By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) at its Jan. 6 meeting denied a property subdivision on Kissewaug Road and accepted an application for a porch extension on Straits Turnpike.
David Hennessy, owner of the 269 Kissewaug Road property, told commissioners Nov. 4 he wanted to divide the 1.89-acre property into two lots as gifts to his adult stepdaughters. He explained one lot would be conforming but the other lot would be nonconforming because of lot angles and the location of the roads, which he said was the hardship.
Chairman David Alley recommended the hearing be kept open so Hennessy could prepare a more detailed map of the subdivision with driveway cuts, building locations and leach fields, and get open space answers from the zoning enforcement officer. The application wasn’t voted at the scheduled Dec. 2 meeting because of a lack of a quorum, but commissioner Ken Long explained that subdivision issues such as open space, engineering and house layout need to be addressed by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).
Long said the ZBA was a “young board” with the need to get answers for unusual situations. He told Hennessy Jan. 6 the lot had previously been subdivided in a “first cut,” which would have allowed him to bypass P&Z approval, but for further subdivision an approval would be needed. Hennessy said the unfortunate division of the property by the first cut and the angle of the road were the hardships leading to his appeal.
In denying the appeal, Long said it was important to consider the cause of the hardship. In the voting, which was three in favor, but two opposed, not enough to approve the application, commissioner Ray Caruso said, “If we were to hand out this variance it would open up a can of worms around town because there are a lot of people in the same situation who don’t have the correct amount of square footage.”
As he and his wife left the room, Hennessy said, “It cost me two grand to get to this point. I’ll sell my other house and move out of state.”
An application by Sam Zenzuni of 1440 Straits Turnpike to construct a porch in front of his house without the minimum 75-foot setback and with an increase in lot coverage above 10 percent was accepted for commissioner review and the public hearing was kept open. Zenzuni told commissioners he wanted to remove concrete steps and install a 5-by-37-foot porch to protect the front from rain water.
The next ZBA meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
