Somerset Zoning Board of Appeals - May 28, 2026

This is the meeting of the Somerset Zoning Board. We're going to begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. I ask everyone to please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Our chairman, Mr. Catarat, I don't know if he's going to be a little late, but he has not shown up yet. We're going to try to contact him to see if he's on his

way. So in the meantime, we're going to have our alternate, Mr. Martin, become voting member. Do we need a motion for that in the council? No? No. Okay.

We're going to get started. Pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 40A and the Somerset Zoning By-law, the Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on the following matters. The meeting will be held in person at the above location, which is here in the Somerset Public Library, Kunsanada Community Room at 1464 County Street, Somerset, Mass. This

meeting is being recorded and it also can be viewed on live SATV Channel 96 or YouTube. Before we get started, the way this works is we're going to go through the agenda petition by petition and the board will open it up and the petitioner will come forward and give us a description of what he or she intends to do with their petition and then the board

will ask the petitioner some questions. And after we close that portion of the hearing, the floor will be open and residents can either voice concerns for or against the petition. and we ask that you direct everything through the board we don't want any back and forth through the uh with the petitioner and the person that may be asking a question or giving comments so we ask that you go

through the board and then the petitioner will answer or address any comments or concerns that have been brought up by the public so we're going to start with the first petition miles kneeling i hope that's correct for 530 Chase Street, Somerset, Mass.

Assessors Map D12, Lot 5. Petition for a special permit from Section 7.6 of the Zoning Bylaws for an in-home occupation relating to administrative work associated with catering business within a residential district as per the application filed with the town clerk. Is Mr. Nyland here? Could you please step to the podium? could you please give us a brief description of what your intention is here

please good evening so I am going to operate a catering business out of the comfort zone I'm using the 5:30 chase tree as in for administrative purposes only okay when you fill out the application you check off several statements here we're going to go over them and then we're going to open it up to the board for any questions okay no more than three persons will be engaged in such activities correct

yes Business will be conducted entirely within the principal dwelling or an accessory structure. Yes, the comfort zone. I'm sorry? The comfort zone, 1525 Riverside Ave. Okay. There shall be no exterior features not customary in buildings for residential use. The use of the dwelling shall remain incidental, subordinate to the residential use by its occupants and not more than

25% of the floor area of the dwelling shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation. so you're just going to use a small little room in the yeah just like an office space okay there shall be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises or the visible evidence of the conduct of such home occupation other designs permitted under bylaw subsection 6.5.1 yes there shall be no sale

of merchandise other than the produce other than that produced on the premises using equipment customarily found in home so do you plan on selling anything from this location no all operations will be produced out of the comfort zone or another commercial kitchen no traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than normally expected in

a residential neighborhood and any need for parking generated by such home occupation shall be met off shall be met off street and not in the required front yard. So do you, you don't have any intentions of having people come to this location? No, no foot traffic at all. Or vehicle traffic? No. Any vehicle traffic? Absolutely. No equipment

or process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical interference detectable to the normal senses off the lot. Not more than one commercial vehicle used in connection with such home occupation shall be stored on the premises and an off-street parking space shall be provided for such a vehicle.

Do you have any vehicles associated with this? Yes, none metal labeled, just my personal vehicle. Okay. Do the board members have any questions? Do you have anybody that works with you or you work by yourself? Currently as a startup I have no employees but I mean hopefully I grow in the future. If you do you have employees at your house? No, no it'd be off premise. Okay. Were you planning on

having a sign at the house? No. Okay. The sign is Mr.

Alfonso, any questions? No. All set. Okay. So I would entertain a motion to go on Oh I'm sorry, rookie mistake Now this portion of the hearing is closed, we'll open it up to the floor Is anyone here to speak for or against this particular petition? Okay, seeing that there are no comments from the floor Now I'll entertain a motion to go ahead and grant I'll make a motion to approve the home occupation

Second So motion is made by Mr. McDonald, seconded by Mr.

Miranda. Not McDonald. I'm sorry, Mr. Martin. Mike Martin, aye. Bernard Miranda, aye. Steve Bonas, aye. Okay, what will happen is your decision will be... drawn up at which time when it's completed you will be contacted and you have a 21 day appeal period once that process is over you can register it with the registry of deeds on north main street in the

fall in fall river okay thank you very much you're welcome awesome thank you sorry okay the next one we're going to do michael venancio i hope that's correct venancio For 330 Dwelley Road, Somerset, Mass., Assessors Map B8214, petition for a special permit from Section 7.6 of the Zoning Bylaws for an in-home occupation relating to administrative work associated with an e-commerce business within the

residential district as per the application filed with the Town Clerk.

How do you say your last name? Venancio. Venancio. Okay, could you please give us a brief description of what you... Can you say 330 or 303? 330 it says here. It's 303. 303? Mine says 303. Okay. It says 330 on the sheet, you're right. Oh, the application is correct, so we're good. It was a typo. I'm sorry about that. So go ahead and give us a brief explanation of what your intentions

are. It's just an online e-commerce store. No inventory will be on the premises. Just setting up a website. Off-site warehouse is already established. So all they do is order.

It goes to the warehouse and then it ships to them direct. There is no foot traffic. There's no vehicles. There's no nothing. It's just me setting up a website.

Okay, as you saw at the prior petition, we're going to go through the same...

Sure. Yep....nine statements and then we'll go from there. No problem. There will be no more than three persons shall be engaged in the activities. It's just going to be you? Just me. Okay. Businesses will be conducted entirely within the principal dwelling or the accessory structure. Correct. Everyone will be done there. There shall be no exterior features

not customary for buildings, in buildings for residential use. You're not going to change anything?

the use of the dwelling shall remain incidental subordinate to the residential use by its occupants and not more than 25 percent of floor area of the dwelling shall be used in conduct of the home occupation so you're going to use a room within your home basically i'm not really going to use the home that much it's going to be all online so i can do it from my phone anywhere okay there

shall be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premise or other visible evidence of the conduct of such home occupation other than signs permitted under the bylaw subsection 6.5.1. You plan to have any signs or anything? No. There should be no sale of merchandise other than that produced on the premises using equipment customarily found

in the home. You're not going to sell any merchandise from that? No. No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than normally expected in a residential neighborhood? and any need for parking generated by such home occupation shall be met off street and not in a required front yard. You're not going to have any

traffic. No equipment or process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical interference detectable to the normal sense off the lot.

You're not going to hear any of this. Not more than one commercial vehicle used in connection with such home occupation shall be stored on the premises and in off-street parking space shall be provided for such a vehicle. Any of my board members have any questions of Mr. Venacio? No, it's pretty straightforward. Real straightforward. Okay, I'm going to close this portion here for the board. It's now open to the

floor. Anyone here that would like to ask or make a comment for or against the petition? okay there's no questions or comments from the floor we're going to close that portion of the hearing i'd like to entertain a motion to approve the petition for an in-home occupation i make a motion to approve the petition of the home occupation second motion by mr miranda second by mr

martin miranda aye mike martin aye steve monasai same thing applies once the decision is written up and signed you will get this is a 21 day appeal process at which time once that is completed you will be able to register this at the register of deeds okay okay yeah okay the next one good luck to you thank you um Michael la chapelle 151 Ivanhoe Avenue Petition

for a special permit from section 7.6 of the zoning bylaws for an in-home occupation relating to administrative work associated with the cleaning business within the residential district as per the application filed with the town clerk. Are you Mr. LaChapelle? Yes, I am. Same as the previous two petitioners, sir. Could you just give us a brief explanation of

what your intentions are with this petition? I've had this cleaning business for 21 years.

And it's been out of Westport, which is where I started it after my sister died, who I took it over from. I have like five offices. It's all offices.

Nothing comes to the house. I have closets everywhere I work. I got three jobs for the state. And it's just a small cleaning business. I got no workers. It's just me. Nothing parks in my house. There's no signs. There's no nothing. I don't even advertise. Okay. All right, let's go through the same process as we did with the previous two. No more than three persons shall be engaged in such activities. It's

just going to be yourself. Yes, ma'am. Business will be conducted entirely within the principal dwelling or an accessory structure. You're going to have an office in your... I've really got a desk, but it's all I've got. There shall be no exterior features not customary in buildings for residential use. You're not going to do anything to the exterior

of the building? No. The use of the dwelling shall remain incidental, subordinate to the residential use by its occupants, and not more than 25% of floor area of the dwelling shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation. No. There shall be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises, or other visible evidence

of the conduct of such home occupation other than the signs permitted under the bylaws of section 6.5.1. No. There shall be no sale of merchandise other than that produced on the premises using equipment customarily found in the home? No, I got nothing. You're not going to make any, you know? No, all my stuff stays at my jobs.

If I can't keep stuff at my job site, I ain't taking the job because I'm not trucking stuff back and forth. Okay. I ain't done too old for that.

