Last December, the Southampton Select Board voted to deny my request to reimburse money I paid to the town for a failed permit request.
That’s not right. Southampton residents deserve to know what happened, and why I requested the money back. It did so because I believe my request was mishandled by the town’s Zoning Board.
I did everything they told me to do. I paid about $3,000 to get nowhere and have the receipts to prove it.
The issue began when I approached the town about securing a building permit for a vacant lot at 14 Susan Drive. This lot was the same size as every other property in the neighborhood – several of which have since been built on. The lot at 14 Susan Drive, which I held a contract to buy, had already received its own tax card and a description as part of an older subdivision design.
To prepare for the permit, I followed the town’s instructions and had the property surveyed and the deed changed. But after satisfying these steps, and turning over the completed application, the town’s zoning enforcement officer denied our permit. We were then informed that we’d need to go before the Zoning Board – not because we had failed to follow directions, but because the protocol to obtain a building permit had changed without public notice.
In fact, there were several other new homes in the neighborhood that had successfully obtained needed permits using this “old” system, a disparity town officials could not explain. One such example was a successful permit request on Pomeroy Meadow Road, where a large lot was divided into two smaller properties, one of which was too small for the town’s current zoning laws.
I argued that I did exactly as required, but was offered no assistance from the town, even after sinking considerable time and resources into this project.
Instead, we were told we needed to spend yet more time and money to obtain a permit under their new procedure.
At our first Zoning Board meeting, it turned out the board didn’t know how to handle our request. I found that odd, because this is a common permitting procedure that is handled in every city and town. But in Southampton, it required an opinion from the town counsel.
At our second meeting, it really got interesting. At this point, the town counsel forwarded an opinion to the Zoning Board that said “the request for a finding may not be proposed before the Zoning Board of Appeals at this time.”
Why? The Zoning Board had not selected the correct venue to consider my request.
In all, mistakes made by the Zoning Board cost thousands of dollars and countless hours of our time, with no response, apology or explanation from the town. The attitude I encountered was simply, “Oh well, that’s the way it is, unfortunately.”
Well, I beg to differ. The Zoning Board has a duty to be responsible and knowledgeable in its actions. If members didn’t know what to do, or how to handle my request, they should have asked the town counsel for assistance before denying my first request. Combine this with the poor attitude I encountered, and a seeming unwillingness to consider other people’s opinions, and you have a recipe for failure.
It doesn’t get clearer than when you have your own town counsel telling you you’re wrong – the position the Zoning Board is in now.
David J. McCutcheon lives in Florence.