Marblehead Planning Board will tackle zoning bylaw amendments

MARBLEHEAD – The Planning Board will decide their recommendations on two zoning bylaw amendments filed by embattled homeowner Wayne Johnson and the Committee for Common Sense Zoning Monday, May 2, minutes before the beginning of Town Meeting.One amendment, Article 37, would reduce the required frontage for a house lot from 100 to 75 feet. There was little discussion of that article because the public and the board already discussed it when the committee proposed it for a special Town Meeting. It has been re-filed as an article in the annual Town Meeting.The other change, Article 36, would measure the legal width of a house lot as the width of the front yard. Attorney Charles LeRay, representing Johnson and the committee, said the 75 percent change would affect 56 lots. “Marblehead zoning is inconsistent with reality,” he said, and sends owners of non-conforming properties to the Board of Appeals for permission to build or rebuild.Concerned that Article 36 would negate a 1994 zoning bylaw change and bring back oddly-shaped house lots the board referred to as “rat tail” and “pork chop” lots, Town Planner Becky Curran proposed an amendment to Article 36 making lot width at least 60 percent of the frontage rather than 75 percent of the frontage and eliminating the front yard width as the standard. LeRay said the 60 percent change would affect 14 lots.Johnson is under a court order to raze or remove his Bubier Road home, stemming from a lawsuit brought by his next-door neighbor, Dr. John Schey. Schey sought the removal of Johnson?s house because he says it keeps his house constantly in shadow and blocks his view of the ocean, and is built on a non-conforming lot.The bylaw changes would legalize Johnson?s house lot and end the on-going 17-year court battle. The Scheys? lawyer, Attorney Frank McElroy, said the committee?s original lot width change could allow construction of a house eight feet wide, 100 feet long and four stories high.When his passion was questioned, McElroy said he was the Scheys? lawyer – and he also worked on the committee that changed the frontage and lot width bylaw in 1994.When the Planning Board convenes May 2 members can vote to recommend approval or indefinite postponement. Board member Edward Nilsson said, “I haven?t heard a good reason why the law should be changed” and Chairman Philip Helmes said, “I don?t know if the board is convinced that there is a bigger problem.”