No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than normally expected in a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by such home occupation shall be met off-street and not in the required front yard. Alright, that's gonna happen. No equipment or process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare,

fumes, odors, or electrical interference detectable to the normal senses off the lot.

Not more than one commercial vehicle used in connection with such home occupation shall be stored on the premises and in off-street parking space shall be provided for such a vehicle. You're not going to generate any... I don't own a commercial vehicle, so... Okay.

Any of the board members have any questions of the petitioner? What are you going to use it for, an office? Well, I've got a desk in my kitchen if I write out my invoices. But what's... what is... what are you here for? What is the use? Well, you need a license. See, I'm a DBA right now. I started it when I lived at a friend's house in Westboro. It was because you

need the license. Now I live in Somerset. You need the address. Yeah, so it would be a lot easier because my PO box is in Westboro. Yeah, I just wanted to know what your... Yeah, it'll just be a lot easier for me. That's the only thing it'll be. I've had it for 21 years. I've been here since 2012. All right. a little entertainment from our fellow zba member here i'm sure we

all know who that band was okay uh any other questions from the board no okay we're gonna close this portion of the hearing now the it's open to the floor thank you anyone have any comments or questions concerning this petition for or against right now yeah you have to go up to the microphone please Just state your name and your address, please. Excuse me. Laurie Belche, 119 Barabee Avenue. I'm

going to tell you something. When we first... Well, I've lived in this town a long time, with the exception of a couple of years, and the thing I find strange, and even Bernie just brought it up. What are you doing there? If it's administrative, and you're sitting there just filling out some paperwork, or you've got an online business that has nothing, why are these people even having to waste their time coming

here... to be in front of a board when really there should be just somebody approving things like this, especially if they know there's no traffic, there's no this. This is actually really a waste of time for these people and a waste of money that they have to spend to come and make a petition for a business he's had for 21 years and because he moved, because he has to put, you can't

use a P.O. box anymore. I just find it so... Strange. It shouldn't be like that. It's like it feels like such a control mechanism to know what everybody's doing.

He's writing out paperwork for his cleaning business. It's not a huge deal. I really don't get it. I don't. And if someone could explain to me without saying, well, you know, everything has to go through the zoning board. What zoning is it? If he's got no parking, no nothing, he's not doing anything but writing paperwork out of his desktop. I mean, who did that during COVID? Everybody. They all work from home.

Did anybody have to file a petition to work from home during COVID? No. So it just, I get it, parking. But if that's on the application, someone honestly should just be sitting there in the plane or whatever office this gets filed in and saying, you know what? I don't think you need to go. We're going to approve this one. I'm going to send it to the zoning board so they know that

this got approved. This is what's happening. They're all going to approve it. We'll put it through through the same process. Plans, whatever you want to do. This just seems like a lot of crazy for all of these people coming in for administrative businesses in their house. That's almost nothing. Taking up no space. The guy's writing it on his kitchen table, but print out loud. You know what I mean? Do you not

find it silly? Tell me you're not fined a silly. I know you're not supposed to answer me. I'm just up here to talk. So I don't want to talk to the wall. I get it. No, anybody. I'm just saying. I'm laughing. Go ahead, Steve. So the way it works is the zoning board of appeals doesn't make the zoning bylaw. Any changes to the zoning bylaw are done through the planning board. So

if this should be changed... then it has to go through the planning board and then it goes to the planning board recommends that it goes that the change goes on the warrant and then it goes to the town meeting and it gets voted at the town meeting so we don't have any control over the zoning bylaw we're merely almost like a judicial body we're not an administrative body we don't have any

control over the bylaw can i don't want to interrupt you can somebody tell me when this actually changed because i know i've been here for a long time and i know and I had a business and all I had to do was file it with the clerk's office a long time ago I didn't have to do that I've been on this board almost 20 years and they've always come here for 20

years I've never seen that you know what I've been reporting meetings since I mean look at the by-law there's no change date next to this provision so anytime anything gets changed in the by-law there's a date in the by-law on when the change was voted in it says in it says uh town meeting whatever date and then it says what article it was and what the change was. As long as I've

been on this board, these customary home occupations have been coming before us. Do I think that some of these could probably be handled administratively? I absolutely agree with you 110%. Yeah. Okay? So who... I agree 110%. We have people that come here and it's... Well every every week every month could be me monthly every month There's somebody

comes in with something that I just need this because I need a business address Yeah, and they asked for this and I agree with you, but we don't have any input So when does that get changed and how does that get changed? so you would have to go to the planning board recommend the change to the zoning bylaw and I'm in the middle of doing that right now. We caught a vacation.

Because the town meeting is on Saturday. And that stuff can't be changed on the floor. The special town meeting, which is usually in November, but last year was in February, then I would go to the planning board and recommend this change. This has been brought up before, to be absolutely honest with you. that they wanted to make this change and it hasn't been changed. Yeah. So I have another question. Do the

neighbors get told when there's a business? Absolutely. Okay. Because we have had some that have come here and have been extremely contentious. So I used to live on Lynch Avenue and Laflamme lived across the street from me and he used to run his construction business out of there, but I never ever got noticed then. So that was, what year was that? 2020? No, 2002. 2002. Okay, this is over 20 years, but

something changed sometime at some point. So I know that because we live there and I know there was nothing ever given. And I've currently got somebody behind me running what looks like a lumber business. never heard anything yet so so I cannot sit here and tell you that every single person who has a business that they run a house comes before this board because that's because I would be disingenuous to tell

you that everyone does yeah somebody goes to their bank to get a line of credit or something right the bank says I want to see a DBA certificate And they go to the town clerk and they tell them, well, that means you're running a business in a residential district. You need to get a special permit. And that's usually the chain of events. And so the only ones who actually get those are

people who don't have a commercial slash residential address already. Like County Street, there's some addresses that have commercial slash residential, like across from the China Lake. There's a few of them over there. Most of County Street used to be. Some of Main Street was, but there's been changes in that. I just wanted to know. I was curious

because this just seems like, oh my God, there's like six people here who are going for administrative and they've got to come here rushed. You had to rush from where you come from work to get here for a meeting that's half of that.

And I know we have the other one that's going to be long. It just seems like such a... waste of time. But well, in some cases it's not always right. Oh, I get that. Because in some cases, like we've had people come here with, um, like one of the changes that, that happened to this was this, this part of the viola was changed by truck size. So previously anybody could come here

with any, like they come here with a trucking business and they would just get approved customer home occupation. But we had people complain about the size of the truck and the noise in the morning and that kind of thing. So I know that was a change since I've been on the board that that was added to the bylaw. Now, couldn't that be, that's what would trigger something like that. In other words,

a business gets approved. If you do anything in violation of what you've signed here, what you said it's going to be, and somebody questions, then you'll have a zoning board meeting and say, you got this approved by whoever approves the ones that would be in there. And then we've noticed that we've got complaints because blah, blah, blah.

And then, yes, it would be the first time you see them, but you have the paperwork in front of you, what they signed, what they filed out for information, which is all what you go over anyway. All those questions Steve was asking, the guy had already said all the stuff, then they asked the questions again. I get it. They're doing it for the record, but the guy's voice is also the record.

You know? So, Talk to this officer. I see you giggling, Steve. Well, there's people that, I mean, one of the things in here is you can't store materials. I don't know. There's certain limits on what you can actually do on the property. So some of this is protective. So however you wanted to change this, it would have to be changed so that those protections stay in place. Yes, right. But, you know,

so that's something that's got to go to the planning board. And I would add that when somebody comes to us for an in-home occupation permit, all the direct abutters and the abutters in that area get notified. So they have the opportunity to come to this meeting and voice concerns such as Mr. Catarat has brought up. Will there be any trucks? A lot of times it comes from the floor. And they ask

us, is it size limited? Does it have to be? So everyone's put on notice by doing this. And as the zoning board, we can approve in-home occupation with conditions as part of the decision. So it does benefit. Sometimes it does seem like a waste of time. I agree with you and the committee.

It allows the abutters to come to the meeting and ask questions in regard to what they plan on doing with their in-home occupation because sometimes it can get a little crazy if they don't know that there's somebody that wants to apply for an in-home occupation concerning, I don't know, agriculture or something. As a matter of fact, we had that. Yeah, we had that. And there was issues brought up with

that. Okay. If you're a director, if you're an abutter and you get a notice and you choose not to come, then that's on you. You choose not to come.

