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ZBA Meeting Minutes 6/22/22 - 19 Laurel Banks

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, June 22, 2022

ZBA Hearing Minutes

Address: 19 Laurel Banks

Date:  6/22/22

Hearing began at: 3pm

Members Present:  Jonathan Levin, Chair, Gary Shaw, Clerk, Scott Jenssen, Susan Cooper and Michael Banner

Also present: Steve Weisz, Alexandra Glover, Kerry Bartini

The hearing began with Jonathan Levin, Chair, explaining the hearing process and then Gary Shaw, Clerk, read the legal notice (which was posted for 2 consecutive weeks in the Berkshire Eagle and at the Town Hall) and a letter from the Board of Health indicating that the state of the septic system would need to be reviewed.

Kerry Bartini, Representative for Amy Saltzman explained an original special permit  was approved in 2020 but never proceeded with due to rising building costs and other personal reasons of Ms. Saltzman.  This new application represents a modified proposal, essentially moving the originally proposed second floor master suite from the center of the structure to one end of the structure.  The sunroom is an existing year round room open to the rest of the house. The existing screen porch needs to be replaced and will now become an enclosed office.  The new 2nd floor area needed to be extended by 5ft over the end of the existing first floor footprint to avoid a pinch point in the roof system.  This proposal is the same height as the previous permit approved.

Attorney Glover represents the owners of 20 Laurel Banks Rd and noted her clients are in complete support of the project.

A motion was made to close the public portion of the hearing.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Jon expressed some concern  that by shifting the addition to the end of the house, it gave the appearance of a greater mass when looking at that end of the house, but acknowledged that there weren’t any abutters present to express concerns about the new proposal, nor did the concern rise to the level of being substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood.  Scott also expressed that he did not consider the change to be an issue. 

The Board made the following findings:

  1. The property is in the Lake Shore District and fronts on Laurel Bank Road and backs up to Route 57.
  2. The property is non-conforming due to lot size, lack of legal frontage and a non-conforming single family dwelling on the lot within certain setbacks.
  3. The lot and existing non-conforming single family dwelling are grandfathered under the current By-Law.
  4. Applicant seeks a Special Permit to permit expansion of the non-conforming dwelling by adding a second floor master bedroom and bath mostly within the footprint of the existing structure.
  5. The existing habitable areas of the dwelling total 1311 square feet, and the proposed addition will add 476 habitable square feet.
  6. There are no structures between the dwelling and Route 57.  The height of the house will increase by 12 feet over the existing height, but will still be below the maximum permitted height under zoning of 35’.
  7. The proposed work will only slightly increase the non-conforming nature of the dwelling on the Lot.

A motion was made to approve the application as submitted, acknowledging that the most adjacent abutter had no objections, with the condition that prior to a building permit being issued the Board of Health must be satisfied that the septic system meets Title V requirements.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

The Board made the following condition:

  1. The applicant must satisfy any Board of Health requirements prior to the issuance of a building permit.

The hearing concluded at 3:21pm

Submitted by

Melissa Noe, Town Administrator