15, 1966, subject to the right of the Board to extend the permission from time to time. With reference to Paragraph 5 listed above, ,upon advice from the build- ing inspector the sale of the following items is apecifically prohibited: garden tools, equipment for the applying of plant food, lime, insecti- cides, garden hose, sprinklers, and various wooden and china planters. Permission is granted for the sale of Christmas trees, wreaths, etc. from December 10 through December 24, 1965. All pertinent material in regard to above hearings is on file in each individual folder. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 p.m. Louise M. Macomber, Clerk J D August 31, 1965 Nickarsou: "This is not the first time this'has come before us. I think we originally granted this petition several years ago, then recently at the time of the last hearing there was considerable dis- cussion of what should be sold or net sold on the premises. We made several approval conditions - there are seven in number. Nickerson: I think it would be proper to read them because subsequent to the issuing of these conditions Mr. Millican's son came to my home and wanted to know if he could have several of them removed and I told his not withoutanother hearing. If there are ary conditions YOU don't subscribe to we want to hear from you tonight. (Read conditions.) I have read these in detail.. Is there any reason why we should not impose these same restrictions? Mr. Millican: We have complied as best we can. Itis pretty darn hard to do everything. I would like the Board to know why I have 'to talk this way. We are certainly not trying to cause any trouble and we know the Board doesn't want to pat us out of business. This horticultural business is one in which people demand things you would never dream of. For example, all day long, just today, an especially busy day, people came up with plants. "I don't like this pot, put it in a white one to match my decor - I can't put this in the living room." "Will you put. this in a jardinerre?" If we don't do this pretty soon I am not going to have any business, because they are going where they can get this. There is nothing I can do about it. Either we are allowed to carry these very important things to keep with the trend or we are just.going to have to quit. Nobody ever comes miles and miles to buy a dish. We say we put plants in them - that is what they are for. .We sell a tre- mendous amount of pots light, white, green, speckled - all kinds of pots. We don't know what they want so we have to carry some of each and we can't just carry two or three - depends on what is the most popular. So we guess and we have to have them. Either we have them or we can't stay in business. Nickerson: I haven't mentioned pottery. You ]now what we are talking about- we are talking about hardware and tools and things like that that compete with our stores and things that are sold in a commercial district. Milliken: Tools - a lady came up last fall and said, "I want to put in some bulbs." "©.K." "I have no way of planting thein." "I have a epee- ial bulb tool" and you can't get thew anyplace but in a garden shop. «I ' can't use that tool because I can't get dawn." sWe have one with a long handle." We have them in our stock because they.belong in our Center. Nickerebw You are not going to be put out of business but you are Millican 8-31-65 -2- going to subscribe to the rules and regulations, and hardware and tools ' we are going to harp on. Yon come in here for permission to sell plant insecticides and so you have to sell pottery. As long as you talk about hardware and tools you are going to have trouble with this Board. You have never had any trouble. Mrs. Irwiln has go -no to your place and has he ever told you ;yon can't sell pottery? Millican: At the time Mr. Irwin was there a man came up with a $24.90 plant. He wanted it In this great big pot. We asked Mr. Irwin if we were allowed to sell this pot and he said "no,"the man said "what kind of a town is this?" Nickerson: _These people that write in very excited from the garden clubs of Concord, Natick, etc. are all very glad to come to Lexington and deal .in your place which is a very lovely place. Unfortunately for you, it is zoned as residential. We wantyou to operate on the fullest extent as long as you sell things that you are allowed to sell and dont compete with the stores.that are paying higher taxes in_, business zones. You remember a few years ago where I referred to your tables where you had all kinds of tools and cutlery. I said this could not be an essential of your business.. It is not going to put you out of business if you don't sell this kind of thing and you told me it. was very unessential. Referring to fertilizer, you said you had to,have a spreader. Millican: If I sell 65 bags of fertilizer he has to have a spreader. ' If he can't get a spreader he walks right out-without.the fertilizer. Nickerson: