Outcome unclear in Marblehead home dispute

MARBLEHEAD – Monday is the Land Court deadline for 72-year-old Wayne Johnson to raze or move his $1.1 million home at 74 Bubier Road, but his unique 15-year court case is still continuing and it is not clear what will happen.Land Court Judge Charles Trombly Jr. issued a court order in August, giving Johnson until Oct. 4 to remove the house or face civil contempt proceedings. The order appeared to end the case in which Johnson’s neighbor, John Schey, sued him to force the removal of the illegal house that Schey said keeps his house constantly in shadow and blocks his view of the ocean.The house violates the town zoning bylaws because it has less frontage than required. The Board of Appeals voted 3-2 against Johnson’s pre-construction request for a variance, but could not muster the 4-1 vote required to legally reject it.Building Commissioner Robert Ives, who issued an order to Johnson to raze or move his home earlier this year, said Wednesday, “I have not been instructed to do anything. We did issue an order but it’s my understanding that this has been taken over by the state (court system).”Johnson’s lawyer, Attorney Michael Pill of Northampton, appeared surprised by Ives’s statement.”(Judge Trombly’s) court order directed the town to issue an order,” he said. “What he (Ives) said is not my understanding of the situation,” Pill said.As for what Johnson planned to do Monday, Pill said, “I don’t know.”He also declined to comment on his legal strategy in the case.Johnson continues to fight to overturn the Land Court decision, or to legalize his home.He has appealed Trombly’s decision to the state Appeals Court and he is also trying to get the town to revise the Zoning Bylaws to require only 75 feet of frontage rather than the current 100-foot frontage requirement, a change that would make his house legal.Johnson’s proposed bylaw change will get a Planning Board hearing Tuesday, Nov. 9 at the Marblehead Community Center.Selectmen rejected petitions requesting a special Town Meeting last month and although a second round of petitions is said to be circulating none have been presented to the town clerk’s office.No date has been set for a court hearing on the appeal.