SWAMPSCOTT — Efforts to move the home of town founder Samuel Cloon Pitman from its current location on Pitman Road to a vacant lot on Hillside Avenue were halted at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Tuesday night.
Affordable Housing Trust Chair Kimberly Martin-Epstein and her attorney Sam Vitali withdrew their petition for a zoning variance allowing the house to sit on the 7 Hillside Ave. lot.
Since the historic house faces impending demolition to make room for the Elm Place Affordable Housing development at its current 35 Pitman Road location, the Affordable Housing Trust agreed to allocate approximately $330,000 toward moving the house and redeveloping it for use as a one- or two-unit affordable-housing structure.
The trust’s petition was initially brought to the ZBA at a special meeting Tuesday night to determine whether the project could obtain a frontage variance to allow the house on the proposed new site.
Vitali opened last week’s three-hour discussion by arguing that the Pitman House meets all of the required zoning bylaw specifications for its proposed district. The board’s key decision, Vitali argued, was whether the property’s frontage met Hillside Avenue’s A3 district zoning requirements.
“We satisfy every dimension but frontage — I know we clearly satisfy use — the real question here is the appropriateness of a single- or a two-family dwelling in the A3 district,” Vitali said last week. “What’s proposed is taking an existing two-family dwelling and moving it to this site and setting it within the dimensional requirements. I think what’s also proposed is ultimately to achieve, for some individuals, an opportunity to have homeownership.”
Citing case law, Vitali argued that the house’s ineligibility for use under the A3 district bylaw presented a legal hardship through which the board could grant a frontage bylaw variance.
Vitali also referenced a 1955 variance that he said set a legal precedent for the house’s new use on Hillside Avenue.
Town Counsel Robin Stein said last week that in her opinion, the 1955 variance, which bears no statutory limits, remains in effect. She said it has previously been used to divide lots and has, since 1955, resulted in construction of a house in the same district as the Pitman House’s proposed new site.
“There is a strong argument that the variance has not lapsed. It’s a pre-1975 variance, so there’s no statutory lapse,” Stein said last week.
The proposed project, however, faces opposition from dozens of potential abutters, 70 of whom signed a petition opposing the house’s move to Hillside Avenue. A handful of them also spoke strongly against the variance at last week’s ZBA meeting, which ended with the board voting to continue discussions for seven days.
Addressing the heated back-and-forths that occurred at last Tuesday’s Special ZBA meeting, ZBA Chair Heather Roman motioned to close off public comment Tuesday evening.
“I’m relatively new to being the chair but I’ve been on the board for a while, and I have never seen so much interrupting, so much crosstalk, so much muttering under the breath. I left that meeting so frustrated, so I’m hoping that the setup of this room can lead to more professional behavior from the petitioner or the people representing the petitioner,” Roman said.
Roman went on to state that after consulting Stein and the board, she found that while the 1955 variance remains in effect, the frontage variance Vitali presented did not hold up legally. She argued that while there was a precedent for claiming hardship because of factors such as soil, shape, or topography, it would not apply in this case.
“Yes, a hardship is present when a landowner can not reasonably make use of the property. But lack of frontage does not constitute shape, and therefore, does not does not raise it to the level to grant a variance,” Roman said.
ZBA Member Bradley Croft echoed Roman’s statement.
“I’m in agreement with Heather that under the circumstances, a variance is not warranted. There’s been no evidence, no showing of any impact on any of the circumstances related to soil conditions, shape, or topography that would warrant a variance,” Croft said.
Before the board took a vote, Roman offered Martin-Epstein and Vitali a chance to withdraw their petition, and Martin-Epstein called into the meeting to do so.
The ZBA voted unanimously to withdraw the petition without prejudice before adjourning.
