Minutes of the October 23, 2007
Meeting
A
regular meeting of the Jamestown Zoning Board of Review was held at the
Thomas Ginnerty
Don Wineberg
Richard Boren
Joseph Logan
David Nardolillo
Dean Wagner
Richard Cribb
Richard Allphin
Also
present: Brenda Hanna, Stenographer
Pat Westall, Zoning Clerk
Fred Brown, Zoning Officer
Wyatt Brochu, Counsel
A. Lauriston Parks, Counsel
MINUTES
Minutes
of the
A motion
was made by Thomas Ginnerty and seconded by Don Wineberg to amend the minutes
of September 25, 2007 on page 6 finding of fact item # 2 add “and”, item #4
change “not to no”, and item #6 add “’” to applicants, and to accept the
minutes as amended.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
CORRESPONDENCE
A letter
from Joseph & Furhana DiBiase requesting an extension of a previously
granted Special Use Permit for Plat 5, Lots 52 & 53.
A motion
was made by Thomas Ginnerty and seconded by Richard Boren to grant the request
of Joseph & Furhana DiBiase for a one-year extension of a Special Use
Permit for Plat 5, Lots 52 & 53 originally granted
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
A motion was made by Thomas Ginnerty and seconded by Don Wineberg to continue the request of Allan & Nancy Randall to the November meeting at the request of John A. Murphy, Esq.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
A motion was made by Thomas Ginnerty and seconded by Don Wineberg to continue the request of Martha Harris to the November meeting at the request of Peter J. Brockmann, Esq.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
A motion
was made by Thomas Ginnerty to deny the request of David M. Clancy and
Jennifer R. Clancy, whose property is located at 382 North Road, and further
identified as Tax Assessor’s Plat 7, Lot 22 for a Special Use Permit, as
provided under Article 3, Section 302 (District Dimensional Regulations), and
Article 6, Sections 600,601,602 and any other relevant sections of the Zoning
Ordinance.
This Board
had determined that this application does not satisfy the requirements of
Article 6, Sections 600 and 602.
This motion
is based on the following findings of fact:
1.
Said
property is located in a RR200 zone and contains 65,340 sq. ft.
2.
The
applicants have owned the property located at
3.
In
2003 they applied for dimensional relief and that matter is incorporated by
reference hereto.
4.
The
present application was heard at the March Zoning Board meeting,
5.
Mr.
Taber testified as a traffic expert. He
incorrectly stated that the area speed limit was 25 miles per hour. He was
unfamiliar with lighting in the area; he was unfamiliar with road conditions or
road contours in the area. He did not
perform an on location study.
6.
In
fact, the speed limit is 40 mph, routinely exceeded, as most people who drive
in that area will tell you. There is a single lane of travel in each
direction. There is a single streetlight
in the immediate area, the property is located at the crest of a hill – drivers
approaching from either direction have reduced visibility of traffic ahead or
approaching in the opposite direction.
There are passing restrictions in effect in the immediate area.
7.
There
is nowhere to park safely on this road in the area of the subject
property. The road has a small paved
surface to each side of the travel lanes, much more narrow than the width of a
car. Once off the pavement there is an
unevenly graded dirt/gravel shoulder, some parts are trench like.
8.
In
conclusion, the testimony of Mr. Taber was not probative as to the issue of
traffic; in fact his testimony was highly misleading. The area near the subject
property does not provide for a safe place to park on
9.
The
testimony of George Durgin was equally unpersuasive. He was qualified in the
area of real estate appraisal, but concentrated his testimony on the
appropriate use of the subject property.
Accordingly,
this Board makes the following determination:
That an application for a special use permit pursuant to Article
6, Section 601 and 602; the applicant has failed to sustain their burden of
proof.
In particular, the applicants have not presented probative
evidence that the relief sought would not result in a substantial health and
safety problem relating to traffic operation at the
Further, the granting of this application would substantially
and permanently injure the appropriate use of the property in the surrounding
area. That area, as well as the subject
property, is designated as RR200, wherein permitted activities are primarily
traditional agricultural pursuits.
That the granting of the relief sought would not be in keeping
with the general purposes of the zoning ordinance or the comprehensive plan, in
particular that a retail sales operation of any sort would be detrimental to
the rural character and contrary to the plan and policy.
The motion was not seconded.
A motion
was made by Richard Boren and seconded by Joseph Logan to grant the
application with the following conditions:
1.
The
special use permit does not run with the land; that the permit terminates upon
the sale of the transfer of the property from the Clancys to any other party,
even if it were for the sale of glass products.
2.
That
the sale would only be June through December.
3.
That
it would only be Thursday through Sundays during June through December through
December 15 to December 24 for any one-day period it would be every day; and it
would be maximum hours of 11:00 to 5:00 p.m.; and all product sold must be
manufactured on the premises. And I would repeat, as part of the condition that
any parking required for conduct of such home occupation shall be provided off
the street.
After
discussion, Richard Boren made a motion to amend the motion at condition #3 to
change the hours to
The
motion did not carry by a vote of 3 – 2.
Don Wineberg,
Richard Boren, and Joseph Logan voted in favor of the motion.
Thomas
Ginnerty and David Nardolillo voted against the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and were not seated and Richard Allphin was recused.
The Chair
stated that they reached an impasse.