But if you have a concern, especially if it's a direct abutter, then you come to the zoning board for simple processes in home occupation, in a home office occupation, and you can address those concerns with us. and ask us for some answers and more than likely we'll have them. Okay. And as I said prior, we can put conditions on their approval of their in-home office occupation and the building inspector as our

zoning enforcement agent and he knows what's going on with the recent approvals and he can take a ride by there if he gets a call by a neighbor that feels that they're not being followed correctly. So one more question, I don't know who can answer it but maybe Arthur. I know. Sends out the notices. Does the zoning board send them out or the petitioner? I do. Oh, you do? Okay. You got

the terrible job. Okay, so if somebody does, if they don't, how does somebody, what if somebody doesn't get one? Can I speak, Mr. Chair? Absolutely. So the assessor's office gives us a certified of letters list within a 300 foot radius. So if you have an issue with not getting noticed for a public hearing, the assessor's office would be the ones to take it up with. So even if somebody didn't ever file

for business but it seems to be invading the property around people, somebody would actually go and go to who? if somebody didn't file for business then there wouldn't be a certified a butters list okay so what's the enforcement issue that's important but it's okay so who enforces that that's the building zoning the building the building inspector is

the only enforcement official okay and we have one correct okay i know swan's easy enough okay all right thank you very much thank you is there anyone else um that was kind of off the subject but we're going to kind of try to reign it in concerning the petition for an in-home office occupation with regards to a cleaning business. Yes please. Hi, I live at 159 Ivanhoe, the house right next door.

Name please? Amelia Phillips. Thank you. If it turns to a commercial zone, does it revert back if he sells the home or does it permanently stay as a commercial zone? It's not commercial. Oh, it's not a commercial? No. So you're not changing the zone? He's using his address to run his business. Okay, so it still stays a residential zone? It stays residential. It does not change. Okay, that's perfect. That's why

we have all these safeguards in place. All right, thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from the floor? I didn't forget. Okay, with no further questions or comments, I would entertain a motion that we approve the informal occupation for Mr. LaChapelle at 151 Ivanhoe Avenue. I'll make that motion.

Second. Motion made by, okay. Thank you. Good luck. Finishing? Yeah, I said that. Bernard Miranda, aye. And I was going to tell him the whole thing, but he kind of took over, so... He's got to go to work. Okay, so I guess he heard the previous two. Our chairman has arrived, so we're going to turn it over to him. We're on Mr. Stephen Rivard. I apologize

for being late. I was at my grandson's school concert he's moving to south carolina at the end of june so that kind of took precedence over being here i apologize really no i don't really apologize i'm just telling you exactly why i was late so okay next petition stephen ravad 364 New Hill Avenue Somerset assesses map before a lot 19 petition for a variance from section 5.2 the zoning bylaws

to raise and replace the existing garage or the new larger garage and encroaches within the setback requirements on an existing non-conforming lot as per the application plan file with the town clerk For the record, Attorney Thomas Killorn, I represent the applicant, Stephen Rivard, who's here tonight, along with his architect, Joanne Bentley. I have copies of the plan, which I saw shared with the board. I've got

them in your file. Thank you. And I also have a copy of the field cards.

So As you can see, we're dealing with what I would call one of the older style lots in town. This house was constructed in 1934 on a roughly 6,000 square foot lot that has approximately 58 feet of frontage along New Hill Avenue. There's a garage that was constructed in 1964. At the time that that garage was constructed, the setbacks for both the rear yard and the side yard were 10 feet. As you

can see on the easterly side, the existing garage maintains that 10-foot-wide setback. And in the rear of the property, there is a corner that is approximately 9.2 feet away.

slightly off from that 10 feet but I likely say that the intention was to construct it at 10 feet. I don't think the measurements were always as precise back about 50 years or so ago. Ultimately, what the petitioner is looking to do is to raise or knock down that existing structure and construct a new garage that would sit in the same location but obviously expand beyond the existing borders of the existing

garage. The intention would be is to maintain that 10-foot wide setback on the easterly side as well as 10 feet on the rear or 9.2 feet, which is exactly what it is presently. And then on the westerly side, there would also be a 10 foot wide setback. One of the things that I've always kind of wrestled with over the years is whether or not when you're dealing with these older lots as

to whether a variance is truly required. I would direct the board's attention to the table of dimensional requirements where it talks about existing lots and reverting back to using the old setback distances of 10 feet, which is what was in place when construction on this construction of the existing garage went into place. Specifically, if you

take a look at the table of dimensional use requirements where it talks about side yard and feet as well as rear yard and feet, it references 10 feet being the distance required and it says see note 1. Note 1 states that if the structure that's being built is less than 120 square feet, that you only need to maintain a 5-foot setback. Historically, my experience appearing before this board over the past 20

some odd years or so is that when you're dealing with these pre-existing non-conforming lots like we have here, that the board has historically utilized these older setback requirements as the measurements that an applicant needs to conform with when they're doing any kind of renovation or expansion of an existing use on the property. um again the existing rear

setback is 9.2 feet so we're just suggesting to maintain what's already in place and then the two side yard setbacks would be 10 feet again which is in conformity with what was in place back when the original garage was construction constructed in 1964.

i think ultimately the variance relief that we need is with regard to the lock coverage Again, going back to the bylaw, which has, when you're dealing with these older lots, the lot coverage requirement, even though on the plan it references 25%, again, dealing with these older lots, I would suggest to the board that the bylaw requires 35%. What's being shown, and I don't want to misstate the percentage it's

roughly 40 percent 41.38 percent it's what the lot coverage would be with the construction of this new garage so I would suggest that a variance is certainly required for a lot coverage standpoint um but with regard to the setbacks both rear and the two side yard setbacks i would suggest to the board that we do comply um with the zoning bylaw so how much over would you be

on the coverage on what on the coverage and so it's roughly six percent over 35 is what would be allowed on for these older lots and it's 41.38 so six percent I can tell the board as well that Ms. Bentley has been working with Jim Aguilar, the building inspector, throughout this process. There have been a few different iterations of the plan. And based on the bylaw and how this, I think how

historically this board has treated the development of these older lots, this was ultimately the plan that was settled on. obviously i'd be happy to answer uh many questions uh from the board but ultimately i think what we need is just lot coverage relief with a finding from the board that the 10 feet is sufficient the new structure is not going to be it will it be i'm

sorry will it be higher than the existing structure it might be slightly higher than the existing structure i think at its peak i think we discussed okay i'm getting shaken off by the architect telling me no if she'd like to come up i think at its highest point we would discuss this today when we went out to the property it would be maybe about 16 feet 16, 17 feet roughly. It's a

one-story building. One-story building, absolutely. And just by way of background too with the surrounding neighborhood, I think if you take a look there where Mr. Rivard's property is, if you look at the back corner, there's a number of structures that are either like right on the property line or sit maybe a couple of feet off the property

line. What's being proposed certainly is in conformity with the neighborhood, I would suggest to this board. I know on a lot of the older lots before zoning, We did go by the 10 foot sidelines. Yeah. Now the, I see the driveway by the side of the house here and it goes to the back obviously where the garage is. Yes. Is the plan to still have the same entry point into the garage? So... As

the old one? So I would suggest just by looking at this, there would have to be some reconfiguration of the asphalt to make the entry into the garage a little bit smoother, but it would be along those same... Along the same path. Yes.

So it's going to come by the side of the house and then open up to... Correct. Open up to access the garage in the back, yes. Okay. And this is just a garage? This is just a garage. There's no intention, if the question is whether or not there's going to be any kind of living quarters in there, there is not. There is not. Just a larger garage. Just a larger garage. Right.

I mean, I don't know if any of you had an opportunity to go buy the property. The garage is in nice shape, but it's small by modern day standards, certainly. A lot of houses now have at least one and a half or two or more stall garages. And we're just kind of looking to try to bring the property into a little bit more of modern times. And again, given the tight constraints

with these older lots, it's a three stall. it's tough to comply with with the bylaw to the very letter of the law but again i think if you take a look at the way that the bible has been interpreted over the years i i not just interpreted i think the way that it's written is calls for the allowance of these 10 foot setbacks um on these older lots and they can make

that swing into the garage yes no i mean i think traditionally we've looked at these like you're saying it looked like you know what was it when it was built it was yeah you know i mean the bylaw says it's kind of it says alteration expansion of residences so I mean this is the garage I understand that finer point mr. catarat I certainly do I'm not going to say that I

didn't notice the the wording there I would suggest to the board though that it I think the way it's been interpreted in the past is it's the structures that are used for residential purposes on the properties yeah I agree with I mean I've been on this for a long time I think I since I've been on the board that has been the way it's been interpreted so

I agree with that and the lock cover is going to be 41% and then based on what's in the bylaw it's 35 35 so you're looking for a variance for 6% 6.38 to be exact but yes so the construction phases is to include the demolition and raising of the new structure, what's the projected time frame for that? Only because we have people, you know what I'm saying? Time frame in order to get it completed? Yeah. I

mean obviously he's always at the mercy of whoever his contractor is, but I can assure you that once the construction process starts, it's his goal to get it completed as quickly as possible. And obviously I'm sure Mr. Rivard will fall within the time frames allowed for beginning in the morning and ending at night? Absolutely. I'm good Mr. Chairman. And the

rear, so the rear setback is the existing setback? Correct. But there was an issue with getting that to 10 feet? So...

when that garage was constructed again 1964 setback requirement at that point was 10 feet right obviously that structure has been built and been there since 1964 when they went out and did today's measurements it came to 9.2 feet so we're asking to hold that that line but there would be an issue if we asked for the 10 feet i i we're probably talking about eight inches or so um i'm just i

i would i like it's difficult for me to say that that would be a an issue we are getting a little bit tighter to the house so i i i know that there is a desire to keep it as far back as possible um that's why we're looking to hold that 9.2 feet which is there one of the things that we had originally looked at is moving it back further But we

thought it would be reasonable to request to stay within the existing setback that's there with the garage. Okay. That's why I asked about the access. Yeah. Because I mean, this is obviously tied to the house, especially with that projection you got in the back of the house. Absolutely. So I mean, there's not a lot of room between the garage and the house. We're talking about driving a vehicle, right? I mean, you're

talking about turn radius. That's a tough thing. But if it works for them and they're holding the existing setback, I'm fine with that. That's why I asked the question about the 10. It makes the access even harder than what it is right now.

