A local developer will be allowed to create a building lot with less than the required frontage after the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) approved a variance in its Sept. 5 meeting.
Contractor Paul George is seeking to create seven house lots out of property he wants to purchase from the Donahue Family LLC at 2 Beaver Lake Road. The land is Parcel ID 09045 and is zoned LDR (Low Density Residential).
Surveyor Tim Peloquin of Promised Land Survey accompanied George to the meeting.
The property was formerly the Matteuzi Farm, Peloquin said. George wants to subdivide it into seven house lots and one piece of conservation land. To do that, they are requesting a variance for one lot to have 25 feet of frontage, less than the 200 feet required in the area.
Peloquin read the conditions for a variance, including:
• Not contrary to the public interest. The abutting lots are smaller, he said, one-acre lots that were approved before the current zoning.
• The spirit of the ordinance will be preserved because wetlands will be protected.
• Substantial justice will be done because of the eight lots, one will be preserved as conservation land.
• The value of surrounding properties will not diminish because the other lots in the area are smaller.
The parcel in question is 37.61 acres, Peloquin said, and can be subdivided into seven 3-acre house lots, leaving 15 acres to be used as a conservation area.
The parcel is important from a conservation standpoint because it contains a watershed, Peloquin said. Manta Brook runs along the edge of the property and feeds into Beaver Lake. He said George has been in talks with the Conservation Commission on how to protect the watershed.
George emphasized the fact that he is not “giving” the land to Conservation. He has been in talks with them for about three years, he said, but they could not come up with the money for the lot, which borders other conservation areas. He said he wants to keep the land as undeveloped land, but was not certain who would own it or hold the easement.
Peloquin said the house lot in question, Lot 4, has insufficient frontage due to wetlands and would require access from a 25-foot-wide driveway. The house would be constructed on the buildable land in the rear, he said.
“We are not asking for anything outrageous,” Peloquin said.