You are running a great big business in a residential. area. We are going to keep the business down to what is permitted in such an area and that is why we want you to .conform., Millicant How marry things? Dickerson: I told you if you have anything to discuss that is what we are here for. When you get through and I get through I am going to. ask the other members if they have any questions. Tou,bave discussed pots and pottery, we have discussed hardware. Millican: One line might seem unimportant - twistems. We say 50% re- quire twistems -.they keep the plant tied up straight.They are Pot listed there. It is very important. All these little things are -so closely related to business. Nickerson: That is why your son came to my house to get them removedl Millican: I promise I won't buy any more shovels. Nickerson: How manor have youin stock? Millican: I have about 2 shovels, s rakes, 1/2 doz. spreaders. I ' think I should have a little time to get my money back on them. Millican Aug. 31, 1%5 -3- ' Nickerson: I don't want the Board of Appeals -to be depicted to your three to four thousand visitors as trying to put you out of business. Yom, say you have 2 shovels, 4 rakes. Millican: I will take thein out. I have said I will not buy any more shovels or rakes. One thing I would like to be allowed is spreaders for the fertiliser to put stuff on with. Everybody doesn't have a spreader. Nickerson: I don't have any trouble getting one, Maybe you are the cause of the hardware stores going out of business in, the Center? I want to discuss just as fully as you want to - anything you want to object to. Millican- I was talking pottery you were talking garden tools. The way we interpret it it stipulates what you are supposed to have and doesn't mention pottery which we want. Oar interpretation is we can sell only what you mention. Nickerson: You said you want to sell pottery. What else? Millican: Little things that are important. One man comes in and says he's going to plant a'garden and he wants this and that - trees, rosebushes. Another is going to pat in a rock garden. Another says he wants a nice walk, so we have to have pebbles, ground bark, etc. to keep the sale and to do this job right and to do a complete job. Nickerson: Are you familiar with the decision that was made in the torn of Newton? Millican: No. Nickerson: Well you should be because it is the decision of what nurseries can sell and can do. If you are a contractor who is going out and -create rock gardens and rose gardens and things like that you are in as entirely different business than providing materials grown on your property. This fellow was prevented from doing two things. You have no right to run a contracting business. You have no right to run that type of business from a residential area. . Millican: The man buys these things. We don't do the job - we sell him the things. He buys the stone and then he gets a man. I have never planted anything for anybody. We don't go out and do it. We hover have gone. We have a man we send out. Nickerson: You tell me you have a man who goes out and plants. Millicau: We have a man who will go out and do the job. It is not my maa. 41e doesn't wort for me. The man doesn't pay me for the job. I don't pay the man. There is one fellow up the street who does it for me. He is not paid to do it by me. Nickerson: If you sell a customer a lot of material that is to be made Millican 8/31/65 -b- into a rock garden or a garden of some type - you tell the man to go out and do it. -,I dont see what you are . . . . ' Millican: Tato or three men around town who do landscaping.. When W - body wants things planted we tell them to get these people and they do the work. Nickerson: If you are going to sell all these.materials all you do is have a man put them together and you are approximately doing a laud- . seeping business. I would advise you to sell these materials and let your -man carry on. from there. if they -want tiles or crashed stone let them get it. Yon have quite a display of bird supplies - bird seed, bird houses - it is a Garden Center business. Is it material raised on the premises? You had.wshing wells, you had all these things. I guess you.have dis- posed of.the garden statuary. Millicent We have disposed of them. Nickerson- When you talk about birdhouses and bird seed we.camot feel you. need these things. Milliean: We are not allowed to ran a Garden Center? Nickersoat Are you in a commercial zone? There were miles and regula- tions when you set up. Millican: I bought my first place in 1923 - believe me, I have been in the same business ever since I came to Lexington. We were the first to put gardening in the Woolworth stores. We had thousands and thous- ands of all kinds of planters - we had plants in everything. We sold- wholesale and retail. We are doing the same thing we did all along. Can't. see why all of a sudden . . . Uckersonr When :you ran your wholesale