The Selective Mercy of the Building Commissioner.
By Jim Conley • Feb 13th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
Print This Post
• Email this author
In the reporting over the Dennis DeWitt demotion (available here), I said that there may be a need for a Part III on this story. And to do so, doesn’t require a lot of words. In fact, there’s a simple question that needs to be answered by Brookline’s Building Commissioner and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
And it is this:
On November 1, 2005 the Board of Appeals rescinded the building permit for new construction at 71 Spooner Road. The permit was not suspended, held in abeyance or continued for want of more hearings. The ZBA found that, “the FAR at 71 Spooner Road exceeds the maximum allowable FAR, and the Building Permit must be rescinded on that account (emphasis added).”
Click here to view the Board of Appeals decision.
So why has nothing happened?
That’s right, nothing. Building Commissioner James Nickerson is waiting for all lawsuits to be settled prior to ruling substantively on the abutter’s request to enforce the ZBA order.
But why wait? If the owners, developers “81 Spooner Road, LLC” - a legal group where Selectman’s Chair (and Nickerson’s boss) Robert L. Allen, Jr. is corporate attorney - engaged in illegal construction they ought to suffer the consequences. Even if it means starting over on a structure that is nearly complete.
Countless are the Brookline residents that have - sometimes at great expense - had to start over on orders of a building inspector. And still stands a building that violates code and zoning by-laws at 71 Spooner Road.
It’s enough to make you cynical.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
Email this author | All posts by Jim Conley
This post brought to mind the story of W.C. Fields in the hospital during his last illness. A friend was visiting and saw Fields reading the Bible. He asked Fields “Why?” and Fields replied “I’m checking for loopholes.”
I can just picture the Building Commissioner poring over Brookline’s Zoning ByLaw and ZBA Decision looking for - what else - loopholes!
[...] 02/13: The Selective Mercy of the Building Commissioner.In the reporting over the Dennis DeWitt demotion (available here), I said… [...]
[...] This is how it works. In the case of Spooner Road (see previous post), developer 81 Spooner LLC - a corporate entity represented by Selectman’s Chair Robert Allen - purchased the lot at 81 Spooner Road and subdivided it into two lots, hence creating 71 Spooner Road. When it turned out that the structure at 71 Spooner Road pushed the combined FAR over the limit for the parcel, the Building Department allowed the developer to decommission the finished attic at 81 Spooner Road, subtracting those square feet from the gross floor area at 71 Spooner. [...]
[...] Allen might have mentioned how grateful he is that the Zoning Board of Appeals agreed to let a Court decide whether his corporate client’s development on Spooner Road ought to be torn down. [...]