WESTHAMPTON — A garden shed that’s been up for five years at a Buddhist home temple must be moved because it is 8 feet too close to the property line.
It’s the second situation in recent months in which the Zoning Board of Appeals has ruled that a structure has not been in compliance with setbacks required by the town.
In December, a family’s foundation for a new home was ruled 4 feet too close to the property line, and the project is now in limbo. The family has hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against the town.
But Ryumon Baldoquin and Catherine Hondorp, of the Two Streams Zen home temple on Main Road, say their situation raises other issues in town, including the racial harassment they said they’ve experienced from neighbors and residents. Baldoquin and Hondorp sent a letter about their experience and asked for support at last week’s Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing for a variance. They declined to comment further.
“We are a same-sex, interracial couple with extended family and friends on both sides who are dark skinned,” Baldoquin and Hondorp wrote in a letter to Westhampton residents. “For this we have experienced harassment, disrespect and bullying.”
An abutter complained about the shed to the town. The property owners sought a variance, which the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously denied last week, according to Chairman Leo Aloisi. He said it did not meet the three requirements for a variance: a problem with the topography that would affect the structure; substantial hardship would result from enforcement of the bylaw; and a variance would not be detrimental to the public.
“It’s fairly easy to move,” Aloisi said, adding that the shed is about 7 by 7 feet, sitting on cinder blocks on a property with lots of space. “The hardship wasn’t there.”
Board member Richard W. Tracy said the shed was 12 feet from the property line and it needs to be 20 feet. Tracy said that before building the shed, the property owners asked the building inspector about obtaining a building permit. A permit wasn’t needed due to the size of the structure.
“I don’t think it was anything intentional,” Tracy said.
The variance application and hearing for their shed, the couple said in the letter, was a way to bring up “harmful and community destructive issues.”
“For us the ‘shed’ raises other issues for our community, a community who sees itself as a caring one,” Baldoquin and Hondorp wrote, adding that their concerns are not about the shed.
Two “Black Lives Matter” signs placed in front of the property’s driveway were taken, Baldoquin and Hondorp wrote.
After a meditation retreat with Hampshire College students of color last spring, residents made a series of complaints, including about the shed, the letter states. Following the event, the abutter placed “No Trespassing” and “No Dumping” signs along the property line, according to the letter.
Tracy said about 75 to 100 people attended the two-hour hearing. Aloisi said some people brought up concerns about harassment, although that’s not what the meeting was about.
Resident Wade Clement, who is also on the Planning Board, said the town’s permitting process is not clear, and when a complaint arises, it places the guilt on the homeowner rather than the town. Recently, there have been people abusing the process of filing complaints in town, he said.
“We have some people in town that have decided to enforce the bylaws at random,” Clement said.
He added that the complaint about the shed is a form of harassment, and the town should stop addressing such complaints. He said the shed had been there for years, and the space between the shed and the abutter’s home was about the length of a football field and filled with trees.
“We ask this harassment stop,” Baldoquin and Hondorp wrote. “Not just for us, but also for all neighbors who are being targeted … for ‘non-compliance’ of zoning laws.”
Select Board member Arthur Pichette said he does not know how the Select Board would address an issue of discrimination and harassment among neighbors.
“I would like nothing better than to see people come together to work for common goals,” Pichette said.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.