business. you didn't,have,the general public up there in dozens of automobiles. We will get away from what you did before the rules and regulations because we have estab- lished the fact that this operation was started after we had rules and regulations. As to the point at issue, I have answered your point as to birdhouses, bird seed and the things that go with it. You certain- ly don't ertainly.don't raise your bird seed - it.is certainly not connected with horti- culture. Millican: In garden centers yon have -these items. Nickerson. You are not supposed to be operating a garden center. ' Millican: On vegetables - isn't there a ruling where they are allowed to bay •50% of produce - oranges, lemons, etc. they dont raise an the farm? We thought we might be able to do the same thing. ' Nickerson: Town Meeting Members might have said it included you but they didn't. Millican 8/31/65 -5- Millican: Why can't we be allowed to have little extras? ' NickersonrWhat have you beyond bird cages and bird seed? Millicanr Nothing very important. Abbott.- I think when the zoning by-law was changed there was an attempt to cover these areas. 'Roadside stands are provided for under the Board of Appeals but I don't think garden centers are. There is a difference. A garden center should be in a commercial district and this is residential. The only thing is to get the townspeople to rezone it. Millican: That is out. Nickerson: You want to run it but you don't want to rezone it. If you conformed to the rules we would not be bringing you in here every year for re -permission. We would give you permission and you would not have to come back. The only reason is if you started to do things YOU should not do. All you would have to do is satisfy this Board that you would'conform to the conditions we impose and you would not have to come back. Millican: Would it do any good to come in and ask for a variance? You have just mentioned pottery, birdhouses,`feeders. You have not said anything about other things. We -want to be sure . . . Nickerson' You mentioned dropping tools. Millicent I can't find a ruling that we were allowed to have under tools those things which I feel we should be allowed under tools. Don't think these little things would hurt anybody. Nickerson: You are trying to ran a large business in a residential area and we are trying to keep it friendly so we would not be putting you out of business. You sat there and told me the percentage of those things was so small it was negligible. Bosbuick, $ Douglas Road: I an here as a citimn of the town. I an an unpaid lawyer and have talked with Mr. Millican. I have examined the history and looked into the background. I beg to differ with Mr. Nickerson. I have taken the trouble to take evidence and I have read some cases and the property out there, at least -in part, consists of a non-conformimg use and I think this is one of the problems. Talk- ing non -conforming without saying it. The nursery areas constitute a use. I think these things were sold on the property by other per- sons. I understand that he did have a non -conforming use and when he built his present building he could apply as a matter of law whatever rights he had in this property as non -conforming use and not only what this Board has granted him. I think the problem arises in that what the Millican family wants to do is to operate a garden center. I don't think the neighbors want him selling lawnmowers and tractors. He can sell anything he wants for his plants. Would it be possible Millican 8/91/55 -6- for the Board to list all the items - could sell allied or asso- ciated items, provided they never are in excess of $2 in value? I suggest you put a monetary value on them,. We know the larger things. he can or cannot sell. He is allowed to sell bulbs. , bulb planter is regular stock. This isn't down.and doesn't cost more than $2.00. I think a monetary value would eliminate most of this. . Nickerson: I think we would be entirely wrong. We would find it. hard in the_first.place to establish a limit and I think we would be. - dead wrong to try to impose somthing like that. You have been talk- ing pottery and I refuse to talk pottery when we have never refused pottery. If you want a dish to put the plant in all right,but,don't have a bird feeder or a lwan mower or something so foreign. Pottery is a plant container. _. Shoshnick: How do you differentiate? Nickerson: I do think these people are highly skilled iu the running of their business.and think they know very definitely what they cannot sell and what they can sell without criticism. Soahnick: I read this Permit. I really cannot tell him ghat he has the righttosell.. There is a serious question as to whether this is sufficiently clear. It would be impossible to list everything. If you.could reach some sort of formula that would be acceptable to the Board and to the Millicans - I have read the Minute -man and seen some of the