Marblehead home dispute heading to Town Meeting

MARBLEHEAD – After three meetings and about four hours of Planning Board discussion, Wayne Johnson is starting all over again on a zoning bylaw revision that he hopes will save his $1.1 million home on Bubier Road.This time the Committee for Common Sense Zoning has submitted two articles, one that would downsize the minimum legal house-lot frontage from 100 to 75 feet and another that could downsize the required width of a house lot.The Planning Board’s previous hearing was on the frontage bylaw change, which was submitted for a special Town Meeting. The two new articles were submitted for the annual Town Meeting in May.Town Planner Becky Curran said the earliest hearing date will likely be in March.The changes would make Johnson’s home legal and end the court case filed by his neighbor John Schey, which resulted in a court order to move his home or tear it down.Land Court Judge Charles Trombly Jr. gave Johnson until last Oct. 4 to avoid civil contempt proceedings in the case, but Johnson appealed that order to the state Appeals Court.Schey has sought the removal of Johnson’s house, which he says is illegal, keeps his house constantly in shadows and blocks his view of the ocean.But town Building Commissioner Robert Ives has said that he has not been instructed to take further action on the order he gave last year to have Johnson move his house or raze it and any further action will be taken at the state level.