WESTFIELD – The Zoning Board of Appeals last night approved two special permits and a variance requested by city residents to modernize their homes, one on Valley View Drive and the other on Granville Road.
James and Sandra Wood petitioned the ZBA for both a variance and special permit to build an in-law addition to the front of their house that will be used to care for Sandra’s mother.
The couple proposed to build the 22-by-31 foot addition to the front of the existing single-family residence because that neighborhood is not served by city sewers and the septic system is located in the rear of the structure, preventing expansion of the building in that direction.
The ZBA members said that the winding street, which has several curves, means that houses do not have a uniform setback.
“This is one of the oddest street configurations in the city to say the least,” ZBA member Martin Newman said. “I think the location of the septic system is the key. They can’t build in the back, so they’re kind of hogtied and it does create a hardship.”
“To my thinking anything that prevents modernization of a house is a hardship,” Newman said
ZBA Chairman Michael Parent said the standard for issuing a variance is much more restricted than the standards for a special permit.
ZBA Chairman Michael Parent said that the criterion to meet the standards to grant a variance is intentionally made much more stringent under the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, Section 10, Which reads:
Section 10. The permit granting authority shall have the power after public hearing for which notice has been given by publication and posting as provided in section eleven and by mailing to all parties in interest to grant upon appeal or upon petition with respect to particular land or structures a variance from the terms of the applicable zoning ordinance or by-law where such permit granting authority specifically finds that owing to circumstances relating to the soil conditions, shape, or topography of such land or structures and especially affecting such land or structures but not affecting generally the zoning district in which it is located, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance or by-law would involve substantial hardship, financial or otherwise, to the petitioner or appellant, and that desirable relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent or purpose of such ordinance or by-law. Except where local ordinances or by-laws shall expressly permit variances for use, no variance may authorize a use or activity not otherwise permitted in the district in which the land or structure is located; provided however, that such variances properly granted prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six but limited in time, may be extended on the same terms and conditions that were in effect for such variance upon said effective date.
The permit granting authority may impose conditions, safeguards and limitations both of time and of use, including the continued existence of any particular structures but excluding any condition, safeguards or limitation based upon the continued ownership of the land or structures to which the variance pertains by the applicant, petitioner or any owner.
The board voted 3-0 to allow the variance and 3-0 to issue the special permit with findings and conditions attached to those decisions. One condition is that the house can never be converted into a two-family residence. The second condition, in support of the first, prohibits installation of “lockable doors” between the addition and main residential area.
The second hearing conducted last night was on the petition of James and Mary Florek who are seeking a special permit to allow them to convert a farmhouse into a two-family residence.
Mary Florek said the couple purchased the farmhouse at 840 Granville Road, which has been in the Florek family for four generations, in 2012 and that her father-in-law moved into an in-law apartment her brother-in-law, who resides a short distance down Granville Road, constructed last year.
The couple currently lives at 133 Granville Road but intends to move to the farmhouse after it has been renovated. Florek said that her husband and son will continue to operate the farm and that they have already begun the renovation project by removing a barn located to the rear of the house structure.
The ZBA voted 3-0 to grant the special permit to allow the conversion to a two-family residence.
