March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Belfast board denies construction request> Robbins Road building violates right of way

BELFAST — The Zoning Board of Appeals decided last week it had no foundation to allow Terry Hire to resume construction of a home whose foundation is in the Robbins Road right of way.

By a rare unanimous vote, the board determined that the stop-work order placed on Hire’s project by Code Enforcement Officer Robert Temple was proper. Hire had appealed Temple’s action. The board made its decision after a two-hour public hearing Thursday night.

Temple issued the stop-work order after learning that Hire had placed the structure’s foundation within the 66-foot-wide Robbins Road right of way. The foundation is located about 20 feet from the paved road. The board also ruled the Hire’s project exceeded the provisions of his building permit.

Hire is a member of the Planning Board. During the hearing he freely admitted to the board that he committed a number of inadvertent violations of city zoning laws. It was when he learned the foundation was in the right of way, Hire said, that “I realized I was in deep wheeze with the city.”

Hire explained that when property owners Richard and Gladys Collins purchased “Peanut” Robbins’ home overlooking the Passagassawakeag River, the original plan was to rebuild the second story and remodel the ground floor. However, after paying $32,000 for the property, their contractor, Hire, determined it would be wiser to demolish the house and start over from scratch.

The problem was that while he had obtained a permit to renovate the house, he had no permit to demolish and rebuild it. Although Hire ran his plans by both Planning Board Chairman Larry Jones and Code Officer Temple, and received their tacit approval, he never made a formal application for a building permit. Had he done so he would have learned that rebuilding the Robbins home from scratch was not permitted under city law because of its status as a nonconforming structure.

Temple acknowledged that at the time he informally discussed the project with Hire he was unaware that the nonconforming structure statue was applicable to the Robbins house. He noted that from now on, all discussion would be official.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” Temple told the board. “When you want an answer to a question, put it in writing. That’s now my policy.”

Jay Davis, a Robbins Road resident, reminded the board that the Planning Board made a detailed scrutiny of his plans when he remodeled his home a few years ago. He suggested that while Hire’s intentions to upgrade the property were commendable, “I don’t see that what he did conforms at all to the spirit and letter” of the city’s zoning laws.

Board member Allen Ginsberg informed Hire he had a “problem” with his handling of the matter because, “you went before the Planning Board with one project and ended up with another.”

Although he conceded that the foundation was placed in the right of way, the Collins’ attorney, William Dawson, said state law protected homes built under such circumstances provided they had been there for more than 40 years. Hire said Robbins told him the original house was 60 years old. In such cases, the house becomes the defining border of the right of way, Dawson said. However, because Hire never submitted a plot plan indicating exactly where the original foundation was located, the board ruled against his appeal.

Hire told the board the Collins’ had hoped to sell the remodeled or rebuilt house for $95,000. “That has since gone out the window,” he said.

After the 5-0 vote, Temple said if the Collins wanted to spend the money to move the foundation back a dozen feet or so, “I can get a building of equal area on that lot without any problem. They may not even need a variance.”


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