I don't have a problem with it. No, I don't have a problem with it.

Anybody else? okay then i guess uh we don't have any more questions so open to the floor anybody that has any comments for or against this application it's seen that there aren't any um we'll close it i would entertain i would make a motion that we approve the petition as presented and grant a variance of lot coverage do i need to specify the percentages as stated by the

attorney 41.8 percent want coverage i'm just i'm asking if i need to make that in my emotion 41.3 all right so we've got i also in the motion uh grant the variance for a lot of coverage from 35 to 41.8 percent i think it says 41.38 but just give them a little wiggle room that would be appreciated i'm going to second that mr miranda second steve monaside bernard

miranda i steve canter and i right thank you very much gentlemen subject to a 20-day appeal period after the 20-day appeal period after the decision finals you file a decision in the registry of deeds and then you're all set okay good thank you thank you thank you thank you next one matthew vod's at 105 harrison avenue Good evening. If you want to just kind of describe what you want to do and

then... So what we were looking to do was to add some parking and storage to our house. We had a large swath of land to the left of the house over there. So originally what we wanted to do was add a garage. And then, you know, we started thinking about it. I have a daughter graduating high school this year and we both have elderly parents. So, you know, we figured we're going

to go as far as building a garage. You know, why not add a little bit of living space on, you know, above the garage if we were going to do that anyway. So, you know, that's the proposed plan. It is, as the gentleman before me said, it is one of those old non-conforming lots, you know. So some of the setbacks are not as they should. But I didn't bring printouts for everyone,

but I can pass this around. Our rear setback, we kept the same as what the main house has now, which is between seven and eight feet, I believe.

Toward the left side we have 11 foot 8 and then towards the rear of the proposed ADU. Towards the front I believe we meet setback requirements and at the front of it we get 15 foot for setbacks. It's going to be detached so we have our 10 feet away from the main house so it's really just the rear that we're looking to get some relief from.

I just need to read these two letters into the record. We have a letter that's addressed to the Somerset Zoning Board of Appeals support for variance request 105 Harrison Avenue. Dear members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, we are writing as a butters to the property located at 105 Harrison Avenue regarding the variance request submitted by Matthew

Voss for the construction of a detached accessory dwelling unit. As residents of 141 Harrison Avenue, we would like to express our support for the proposed project. We believe the work plan for the property will be positive addition to the neighborhood and do not have any objections to the requested variance. Thank you for your time and consideration regarding

this matter. John Barea and Deborah Barea. We have a second letter addressed to the Town of Somerset Zoning Board of Appeals. Dear Zoning Board of Appeals members, I am writing in opposition to the requested variation from dimensional setback requirements as requested for the property located at 105 Harrison Avenue, Cessna's map C1 lot 92, here and after the

property. I am submitting a written letter as I am out of the country at the date and time of the meeting and unable to attend the meeting in person.

This property is a single family dwelling located in a neighborhood of similarly proposed properties, similarly purposed properties. The property is not burdened by any hardships such as unique lot sheet or topography that require zoning setback relief. In addition, the proposed development of the property would go against zoning setback allowance standards by allowing a development that does

not fit the neighborhood. Each property in the neighborhood consists of a single family dwelling and accompanying yard. The property has minimal yard space that will be entirely consumed by an additional dwelling thus eliminating the yard and altering the character of the neighborhood.

Further, the current tenants on the property regularly park on the street. Additional occupancy of the property would cause increased parking congestion on a street that already has parking issues.

During the winter months, there were multiple occasions when the town's school buses were not able to pass on Harrison Avenue due to the parking congestion. Allowing additional dwelling units would further exasperate the parking issues on this street. While I understand that accessory dwelling units are currently a hot topic in the Commonwealth, they must be placed

where they make sense for a community. Attempting to cram an ADU on a 6,970 square foot property that already contains a 2,028 square foot dwelling and an additional 80 square foot outbuilding and existing parking issues does not warrant setback relief.

for the reasons outlined above i respectfully request that the zoning world of appeals deny the petitioner's request for a variance from the dimension dimensional setback requirement sincerely matthew oliveira so those are two letters that we received um i do have a question i looked at the plans that get submitted there's a proposed site plan that's uh sheet a-0-1 And then there's also a mortgage inspection

plan. The dimensions on these two plans aren't the same. Right, we cleared that up.

The stamp mortgage inspection plan, those are what we're going by. Those are the real dimensions there. So the new thing that is being passed around has been updated. Okay, so... The lot coverage is in the mid-40s. So was this plan right here prepared by a surveyor? That was prepared by my draftsperson. Is he a surveyor? He's not a surveyor. He's a draftsperson, yep. So typically what happens with these, especially

with a variant like this, is that we would do the plan prepared by a surveyor because otherwise where there was a discrepancy originally and now you're submitting another plan with no discrepancy, it's difficult for this board to make an opinion based on a plan that's not prepared by a surveyor when we're talking about setback variances so I personally just as one member of

the board will work for a plan prepared by a surveyor before I would be willing to entertain this this request for a variance And then second, as that letter pointed out, there are specific requirements for variances and there has to be a hardship that's in the bylaw. It's shaping the land topography. Right, the shape of the lot. So I don't view this as an irregularly shaped lot. It has one angled sideline.

But I don't, to me that's not an irregularly shaped lot. So we need to know what the hardship is for this. You're saying you think this is an irregularly shaped lot? Yeah, as it not being square, you know, we're using the same setbacks as what they used for the main house. You know, it's an old non-conforming lot. One other issue is because you're on a corner lot,

the setback from Riverside, which you have 11 foot 8 inches. At the back, yeah. But that, but it's off of Riverside so it is a public way so it's a set back from there which is what? 25 feet. So it's actually 32 because 7 feet is the sidewalk, right? so it's actually that's my question about the plan yeah it's not for there by a

survey so i don't really know what the dimensions are from or it's 32 feet and you get seven feet for the sidewalk so it's 25 feet well i was hoping for it to be detached i could make it attached and then you know probably be in compliance with all setbacks as far as riverside goes Yeah, that's gonna be a big problem. The Riverside Avenue. Where would the door be to this? The garage door? It would be

facing Harrison Avenue. So what is this gonna look like?

Like it's an ADU, right? That's what you're applying for? Right. It's going to be a garage with a living quarters on second floor. They just did one extremely similar about a block away. So a garage with a second floor living quarters. Before I had the whole thing drawn up, I wanted to see if it even makes sense to have it drawn up if I was going to be able to get said

variants and all that before I had all the plans done, which is why I'm here. I have no problem reaching out to a surveyor and having it surveyed if, you know, that's what needs to be done, then so be it. I mean, that's just my opinion. You guys can weigh in on that. Arthur, when you're on the corner lot, you need to be 32 feet from both streets. This is the proposed

ADO. Yeah. Like he's got Harrison Avenue. Would he have to be 32 feet back from Harrison Avenue? I think it all depends upon where your front door is. It's always been, where's your front door? That's the front of the house and the back of the house would be Back here. On the side of the house. Because he's going to have... The front of the house would be facing Harrison Avenue. Harrison Avenue,

yes. And then the side of the house, which is Riverside Avenue, does that have to be 32 feet? No, it's just a dimension from the top, you know. Yeah.

It'd be 15 feet on the side. But what I'm trying to say is you...

You have to be... From the street, you have to be 32 feet back.

Seven feet is sidewalk, 25 feet is to the foundation. So what I'm saying, when you have a corner lot, do you go 32 feet from both streets? No. No.

So you just go 32 feet from the front of the door of the house.

So that would be to Harrison Avenue. For your front setback, you're going from like the front of the foundation of the house or if you have steps, correct? So that would be from Harrison Avenue. That's your front setback, yeah. Yeah, be 32 feet back. And... 25 feet from the property line. From the property line. But now...

How far would you be from Riverside Avenue? If that's your side yard, then 15.