letters. The Board obvioaaly doesn't want to put the man out of business., It is an asset. Nobody wants to. Isn't there some way to reach an agreement over the table? If -you dontt think a monetary. restriction is, there must be some other way of describing it. I have serious doubt that if I sat on the bench I would know what this means. This is an isolated thing and we have to have it done by a reasonable set of rules without,any feeling an the part of the petttimer that he is being -put out of business._ airs. Morey: I think they run a nice establishment. I have always said Why don't you stick to the flowers and don't go,to the tools. One of my .gripea is Christmas tree lights. I think they should conti=s to;. operate with all of the restrictions. They ahould continue a nice garden operation and they do a beautiful job. The Audubon Society will. tell you the sale of birdhouses goes with this because they attract the birds. , Mr. Lynch, 14 maple St. I am in favor. Nickerson. You are in favor. Lynch: The man has to go ahead if he wants people to buy.. Nickerson: Are you in favor of his selling everything he wants to ,sell? Lynch: I an in favor of his selling what he wants to sell. 1 iJ Millican 8/31/65 -7- Nickerson: Would you be in favor of it if it was at 12 Maple St.? Lynch: I believe in letting people live. pitricia Millican: I aL in favor. Nickerson: Anybody in opposition? 3oshniokr Is there some way we could submit to the Board - we could submit some suggested modifications? It is apparent that some restric- tions should be imposed. Would it be possible to work out some type of restriction that the Board could subscribe to? Perhaps we might come up with something that might be more palatable to all concerned. Nickerson: You request that we wait until something more definite is done. But before you do this read these two old conditions. a en- deavor to say what he can sell. Now if you people dit to mP hasize pottery there is the place to pat it. if you decide that you want to put a monetary maximum value on something there is the place to define it. soshnick: I think some years ago Mr. Millican was not granted a per- mission but I think it was a variance. At tt be point titdis ve what dable ifficult to determine as Boning changes.. one wants to sell. Think Mr. Millican went to your house to get as opinion as to how the land lay and if he would have to do it formally. To get annual permission, is a very difficult thing to do. Hickerson: You know tonight this Board is going to discuss this business and we are going to continue to issue permission. It is very improbable that we are going to discontinue it, but probably it is just as definite that we will issue it for a certain period. We issued it last for two years. in this interim period there is plenty of time to get definitive. We are going to talk about it but suppose we will issue this for a year with approximately the same conditions. Hbbody'in opposition. The hearing was declared closed at 9:40 p•m• 1 C G BOARD OF APPEALS HFARINGS August 31, 1965 A regular meeting of the Lexington Board of Appeals was held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building, on Tuesday, August 31, 1965. Present were Chairman Nickerson, Members Abbott, Hoyt, Ripley and Wadsworth. At 7:30 p.m. the following hearings were declared open: Chester T. Cook - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to allow his dwelling a 26 Wyman Rd., Lexington, to remain with one corner of same 26 ft. from Wyman Rd. instead of the 30 ft. required. Mrs. Ral h Schontaa - for permission to continue operation of a kinddergirten rive days a week, at her home 296 Woburn St. Vincent McCarthy- to vary the Lexington Zoning Bylaw in order to erect as single a dwelling at 114 Bow St. with a s:tback of 20 ft. instead of the required 30 ft. Norman McGinnis - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to erect an addition at 37 Normandy Road which would result in a 20 ft. setback instead of the required 30 ft. Irwin I. Sha iro - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to permits e structure ocated at 17 Lantern Lane to remain as is having a side yard of 13 ft. instead of 15 ft. Yale Altman - to vary the Lexington Zoning By-law in order to add a carpor��sting house at 10 Marshall Rd. which would have an 18 ft setback instead of the required 30 ft. Patricia J. Garrity - for permission to operate a nursery and kin- dergarten from 9 do u:P a.m. and 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. for 15-20 children at 21 Butler Avenue, Lexington, known as the Arlex Nursery and Kinder- garten. John H. Milliken - to continue retail sale of nursery stock and allied pro uca Hancock Street, and also to sell Christmas trees, wreaths, etc. from December 10 to December 24, inglusive. At the close of the hearings an executive session was held during which the following decisions were reached: Chester T. Cook - granted