Marblehead house lot zoning law tabled for now

MARBLEHEAD – After three meetings and about four hours of discussion the Planning Board tabled action Tuesday night on a zoning bylaw revision that will save Wayne Johnson’s $1.1 million home on Bubier Road.Board members want further discussion of the proposal, which is supported by a group calling itself the Committee for Common Sense Zoning and would downsize the minimum legal house lot frontage from 100 to 75 feet, a change that would make Johnson’s home legal and end the court case filed by his neighbor John Schey.The vote means that the article Johnson filed for consideration by the May Town Meeting remains alive, with the Planning Board scheduled to recommend action to the voters at that time.According to Johnson and Attorney Charles LeRay of Boston, who represents Johnson and the committee, the change would affect 10 percent of the parcels in town.LeRay and Boston consultant Tim Howington pointed out that 3,460 of Marblehead’s present single family house lots, 76 percent, do not meet the standards in the town’s Zoning Bylaws and the change will bring the law in line with reality.At the board’s request LeRay compiled a comparative study of house lot frontage and area requirements in other communities, prompting board member James Bishop to note that “Marblehead is substantially more densely built than the others.”LeRay noted that other area communities began as farming communities and Marblehead began as a fishing village, making Marblehead denser.”The zoning reflects what Marblehead has always wanted to be. If you want to make your town less dense get one-third of your residents to buy their neighbor’s houses and knock them down,” he said. He claimed that the bylaw change would create only six newly divisible lots, but Town Planner Becky Curran pointed out that there are other large properties in town that could add much more housing if the change were approved.Attorney Frank McElroy, who represents the Scheys in their lawsuit, said the current zoning bylaws were created by Town Meeting, not “imposed by government” and were “an opportunity for realistic expectations.” He suggested that proponents of the change wanted “to eliminate zoning.”Johnson responded by pointing out that 76 percent of the homes in town do not meet the requirements of the Zoning Bylaw. “Those are the numbers,” he said, throwing his hands in the air.Attorney Carl King, former Zoning Board of Appeals chair, noted that less frontage means that houses will face the side of a lot, not the street. “That’s a style of housing that is outside the classic Marblehead (design),” he said.”My house faces sideways,” said resident Jill Haddon. “So do several others. I have no problem with it.”Board Chairman Philip Helmes said the board could endorse the proposal, deny it, take no action or discuss it and make a recommendation to Town Meeting. On his recommendation they unanimously supported more discussion.