A motion was made by David Nardolillo and seconded by to
Thomas Ginnerty to grant the request of Peter Johnstone, whose property is
located at 40 Clarke St., and further identified as Tax Assessor’s Plat 9, Lot
51 for a variance from Article 7, Sec. 705 & Article 3, Table 302 (District
Dimensional Regulations) to construct a front porch which will be 6.3 ft. from
the front property line, 15 ft. being required, and which will exceed the
allowable lot coverage by 217 sq. ft.
This Board has determined that this application does satisfy
the requirements of ARTICLE 6, SECTION 600, SECTION 606, and SECTION 607,
PARAGRAPH 2.
In particular reference to ARTICLE 6,SECTION 606, PARAGRAPH
3.
This project must be constructed in strict accordance with
the site and building plans duly approved by this Board.
This motion is based on the following findings of fact:
1. Said property is located in a R8 zone and contains 5,915 sq. ft.
2.
The proposed addition would be in harmony with
the existing homes in the neighborhood and in fact would enhance the area and
keep character of the area intact.
3.
There were two abutters and one letter in favor
of the variance and none opposed.
4.
The proposed addition is the least amount of
relief required and contains only 24 sq. ft. of relief and would not encroach
any more than the existing nonconformance.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
Ouimette
A motion was made by Don Wineberg and seconded by Thomas
Ginnerty to deny request of Patricia Ouimette, whose property is located at 783
North Main Rd., and further identified as Tax Assessor’s Plat 15, Lot 352 for a
variance from Article 3, Section 82-302 to construct a 3 bedroom single-family
residential home with attached garage located 20 ft. from the side lot lines
instead of the required 40 ft. Also, due to the size of the existing lot, a
building lot coverage variance is being requested from the required 5% to
8.6%. The existing house will be
demolished.
This Board has determined that this application does not
satisfy the requirements of ARTICLE 6, SECTION 600, SECTION 606, and SECTION
607, PARAGRAPH 2.
This motion is based on the following findings of fact:
1. Said property is located in a RR 200 zone and contains 24,050 sq. ft.
2.
The Board believes that if the applicant
consults an architect, they will be able to develop a plan site specific that
meets their family’s needs and will either need no zoning relief or much less
zoning relief than requested in the current application. As a result, the
relief requested is not the least relief necessary. Although the Board is
sympathetic to the family’s health needs, Section 606 (1) prevents us from
granting relief based on a physical or economic disability of the applicant
excepting those physical disabilities addressed in RI General Law 45-24-30
(16).
3.
Both adjacent abutters objected to the application.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
A motion was made by Dean Wagner and seconded by Richard Cribb to grant the request of Rod and Natalie Wright whose property is located at 20 Whittier Rd., and further identified as Tax Assessor’s Plat 8, Lot 412 for a variance from Article 3, Section 82-302 (Table 3-2 District Dimensional Regulations) to construct a garage 3.5 feet from rear and west property lines (ten feet required).
This Board has determined that this application does satisfy
the requirements of ARTICLE 6, SECTION 600, SECTION 606, and SECTION 607, PARAGRAPH
2.
This project must be constructed in strict accordance with
the site and building plans duly approved by this Board.
This motion is based on the following findings of fact:
1. Said property is located in a R20 zone and contains 16,031 sq. ft.
2. The applicant is seeking dimensional variances from the rear and left side setbacks to construct a garage.
3. No one spoke against the application.
4. Each of the abutters has submitted a letter in support of the application.
5. The proposed garage is located in the best location to mitigate the light and noise pollution caused by the non-residential abutter uses.
6. Specifically the paddle and tennis courts that abut the applicant’s property cause significant noise and light pollution.
7. The use of the abutting non-residential property has intensified.
8. The garage is designed to serve as a buffer against the noise and light 50 feet from the applicant’s house.
9. The location and size of the proposed garage is consistent with the general character of Shorby Hill.
10. Under the circumstances, the hardship that will be suffered by the owner of the subject property if the dimensional variance is not granted shall amount to a more than mere inconvenience.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Richard Boren, David Nardolillo, Dean Wagner, and Richard Cribb voted
in favor of the motion.
Richard
Allphin was not seated and Don Wineberg and Joe Logan were recused.
Moorehead
A motion was made by Richard Boren and seconded by Don Wineberg to grant the request of Christina Moorehead whose property is located at 7 Watson Ave., and further identified at Tax Assessor’s Plat 8, Lot 569 for a special use permit under Article 3, Table 3-1, Mixed Use and 82-1304 to construct a room in existing garage for use as an alterations boutique and install a 30” x 48” sign for said business.
This Board has determined that this application does satisfy
the requirements of ARTICLE 6, SECTIONS 600 and 602.
This Special Use Permit is granted with the following
conditions:
1. This project must be constructed in strict accordance with the site and building plans duly approved by this Board.
2. The sign will not be lit.
This motion is based on the following findings of fact:
1. Said property is located in a CL zone and contains 5,350 sq. ft.
2. The applicant is asking to take an existing garage attached to a house in a CL zone and divide the garage such that ˝ will remain a garage and ˝ will be used for studio space and storefront.
3. There will be no change to the exterior of the garage other than new doors.
4. The studio space will consist of 240 sq. ft.
5. There will be no parking problems or ingress and egress problems.
6. There was no one who testified in opposition.
The
motion carried by a vote of 5 – 0.
Thomas
Ginnerty, Don Wineberg, Richard Boren, Joseph Logan, and David Nardolillo voted
in favor of the motion.
Dean
Wagner, Richard Cribb, and Richard Allphin were not seated.
Executive
Session
ADJOURNMENT
A motion
was made and seconded to adjourn at
The
motion carried unanimously.