15 feet, okay. I know when I built my house on a quarter lot, the building inspector back then, it was quite a few years ago, enforced the 25 feet from both streets. From both streets? Yeah. That was Jerry Ankle. Probably. We'd have to talk to the building inspector, but I think you're right about the 15 feet from the side. Yeah, so we've had several on corn lots of

times. The opinion that the front is the, you know, we're on the front door.

That's the front. And that front sent back to 25 feet is on that side.

And then every other, the other two sides are sides. So those are 15 feet.

And then the rear is 15 feet. I read this all by the building inspector before I even started it. And he's the one that, you know, urged me to go for the variance. He said he didn't think it would be a problem. I can, I can also agree with that. Now me looking at this, if it was attached, you'd have more room to the Riverside Avenue. Right. Yeah. Right.

That needs to be the case, you know? It's an option. Well, I'm just... Yeah. I try to make it so if somebody appeals it, you have a chance. Yeah.

Understood. Okay? Where if you do something and they appeal it, you go to court, you lose. Right. That was the issue because we had one in the Foley Drive neighborhood. Yeah. He didn't have an exit point to both streets. He only had one exit point. Right.

He only has one exit point to Harrison Avenue.

So then it says on a corner lot, planting fence structure, a wall chubby, and a structure division between them. three feet and eight feet above the street elevation within the triangle formed by the intersecting street lines and a line between points on the same street lines 25 feet from the intersection so basically that's like a 25 foot triangle and then you would need a variance from that requirement to

be inside the triangle i don't think he's he's not asking for any fences or anything else like that's the structure oh okay yeah What this says is, "Cornelot, no planting fence structure," which this would be a structure, "or wall shall be an obstruction to vision between three feet and eight feet above the street elevation within the triangle formed by the intersecting street

lines and a line between points on the street lines 25 feet from the intersection." So basically it's like a triangle, like if you took the ribbons, you know what I mean? So this would be in that, so you need a variance.

So that's why I'm saying I think you need a surveyor's plan to show us where this is. And then we've got to identify what variances you actually need, because I think you need a variance from that also. If he attaches it, would you need the variance? Probably not. Well, we'd have to see where it is, and you'd have to see where it falls in. I think you've got a better shot if

it's attached. Mm-hmm. It seems like it. Yeah, if he slides it up, it gets him away from the triangle. Yeah, it gets him out of that, right? It gets him out of all that. And then you actually get, as you slide up, you get into a wider portion of the lot, right? Because it narrows down to the river side. But as you go back, you're getting away from everything. But I think

with a surveyor's plan, it would be extremely helpful. Okay. He also, I think, would get some benefit out of not only 48 section 3 but our bylaw that talks about he's extending an existing single family home so he'd get some benefit if it was attached. Right. So typically what's happened and this is typical, this doesn't happen in every case but typically what's happened is

if there's an existing structure and you put an addition on it And there's already that setback to the property line. And you can see that line. You know, we've looked more favorably on those situations than we have on detached buildings that end up into the... So, yeah, I think if you could look at, you know, maybe attaching this, that's entirely up to you. But I think that I would be

interested, you know, a surveyor's plan. If you get a surveyor's plan, yeah. What this is, because this is kind of a unique situation where you're on that corner and you get into that triangle. It's this paragraph right here. Exterior walls can be extended out or along the same non-conforming distance within a required yard provided the building inspector

finds that the proposed modification will not be substantially more detrimental. So it's even a lower standard. He might be able to do it without the variances requested. Right. And what section was that? It's section 6.3, and it's the third paragraph. And the colonel arts is 6.8. Yeah, so we could continue this, and then we can go from there if

you make some alterations to the plan. I would appreciate that. I'll call in the surveyor and you know we're planning on it being attached and go from there. Okay. Anybody else have any questions on this? So then if we could, if anybody's here for or against this or wants to make a comment on this application, we'll open it to the floor. I'm seeing that there's none. So why don't, looking

to get a surveyor to do this, we can continue to our meeting next month.

Okay. And if you're ready, you can come back. If you're not ready... So next month we have about six or seven public hearings. So I would... suggest that we continue until the July so that gives him time for a surveyor. He might actually need the extra time. That's one thing. He'll have to get a surveyor probably in a month and get it planned. Because if he moves into 6.3, he may only

get a special permit. Right. And that's a lesser standard. You don't have to show a hardship. Okay. Right. So that might be what you want to do. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Alright, so July 23rd is the fourth Thursday of the month. i make a motion that we continue this hearing to our next meeting july 12 well to the july meeting which is on the 23rd second steve monasai miranda all right thank you very much Gilmar

Silva of 287 County Street, Assessors Map B2, Lot 227, petition for a variance from Section 6.5 of the Zoning Bylaws for the property owned by Jaminak Koff, care of 287 County Street, LLC, to allow the operation of an electronic and illuminated business sign as per the application filed with the Town Clerk. Alright, I'm gonna go to my son.

I think you guys already have this. Thank you.

Can I have your name, sir? John. John. We'll get it. Excuse me. So as was stated, we are looking for a variance to essentially keep the existing sign structure and overall layout as was previously approved. So the previous message center was abandoned, but I don't think they applied for it within the 30 days. We would just replace the new message center with a brand new message center, do channel letters above

it with LEDs inside of it. So that's essentially the plan for this. Are you going to keep the same structure that's there? Yeah, same structure. And just replace it with the new lettering? New lettering and a new message center as well because the old message center was put there in 1997. So you're going to remove that completely? Exactly. We'll remove it completely, exact same size. It's going to have dimmers in

it and the message center itself would have a just static messaging. So it would just manually change for like, the 4th of July and at night time they can, there's dimmers, they can adjust the brightness of it and at night time they would shut it off. It would be on the timer. So there's no graphics or anything?

It would just be wording. So like, "Welcome to Prestige Car Wash." Nothing flashing? No, nothing flashing. Static message center. They have a similar one in Bridgewater. I don't believe they've actually ever changed the messaging on it. They just have it there to just display like a promotion or something. So this just have one message? Pretty much, yeah.

There's not going to be a message that changes? No, no. It's not going to change. It might change for like a day, like Happy Fourth of July. It might change for that, but it's not going to be like rotating, changing signs. It won't be intermittent as the bylaw excludes. Yeah, it wouldn't be changing. So it wouldn't be like Happy Fourth of July and it scrolls away and something else comes on there?

Not necessarily. It would just be saying Happy Fourth of July the entire time. But they can change it for the holidays, Merry Christmas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally get that.

Now when you say there's a dimmer in there, who controls that? There's a controller that comes with the sign that they control the brightness of it. I believe it's at 1000 lumens is what it starts at. And then we can dim it down if it's too bright. But I believe the car wash doesn't operate at night time anyways. So at night time they can have it set with the timer to just

shut off. Okay. Oh, okay. So they're not advertised. It's just the channel, even the letters themselves can also be on a timer. So it's just... The whole thing? Yeah, exactly. So when they're done for the night or the day, the timer kicks in and it goes down. Yeah, it could be like basically maybe 7, 8 p.m. And then it might need a little bit of light just to show the sign better

and then just shut off. So it's not... All night long, it's not on there glowing. Exactly. And then the lettering on the building, that complies with the bylaw?

I'm not sure. From what I was told for the lettering on the building, the car wash exit and the, I think it says Prestige, I think Somerset runs on Prestige. I think that's what they do for most of their locations. Those are just so they know where to go. So somebody might end up trying to go in through that exit point, so we want to put signage there so just they know

where to go around the building to come through the car wash to leave. Right, you mean the "Do Not Enter" Yeah, "Do Not Enter Car Wash" There's no sign there right now, but you'd be surprised, somebody might actually try to drive through that.

And that would be on a time of that whole... The signs on the buildings themselves, they don't have to be LEDs, they don't have to be lit up, they can just be like flat, it's because nobody's going to be going through the car wash anyways at night time. They would, our customer would like them to have the LEDs, but if they don't have to have them, that's fine. Do you know if

this complies with the square footage? This became an issue with one with the dealership on Braden Point Road was how much area the lettering took up so I mean in all fairness everybody this signed bylaws extremely difficult to interpret. I would say that Jim and I went through it and discussed the application after they applied and we didn't find anything that it didn't. So they're within all the From what we've

seen, although if we've missed something that certainly could be the case as well. Do you, um, do any of you gentlemen recall if that nice and clean car wash sign was on all night or if it did it shut off? I don't remember.

I don't remember either. I believe it's right down the road. I didn't even know where the car wash was until I just ran it. Oh yeah, right down the street. Yeah, it's right down the street over here. I don't remember. Did the owners of this property tell you if the old sign was up all night long? I don't know how many years they've been out of business, but Prestige just came to

us and said we bought this many car washes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand, yeah.

So they didn't really specify. I don't even think Prestige asked. They just saw a car wash that had good bones and they just bought it up. I don't think it was lit up or anything. I don't want to say no until I remember it. I think it's 6542. 6542. Yeah. It's a percentage. Yeah.

12% or 120 square feet. And then 6.5.2 talks about how you determine the area. So basically you draw a rectangle in the area where the signs are, and then you compare it to that area.