Mrs. Ralph Schontag - granted Vincent McCarthy - granted with a requested 20 ft. Norman McGinnis - denied Irwin I. Shapiro - granted Yale Altman - granted Patricia J. Garrity - granted with setback of 21 ft. instead of the the following conditions: 1 August 31, 1965 Nickerson: 'This is not the first time this'has come before us. I think we originally granted this petition several years ago, then recently at the time of the last hearing there was considerable dis- cussion of what should be sold or not sold on the premises. We made several approval conditions - there are seven in number. ? Can anybody read them? Nickerson: I think it would be proper to read 'them because subsequent to the issuing of these conditions Mr. Millican's son came to my home and wanted to known if he could have several of them removed and I told him not without another hearing. If there are any conditions you don't subscribe to we want to hear from you tonight. (Read conditions.) I have read these in detail.. Is there any reason why we should not impose these same restrictions? Mr. Millican: We have complied as best we can. It's pretty darn hard to do everything. I would like the Board to know whyI have to talk this way. We are certainly not trying to cause any trouble and we know the Board doesn't want to put us out of business. This horticultural business is one in which people demand things you would never dream of. For example, all day long, just today, an especially busy day, people came up with plants. "I don't like this pot, put it in a white one to match my decor - I can't put this in the living room." „Will you put. this in a jardinerre?" If we.don't do this pretty soon I am not going to have any business, because they are going where they can get this. There is nothing I can do about it. Either we are allowed to carry these very important things to keep with the trend or we are just going to have to quit. Nobody ever comes miles and miles to buy a dish. We say we put plants in them - that is what they are for. We sell a tre- mendous amount of pots light, white, green, speckled - all kinds of pots. We don't know what they want so we have to carry some of each and we can't just carry two or three - depends on what is the most popular. So we guess and we have to have them. Either we have them or we can't stay in business. Nickerson: I haven't mentioned pottery. You know what we are talking about- we are talking about hardware and tools and things like that that compete with our stores and things that are sold in a commercial district. Milliken: Tools - a lady came up last fall and said, "I want to pat in some bulbs." "O.S." "I have no way of planting them." "I have a spec- ial bulb tool" and you can't get them anyplace but in a garden shop. "I can't use that tool because I can't get'down." "We have one with a long handle." We have them in our stock because they belong in our Center. Nickerson: You are not going to be put out of business but you are Millican Aug. 31, 1965 -3- ' Nickerson: I don't want the Board of Appeals to be depicted to your three to four thousand visitors as trying to put you out of business. You say you have 2 shovels, 4 rakers. Millican: I will take them out. I have said I will not buy any more shovels or rakes. One thing I would like to be allowed is spreaders for the fertilizer to put stuff on with. Everybody doesn't have a spreader. Nickerson: I don't have aV trouble getting one. Maybe you are the cause of the hardware stores going out of business in the Center? I want to discuss just as fully as you want to - anything you want to object to. Millican: I was talking pottery you were talking garden tools. The way we interpret it it stipulates what you are supposed to have and doesn't mention pottery which we want. Our interpretation is we can sell only what you mention. Nickerson: You said you want to sell pottery. What else? M21lican: Little things that are important. One man comes in and says he's going to plant a'garden and he wants this and that - trees, rosebushes. Another is going to put in a rock garden. Another says he wants a nice walk, so we have to have pebbles, ground bark, etc. to keep the sale and to do this job right and to do a complete job. Nickerson: Are you familiar with the decision that was made in the town of Newton? Millican: No. Nickerson: Well you should be because it is the decision of what nurseries can sell and can do. If you are a contractor who is going out and create rock gardens and rose gardens and things like that you are in an entirely different businessthanproviding materials grown on your property. This fellow was prevented from doing two things. You have no right to run a contracting business. You have no right to run that type of business from a residential area. Millican: The man buys these things. We don't do the job - we sell him the things. He buys the stone and then he gets a man. I have never planted anything for arWbody. We don't go out and do it. We hewer have gone. We have a man we send out. Nickerson: You tell me you have a man who goes out and plants. Millican: We have a man who will go out and do the job. It is not my man. He doesn't work for don't pay the man. There me. The man doesn't pay me for is one fellow up the street who the job. I does it for ' me. He is not paid to do it by me. Nickerson: If you sell a customer a lot of material that is to be made 11 1 1 Millican 8/31/65 Millican: Why can't we be allowed to have little extras? Nickerson: What have you beyond bird cages and bird seed? Millican: Nothing very important" -5- Abbott: I think when the zoning by-law was changed there was an attempt to cover these areas. 