Solomon Had it Easy: ZBA Struggles With Divided Property Decision

Above, 71 A and B North Park before the fire exposed the complexities of a  non-standard "condo".

The Zoning Board of Appeal on Thursday, Jan. 5 dealt, mostly with the long-running saga of 171A North Park and 171B North Park.

The first item on the agenda was actually a hearing ifor78 Conlyn Ave. where the applicant, Reidar Davies was seeking to construct a 24’ x 30’ attached garage. Also planned was in increase in impervious coverage, an issue that the applicant needed to further address, leading them to seek to continue the matter to a later date. This the ZBA approved.

And then it was on to the North Park situation, which began with two homes in a single building. When the building was damaged by fire in 2021, the real trouble began. As attorney Peter Padula explained to the Board of Health in a March 2022 meeting, the house was built more than a century ago and then was “condoed” at some point in the past in a non-standard way—modern condominium statutes not yet being in existence -- essentially splitting the building and the land “down the middle.” The situation was not a problem when members of the same family owned the property. And when a non-family member acquired one of the halves, it wasn’t initially a problem. But questions of how to raze the burned out building and what property rights would survive to support a rebuild, brought things to a standstill. At one point, the Mass. Attorney General’s Office was also reportedly involved.

Thursday, each owner came to the ZBA with a proposal for a single-family house on each of the halves of the original lot.

Applicant Jerry Lawler came to the ZBA first for 71 A North Park Street seeking to construct a single family home that is 5.0’ from the right side yard setback where 20’ is required. Lawler’s attorney walked through the plan, complicated by slope and some pre-existing landscaping. But the main sticking point was that Lawler was asking for less setback from the common lot line than neighbor Robert Glencross at 71 B. Lawler’s attorney stressed the greater challenges for 71A, which is on a corner with Wachusett Street.

But chair Bruce Hunchard seemed unmoved and suggested that if put to a vote, the Board would say no. His suggestion: come back with a new plan at a future meeting.

Fighting City Hall doesn’t usually work in Franklin, so Lawler and his attorney beat a retreat.

71B, was up next, with a setback from the shared lotline, that the ZBA deemed more acceptable. After a brief discussion, the variance was approved for 71B.

The ZBA than reviewed minutes of their December meeting, and adjourned.