It's in 6.5.4.

So we just need to know that, but you don't know that right now.

I don't know off the top of my head, but that's something we can look into, and we can provide that information to you guys. The main purpose of us coming here today is for the variants, for the message center itself, to try to be able to revamp that and put a new one in.

Okay.

You don't know how big this area is with these... The signs on the building themselves, I'm not sure. I know that the prestige and letters themselves are 14 feet by 1.5 feet tall. Those are already installed. Those are already installed on the building?

Are they? I don't... No, they're not installed. Oh, okay. So it would be that and then... So really, the... It would be this part here with the prestige. Yep. And then this part here. Yep. And that area would have to meet the bylaw requirements. Yeah, I gotcha. Or else you have to get a variance. Yeah, I gotcha. But we'd rather reduce the sizing if we need to, to be able

to avoid having to get a variance for the signage on the building itself. So maybe we could do this. Maybe we could approve the message center and then issue a conditional approval for the letters. that they meet the requirements in those two sections of the bylaw and that the plan that they submit to the building inspector meets those requirements and then otherwise they would have to come back. And does that

include, when you say the message center, are you talking about? Yeah, no, that's fine.

Yeah, I'd rather not have you not come back in. I mean, if the lettering all meets the bylaw requirement, you knew that right now yep then really it would just be for them for your message center you know so we could do that and just condition the letters and the millers don't meet the violin requirement then they get it yeah I believe anyway that it has to abide by any

and all other zoning requirements so that would cover yeah we could we could specify it to that it's gonna have to meet the section six point five point two for determination of area and then six point five point four then if they comply they're all set and Jimmy can give them whatever permits they want and if they don't they got to come back for more relief yeah

yeah all right anyone here want to comment on this I do yes my name is Celia Martins I'm the abutter I'm the neighbor in the back and I'm the one that missed the meeting for the trees because I was in the wrong place, wrong time. My buffer zone was destroyed with branches in trees that were taken down. So I can actually see lights of the vacuums

now and bling, bling, bling of the car wash, the automatic car wash. Now you're going to add more lights. I could probably see that I can probably see it through maybe the second to the last stall the front of the car wash sign so I'm a little annoyed that my buffer zone was destroyed and all these bling bling lights are coming through my yard I've had

to we've had to spend a lot of money doing our own yard to try to rebuild our privacy so I don't know what else I can say or do, but I'm not, please bear with me, but help me. So what you had there before was fine. What? The branches, the tree, whatever. Yeah, I even have pictures. It was nice and full and I couldn't really see the car wash. Now

I can see right through. So if they were to put some new trees back there that they took out... We already went down that road. I missed the meeting because I was not in the right place. They did restore it, but the ones in back of me will never be restored because they already took down the branches. It will never regrow back. So they're keeping it there. They wanted to

knock down our barn tree. I stopped them because it's a buffer zone. They ripped all the branches with a backhoe. That's a no-no for anyone. And you guys know all that. A buffer zone trees cannot be... You just had to come up here because it's on TV. Yeah, I just came up here. A buffer zone cannot be ripped apart with backhoes. Trees cannot be ripped apart with backhoes like they did. So

all the branches behind 172, it was ripped down with a backhoe. So when I came back the guys were there I stopped them doing that. They went to my neighbors and my neighbor said it was okay to cut the trees down, the buffer zone. The guy came back to me and goes, "Oh, your neighbor said for me to cut the trees." I said, "That's not his trees, that's a buffer zone." "But

whatever you guys want to do, go ahead and do it." So what happened is they came back and did plant trees where they cut the trees. But now on my side The pine tree is still there, but they broke all the branches down.

So I have a big opening at least 20 feet from the bottom of the the asphalt up. The fence or yard to the... Because they they knocked every they broke everything down. Now they're going to add now they're going to add some lights on the front like you know this case is the sign whatever they want to put it's going to be flashing lights whatever if you guys go to Fall River

You guys will see exactly what's there. The Dartmouth, the Prestige. It's flashing lights all over. So, two things. Number one, so that tree issue, they came here. I would contact the building inspector to make sure that what they did conforms with the decision that this board made about that. okay so that's one issue because because they did come before us we did make a decision they were very very quiet and they

said they were going to restore that so what I would ask the building expenses to look at that and make sure they did what they committed to do yeah they committed to do but our side is still will never be nothing is nothing can be done on our side Because the branches are gone. Unless they're going to cut all the pine trees down and plant new trees, which they want to plant

down, epiphytes that's five footers. It's going to take another 20 years to block the light on the back. I don't know what we can do about that, to be honest with you. Because my understanding was that meaning that those trees are on their property. Correct. Is that not what they represented this? Right. And it's in the deed that they must maintain and replace. Maintain and replace when it's,

you know, correct. Right. Okay. This application, this signage is going to face county. County, correct. Okay. So you shouldn't see this because you're on the opposite side of the building. So this on the building should face county.

So it's going to face east. Right, right. I understand that part. And then this message board. And the other part is this one. It's just a message board. Right.

But like he was saying, more LED lights, more lighting. How great is that going to be? So the lights on the building are going to face away from you.

And you should be shielded from those by the building. So you shouldn't see these.

the message center is going to be shut off when they're not open. Correct? That's what you're doing? Right. And what time is this? I'm not sure what the time of operation for this location is, but... they generally operate during some hours so once the sun goes down so the winter they shut down and closed down earlier and the sun will be closed down a little bit later. The application says 8:00 to

8:00. Right now we have on our deep shows the car wash application says 8:00 to 8:00. 8:00 to 8:00. And right now it's posted that Sunday morning they open at 7:00 in the morning cars going in and out. Yeah there's on the weekend there's they're open earlier. You know, and it's posted on the back, 7 a.m. open, which even on our seats that we have, it should be 7.30, not 7 a.m.

Well, if there's something that's counter to the decision that's a zoning board decision, then the zoning, the building inspector as a zoning enforcement official would enforce that. So you need to talk to him about that, hours of operation. okay this is going to face away from you so this shouldn't impact you and the other side is going to have and this sign is the sign that's that should be perpendicular to the

road and that's going to go off when they close and it shouldn't go on until they open correct which house is theirs they can if you can yeah you can yeah just i think there's addresses what's your address 172. all right he's right there so this is where we're right in back maybe a question could even see that yeah it is sometimes i can it depends what part

of the house i am if i'm in my kitchen my kitchen window it's diagonal well and right now i can see his values lights of vacuums bling bling bling and the red it looks like rocket ships and through my kitchen window so i would talk to the building inspector about the visual issue with the tree being cut I feel like my time is being wasted because no one's listening to me. I've

been back and forth to that town hall I don't know how many times. Have you spoken to the owner? Because he was pretty accommodating. I mean, he was willing to... That's what he said at first, but then... And I was here for that meeting, but I was in the wrong room. Have you spoken to him since then?

No. No. You might want to try give it a try. No, I'm not. We're not gonna. I just have these two pictures. I just want you guys to take a look when you guys have a chance. I mean, this is what we have.

This is what's up off of Zoom. That was before. This was before and this is what they did on the winter time. They not sold this down. I already did my own construction. I went and got 35 Giant Epivari trees. I did my on my side. I built my side, but this was a no-no. This was should not never trim. Maintain the tree is one thing. Ripping trees down with a backhoe,

that's a different story. This is what I had and this is what they did.

You guys can keep those pictures. Thank you for your time. Right now what you have. So where did you plant these new avocados? This is all on my side.

That's on your side. But this is the pine trees. All this was blocked. And they cut these branches. They did a cut. They ripped it with the back hole.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because if they were cut, they would come back. When you rip it with the back hole, they will never come back. They're done. So they snapped all this up that now this looks like that. And this was all blocked with all these branches. And this is my backyard, this is my epiphytes and now I add, I went 20 feet to my side, I add more epiphytes back here, the

giant epiphytes which the ones that grow 3 to 5 feet a year. Yeah, yeah.

To try to bring it up higher. To block it. Yeah, yeah. But this was a no-no. This was, and we did came to the town, we did came, sent an email to James Egg Yard I believe. We sent emails, we talked to someone.

I wish we had these pictures. Exactly. We were in the wrong room because I guess one of the ladies forgot to post. The trees have been replanted since that picture. You guys can keep that. Thank you. That was winter. Yeah, the question is when was that picture taken? This was on the wintertime. That was after they ripped it out. So the trees have been replanted since. And this was my summertime. It's

right here in the deep and this was ripped on the wintertime. Yeah, but what does the picture look like now? What does it look like? They replanted the trees.

