Sieber v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Wellfleet
| Decision Date | 16 September 1983 |
| Citation | 454 N.E.2d 108,16 Mass.App.Ct. 985 |
| Parties | George W. SIEBER et al. 1 v. ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS OF WELLFLEET et al. 2 |
| Court | Appeals Court of Massachusetts |
Arthur C. Croce, Wellfleet, for plaintiffs.
Harry Sarkis Terkanian, Wellfleet, for Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Wellfleet & others.
Before BROWN, PERRETTA and SMITH, JJ.
RESCRIPT.
The plaintiffs brought this action seeking (1) judicial review of a decision by the zoning board of appeals of Wellfleet (board), and (2) a declaratory judgment that the board's decision was contrary to the provisions of G.L. c. 40A, § 6, upon which the decision was premised. The parties submitted a statement of agreed facts, and the action came before the court on cross motions for summary judgment. After hearing, the judge granted the defendants' motion and declared the board's decision to be within its authority.
The defendants Daniel C. and Barbara L. Sullivan own a parcel of land (locus), with a frontage of eighty feet and an area of 5,600 square feet, in a section of Wellfleet zoned for residential use. The relevant zoning by-law prescribes a minimum frontage of 125 feet and an area of 20,000 square feet for construction on a lot in the residential zone. In 1979, the Sullivans applied for and were granted a building permit authorizing construction of a single-family house on the locus. The plaintiffs, who own property adjoining the locus, sought review before the board, which subsequently upheld the grant of the permit. The instant action was thereafter filed in the Superior Court.
In granting summary judgment for the defendants, the judge ruled that the board had acted lawfully in approving the building permit because the locus had the benefit of the grandfather provision in the first sentence of c. 40A, § 6, par. 4, as inserted by St.1975, c. 808, § 3. That statute provides, in relevant part: "Any increase in area, frontage, width, yard, or depth requirements of a zoning ordinance or by-law shall not apply to a lot for single and two-family residential use which at the time of recording or endorsement, whichever occurs sooner was not held in common ownership with any adjoining land, conformed to then existing requirements and had less than the proposed requirement but, at least five thousand square feet of area and fifty feet of frontage." Specifically, the judge ruled that although the locus was first recorded on a plan filed in 1889, when the locus was...
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Adamowicz v. Town of Ipswich, Mass.
...law set forth in Sieber v. Gauthier, No. 40548 (Mass.Super.Ct.) (Aug. 31, 1981), aff'd sub nom. Sieber v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Wellfleet, 16 Mass.App.Ct. 985, 454 N.E.2d 108 (1983), is indeed the law of the Commonwealth and recognizing defendant's obligation to follow that law, we agr......
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Adamowicz v. Town of Ipswich
...exemption is sought." Sieber v. Gauthier, Superior Court No. 40548 (Aug. 31, 1981), aff'd sub nom. Sieber v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Wellfleet, 16 Mass.App. 985, 454 N.E.2d 108 (1983). The following facts accompany the request for certification. The plaintiff Adamowicz and others own certa......
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Junior v. Wiley, 18 Mass. L. Rptr. No. 6, 125 (MA 6/11/2004)
...parcel of land that was later subdivided as shown on a recorded plan or recorded deed." Adamowicz, 395 Mass. at 759. In Sieber v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Wellfleet, the Appeals Court first recognized this anomaly, holding that the first sentence of paragraph four applied to property that w......
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Junior v. Wiley
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