'Roadside stands are provided for under the Board of Appeals but I don't think garden centers are. There is a difference. 'A garden center should be in a commercial district and this is residential. The only thing is to get the townspeople to rezone it. Millican: That is out. Nickerson: You want to run it but you don't want to rezone it. If you conformed to the rules we would not be bringing you in here every year for re -permission. We would give you permission and you would not have to come back. The only reason is if you started to do things_ you should not do. All you would have to do is satisfy this Board that you would conform to the conditions we impose and you would not. have to come back. Millican: Would it do any good to come in and ask for a variance? You have just mentioned pottery, birdhouses, feeders. You have not said anything about other things. We want to be sure . Nickerson: You mentioned dropping tools. Millican: I can't find a ruling that we were allowed to have under tools those things which I feel we should be allowed under tools. Dontt think these little things would hurt anybody. Nickerson: You are trying to run a large business in a residential area and we are trying to keep it friendly so we would not be putting you out of business. You sat there and told me the percentage of those things was so small it was negligible. Soshnick, b Douglas Road; I am here as a citizen of the town. I am an unpaid lawyer and have talked with Mr. Millican. I have examined the history and looked into the background. I beg to differ with Mr. Nickerson. I have taken the trouble to take evidence and I have read some cases and the property out there, at least -in part, consists of a non -conforming use and I think this is one of the probLms. Talk- ing non -conforming without saying it. The nursery areas oanstitute a use. I think these things were sold on the property by other per- sons. I understand that he did have a non -conforming use and when he built his present building he could apply as a matter of law whatever rights he had in this property as non -conforming use and not only what this Board has granted him. I think the problem arises in that what the Millican family wants to do is to operate a garden center. I don't think the neighbors want him selling lawn mowers and tractors. He can sell anything he wants for his plants. Would it be possible 1 1 Millican 8/31/65 -7- Nickerson: Would you be in favor of it if it was at 12 Maple St.? Lynch: I believe in letting people live. patricis Millican: I am in favor. Nickerson: Anybody in opposition? Soshnick: Is there some way we could submit to the Board - we could submit some suggested modifications? It is apparent that some restric- tions should be imposed. Would it be possible to work out some type of restriction that the Board could subscribe to? Perhaps we might come up with something that might be more palatable to all concerned. Nickerson: You request that we wait until seething more definite is done. But before you do this read these two old conditions. We en- deavor to say what he can sell. Now if you people want to emphasize pottery there is the place to put it. If you decide that you want to put a monetary maximum value on something there is the place to define it. Soshnick: I think some years ago Mr. Millican was not granted a per- mission but I think it was a variance. At this point it is very difficult to determine as zoning changes, to be able to define what one wants to sell. Think Mr. Millican went to your house to get an opinion as to hew the land lay and if he would have to do it formally. To get annual permission is a very difficult thing to do. Nickerson: You know tonight this Board is going to discuss this business and we are going to continue to issue permission. It is very improbable that we are going to discontinue it, but probably it is just as definite that we will issue it for a certain period. We issued it last for two years. In this interim period there is plenty of time to get definitive. We are going to talk about it but suppose we will issue this for a year with approximately the same conditions. Ibbody'in opposition. The hearing was declared closed at 9:40 p.m.