No, that's winter. No, they did replant trees on my backyard. No, no, no, not in your backyard, but they were going to replant trees on their side, right? Yeah, but not our trees. They were going to keep it the way it is. They can't plant nothing here because the... Oh, no, no, no, no, no, but these trees are on their property right right right so they planted something on their property no

they kept those there they weren't gonna touch them if you were replanted the ones they took down but I kept those those those trees are still there and they replanted the ones that they removed right they replanted the ones they removed they had to put them back I thought in our decision that they were supposed to fill in these gaps. They were supposed to replant exactly what they were doing. This

is the other neighbor. They knocked all this down. This is where they planted trees. This is mine still there. That's the gap. Before we touch it.

I thought they were going to restore that to what it was. No, they were going to keep the ones where they have the same. That's what I thought too.

The only problem we have is see these all disliked, I just hope that other sign that they're going to put up, it's not going to be I hope so and I hope it won't be more of this. No, it shouldn't be. No, we understand your concern because I don't want to be honest. I thought they were going to fill this in. I did too. I thought they were going to fill that

in. That's what I thought. That was not the intent of what we... we thought what this is what they the board members that was not on here they said they took all these questions so yeah we'll look into that for you and we were going to try we we were here but in the wrong room they switched you to the library but we were here in this right now that day

yeah we went to the uh old town hall right because there was a meeting in here right uh what a selection i think I just don't want more lights to affect my house. At this point, it's like... You don't have the decision on your phone, do you? We'll look into it. We'll commit to looking into this. I know it's going to be tough for them because these pine trees are big. I know if they

knock this down and if they want to come up with something like they went and plant trees on the other side, they removed, they plant at least, they call giant hippo bodies. They did exactly what I sent Mark the email. They grow quick, very quick. They do. But if they decide that, okay, for us to cover that line, we need to knock these up, pine trees down, to put, all right. If

they do that, at least they're light on the back so those trees grow. Please shut them off at night. they can they can knock them down i don't have no problem they want to plant you the giant amphibious to look the property to look nice go ahead and do it but at least at night you see all that light in the back at least nine o'clock at night those lights on the

back then next morning put them back on yeah and one of our bedrooms face the back so i'm not asking my son was most affected because he sees all that light because i mean I'm only going to speak for myself. The intent of this was to comply with the bylaw, which says that on lots that are adjacent to a residence, that it should be provided with a continuous wall of solid appearance

or a tight evergreen hedge six feet high along and parallel to said lot line.

So that picture that you showed us, that picture right there, doesn't have anything six feet above the ground. It's a solid wall. I thought that was going to be filled in. I thought it was going to comply with the bylaw. So that was the intent of the decision. I wish I was here. I would have showed you the picture so you could get a better idea that day. I wish you were

here too. But I understand their point. Because there's no way for them to fill that in. I was prepared just like I am today. With those trees there. You're right. I know. I understand that, sir. There's no way. I understand that. They did say that. You're a business. to plant the 12 quarters of the top of it.

But at the meantime, if they do that, if they want to do that, I have no problem but at least at night, those lights on the back. Shut them off. That's it. I mean, the car wash is only operated from 7 to 8.

They shut those lights at least night to night. At least just the back. The installs, they stay on. They don't bother us. It's just those back ones. These right here. Yes, exactly. If they put a timer on that... I agree with the gentleman.

I mean, I'm not asking nothing, you know... Now we just have to wait for our trees to grow so we can get our privacy back. And also I already did it on my side to see because we try, you know, one says, oh no, we cannot do nothing. James goes, oh, it has nothing to do with me.

This has got to be with the Zunen board. I'm out of this. The Zunen board is the one that got to decide what they're going to do. and you know it's like back and forth and i just hope that you know and let me just show you i tried to appeal let me just read this but it was a whole legal process and it was going to be more money out of

my pocket which i thought was unfair no no at that time i wanted to appeal that So, our decision says the proposed modification maintains the purpose of any conditions imposed in the original decision buffering screening even if the method of compliance is modified. The proposed modifications provides an equivalent or improved level of mitigation or

screening where the modification relates to the landscaping and buffering intended to protect the neighboring properties. So, I mean, in that decision, it says that it's going to provide an equivalent or improved level of mitigation of screening. So, this thing here, that's not an improved level of mitigation of screening. We're not the enforcement authority, but

I mean, we can certainly... What I would do, I'll just tell you what I would do. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong. Go to the building inspector and say you have this decision, you came here tonight, we said that our decision is supposed to provide an equivalent or improved level of mitigation of screening and that when you talk to us, you showed us this photo and we don't think

that's the case. Okay? Then if he chooses not to do anything, get something from him in writing, okay, because this is going to be important. You get something from him in writing that he doesn't think they need to do anything else, then you file an appeal of his decision that he thinks that whatever they did meets the requirement of the decision and you come back to us and we'll waive

the fee the application fee no the thing is that that wasn't the issue the listen I'm not a legal person and I I got an email from her saying go do this. I had to file with the court. I had to go to land court. That's the appeal of the decision. Yeah. That's not what you're doing. I don't want to go through this. Entirely different. So one of the things

that this board hears is appeals of the decision that the building inspector makes. Okay.

So you go to the building inspector. You say that you came to us. You showed us this picture. We said we don't think it complies with the decision.

We said, the three of us, said we don't think it complies with number two and number three and the requirements in this decision. Okay? He, again, if he says yes, it does comply with the decision, you ask him for that in writing, okay? Then you appeal that written decision that he made. And you come before us. And then it'll come back before us and we'll make a

decision. So we had a similar thing happen, I don't think anybody was on the board at the time, with Home Depot. So Home Depot had a decision, it was a decision about the lights in the Home Depot parking lot, okay? This woman came in who lives across the street in the off the parking lot there in that lower neighborhood She came in she said it was really light a guy who was

on the board then a member John Rosa went to her house with a newspaper at night and said he could read the newspaper in her living room no lights out of the house but he could read the newspaper so they filed an appeal and He came back to us. We ordered Home Depot to mitigate that and they did. This is the same situation with us. Not a court. No.

He just said, "I would have to go to the building inspector first, tell him, show him the pictures." Right. And if he thinks this is right, you tell him to put it in writing, get it back to us. And they will hear that. You say get it back to us. Do I come to a meeting and answer your questions? File an appeal, come back to us. Yeah, you come back

before us. Okay. Okay? And then we'll decide based on what you've shown us and based on his decision. You don't have to go to the land court anymore. Nope.

Nope. You all set? You all set? Okay. All right, thank you. Can I keep my pictures to show him? Yeah. And then probably have the final decision. And Amy, if they need help, you can help them out. You can call Amy. Yeah. She'll help you out. Yeah, so you won't spend money to go to land court. The appealing, as the chairman said, a building, the appealing the building decision, building inspector's decision,

comes back to us because he's our zoning enforcement officer. And if we take a look at that based upon the decision and what we thought, we... I can't speak for what could happen at that you're gonna follow through with it but that's the road to take. Okay. Alright, thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you. No, no, that's why we have this. I don't blame you. No, that's fine. I appreciate

it. So my final decision is for the lights then, sorry, if it gets put on a timer to be dimmed at night like you were speaking of and At least that's one less thing we have to see. I just have one more question for her before she leaves. In the beginning you were talking about seeing like spaceships and all that stuff. Is that part of that picture you showed us? No,

right now you can, well now our trees are kind of covering it, but the vacuums. The vacuums have lights too? Yes. All those red tubes. Before the other power wash didn't have any of that. Now it looks like rocket ships. It's like vacuums.

And according to Mark, the guy that runs the... his name is Mark. And he told me, he goes, those vacuums, when it comes 8 o'clock at night, when we shut down the place, those lights are going to be off. And that's not the case. They stay on all night. So if they were able to turn the lights off... Then that would take care of the situation, correct? The vacuum and the

vacuum. I understand the installs need to be on because people will go in because they're going to have that open for people that, not the automatic, the other one.

The self-serve, whatever they're called. I understand those and I don't They're on and I never, we never had a problem with the previous owner and he had those lights on just the installs and we never had a problem. Everything was good. And also my branches, all the trees were good too. But we never, but at least those lights on the back and now those vacuums, they stay on all night. I mean,

that's a lot of light on one shop. I mean at least those in the back and the ones, the vacuums, if they do something at night, you know, that would be a big help. I mean, I know that's not part of this sign, what we're doing now, but I don't understand why those have to stay on throughout the night. They don't. A vacuum hose has to be lit up throughout the night?

They can put them on a dimmer. Makes no sense to me, but we'll see what we can just, uh, if you folks... I'm sorry that we brought up something... No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't apologize. We had a chance today to be with you guys. Yeah, yeah, don't, no, don't apologize, please. Just, um, if you follow what Mr. Catarat had told you to do, I think you'll

be in good shape. All right. Thank you very much for your attention. So, what are we going to do with this? So, we can approve the message board... conditionally improve the lettering and the lettering has to comply with the 6.5.2 and 6.5.4 of the zoning bylaw and i will um obviously and have contact with all the owners of prestige car wash and i will bring this to their attention as well okay what they said

and see if that'd be okay yeah that'd be good i have no problem doing that and talking to them about it and seeing if they can do something about it because if they because they have like a lot of different managers in different towns we'll feel We'll figure out who. I assume Mark is. If they close at 8 o'clock and they can shut those lights off at 9 on a dimmer, shut

them off. I also don't. We have nothing to do with the lights on the vacuum. Or the lights on the inside. But we can talk to them and see if they can do anything about that. Yeah, that'd be great. In their defense, they were very... willing to work with us. They were. When they came in. Oh, yeah.

Oh, absolutely. They were. If you do, you know, if you bring that up, see if you can at least cut the... the what do you call it there the hose thing i don't know i have no idea why there's a light on the house i think the self-service is like i don't know how long that goes if that i think that's like self-service so you can go later at night that's why

those lights are on but the ones i think spaceships when she said that i've gone through a prestige car wash and it does look like a spaceship when you're going through the car wash i don't know if those are the lights she's talking about because those are like yeah yeah washing in there yeah yeah well see what you can do with yeah i'll talk to them and see if they're anything can

be done about that okay good all Okay, so I'll make a motion to approve, what do they call this? Message board. The approve the petition to work on the message board and the, with a condition for the lettering on the building, to ensure that it complies with the zoning board section 6.5.2 and 6.5.4 before any work is done on the building. And also another condition I think that

was discussed is that the message board have a timer to shut everything down when the business closes at 8 o'clock. And then the letters above the message board, I have to make sure those are in compliance as well, right? Yeah. Sounds good. Second.

Steve Moniz, aye. Bernard Miranda, aye. Steve Catterin, aye. So the decision will get written, then there's a 20-day appeal period, then they'll file the decision and register your deeds.

Perfect. Thank you very much, guys. Thank you very much.

We need to take a five-minute recess. Sorry.

We'll reopen this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought he was going to. Next petition, Jonathan Kuhn of 104 Center Street, sets a map C9 lot 6, petition for a variance from section 5.2 of the zoning bylaws to construct a garage that's located within the side yard setback in the residential district that has per application to clarify what the town is for. Hello and

thank you. What I'm proposing is to build a bigger new garage.

set back a little bit further than the current garage near the rear deck. And it's basically just due to the size of the current garage.

It was built so long ago for Model A's, Model T's, and it just doesn't fit modern vehicles. And I was looking for relief on the western border there to go out to two feet of the property line.

And that would just be, you know, the new door would be offset from center. I just wanted to avoid having the door like right at the corner of the building. It would give me, I think, three or four feet there. I think it would be three feet on the left side of the door.

The small, uh... The existing garage. What is the setback on the existing garage? I believe it's like right around four to five feet right in there. Okay. It was grandfathered in just due to the age. This is a pre-existing non-conforming lot.

Yeah. I know the town has my house as being 1950, but I know it's much older than that. They have printed deeds going back to 1938, but then there is old insulators for electrical, which dates up prior to 1934. My neighbor thinks 1920s, 10s, teens or 20s. But for whatever reason the townhouse... That's when the house was built? Yeah.

How about the garage? Same time, the garage? Yeah, I think there were... It was parents who built that and had three daughters. So my house is next to his, another one next to me, and then a third one. And they were all in the 1920s. So your existing setback... The existing garage, you may have said this but I didn't hear you, what's the setback on the side? You said four feet? I

believe it's right around four feet. I have a picture, like a visual picture. It's right in line with the edge of the driveway, but I know it's like another four feet out into the grass there. So it's already not within that 15 foot setback. And you need the two feet? Yeah, like an extra couple feet over to the left just to avoid putting... I wanted to put the new door... The driveway

is 18 feet wide. Yeah. The new door would be 16, so I wanted to center that in the driveway. Yeah. But avoid having it right in the corner of the building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you guys have... I have copies of this. I just have three. This is the surveyors. Oh, they have it. Yeah, we have it.

Yeah, we do. Yeah. So basically you need that extra two feet so that you can center the door. So the door, so that two feet, if you move that over, the door would be now kind of... Kind of like right in the corner of the new building. I'd have to say the construction is going to be a pole barn style if you're familiar with that. It's going to be a pole barn

style construction. Are you familiar with that? It's not stick frame. But I'm going to be using perma columns to have the wood portion of the poles... you know traditionally they're in the ground with cement so i'm doing pre-made perma columns to put the wood portion above grade yeah so they're not in contact with the ground and then there'll be a lean to over on the in the backyard how far away is

is the house 65 feet to the west where is that where is that existing yeah non-conforming oh the existing dwelling yeah uh from the driveway all the way across yeah oh it's probably Probably about 27 feet from your property line over there. Because the driveway is 18 feet wide. Yeah, the driveway is 18 feet wide. You say you've got 4 or 5 feet on that side.

Yeah, there's one stake there from the surveyor, but he's going to come back and trace it back there. I know that the The lot loses a foot from the street side to the rock wall at the very back. It loses a foot there.

That whole span of 214 feet. Okay. Oh, okay. 66 and 65. And then the setback on the opposite property line. Are you the direct abutter to this gentleman? Yes.

Yeah, that's me. I'm at 122. Is she on the east side or the west side? West side. Oh, so that's the two foot. Yeah. You don't have a problem with the two foot variance that he's at? I'll be putting gutters up so that it'll be a metal roof. Yeah. But I'll be putting gutters up so it doesn't shoot off into her, destroy her grass or anything. I

don't know. The gutters are two feet, right? What's that? The setbacks from the gutter, right? Yeah. Yeah, okay. I mean, if she's the direct opponent, she doesn't have a problem. I mean, it's not really substantially changing what's there right now. Actually, I take that back. The eave there that they have depicted, that would be the two feet, so the gutter would be another

few inches. I could kick that back if you need. That's nothing. No, I don't have a problem. That's fine. I'm fine. And then anybody else who wants to comment on this? Okay, I think we heard from the director but from the director but thumbs up Thumbs up if you couldn't see it on the camera, right? Okay, so we need a motion. I make a motion we accept the plan as presented second you know

Miranda I see bonus I Steve Catter and I so the decision yeah She is excellent. Again, the decision's out. I am probably the worst at redoing them. So she'll have it ready like in a week. And then once it's final, there's a 20-day appeal period. Then after the 20 days, then you can file a decision with the Registry of Deeds. Then you should be all set to start. Okay,

so that would be something I'd receive in the mail and then I'd bring it in? So, actually, I'll shoot you an email when it's ready to pick up. I can mail it to you or you can just come to the clerk's office and pick it up. Okay, yeah, I'm right around the corner. Nice to have a good neighbor. Do I take that to Fall River? You do, once you have it. Oh,

okay. I have one other question. I should wait to tear down the existing garage until that's all finished, correct? Well, you need a permit. Yeah, but do I need to wait for the... No, no, no, because they demo in the building. No, you demo in the garage. You shouldn't need to wait for this. Oh, okay, so I could start the process of demoing and get the permit for that. Yeah, go see

Jim tomorrow. Okay. Oh, great. All right. Thank you. Good. Thank you very much. Good luck. Good luck to you. Oh, no. Okay. Do you just want to come swing by tomorrow? Yeah. Okay. How much is it? Let me check. Do you have a debit card or cash? No, I want a check from you. No cash. No, no cash. No cash.

No cash. That looks bad. Yeah, no. No cash, thank you. 96.

Oh, man. Do you need a check? Yeah, I could just run it up tomorrow. I trust you. I need a check. How much is the check?

$96. I could do it tomorrow. It's up to you. She's in now. Such a good neighbor. Okay, well you're going to want to have to make it out to Gannett Media Corp. Oh, okay. I'm just trying to get you ready.

I trust you. Thank you. What about this last one? Is this a container? This is the best the butter I've ever seen in my life. I don't even say, supports it. You're going to write the check. You don't get many of butters like this in here. This is the first. Wow. What's up with the last one? Okay, so we're all set. So then the last one, is that going to be continued?

Yeah, until June 25th. Okay. So, I'll just read off so we can make a motion. Yeah, make a motion that we continue the petition. DDL New England LLC doing business as Taco Bell at 79 North Main Street, Mansfield. Assessors map 89, lot 226.

Petition for a planned development located at 721 Grand Avenue, the Republic Highway, in the section 6.10 of the town of Somerset. Zoning bylaws will allow for the construction of a quick-serve fast food restaurant along with associated... Site improvements such as parking, stormwater, and utilities within the business district and according to the application and plan

file with the town clerk. They've requested this be continued until our next meeting. I make a motion that we continue the petition until our next meeting June 25th. Steve Monasai. Bernard Miranda. Steve Catterin. We do approve the minutes from May 7th. So we have the minute for May 7th They're not very long No. It's the meeting that was the traffic issue. I make a motion to approve the meeting.

Second. Bernard Miranda, aye. Steve Monisai. Steve Catterett, aye. Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn. Second. Bernard Miranda, aye. Steve Monisai. Steve Catterett, aye.

What time are we meeting at the middle?

Thank you.