Help with a Development Zoning mis-justice

[lentower.livejournal.com]

Hi!

DATES HAVE CHANGED


The new dates are:

Planning Board hearing changed to
Thursday, November 2, 2006, 6 PM
at Somerville City Hall

Zoning Board of Appeals hearing changed to
Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 6 PM
at Somerville City Hall

The developers have found a new way to stall and delay getting this
matter back to Land Court.

Could you please come to one or both of the meetings below to stop an illegal development and help me and my neighbors out? As well as anyone who wants to stop
inappropriate development in Somerville.

See http://www.haydenterrace.com/

A developer has illegally added a 3rd story and gable roof to 1-4 Hayden
Terrace, off Linden Avenue. We want the building returned to just 2 stories. It's 45 feet behind my yard, and is blocking light/air/views for me and many homes around it. It also will add traffic and
parking congestion when it's occupied. He played tricks with the permits and

a building department inspector, so no one knew he was doing more then interior
rehab, and then used pre-built trusses, etc to put up, in less then two weeks,
a third floor with a gable roof on a building that had been two stories with a
flat roof. The gable roof was framed in under a day.

Come by Hayden Terrace and look at the monster. Also go uphill on Linden
Avenue two houses and walk up Gussie Terrace to see the side and back of the
monster. You'll see why the neighbors are upset. Even people 3 and 4 houses
up the hill. A loss of parking, privacy, air circulation, and views. There is
no parking on that lot. The spaces and garages on Hayden Terrace belong to the
two houses on Linden Avenue.

Might you be interested in helping us fight it by coming to a hearing? Just
attendance would help. Attendance and signing in helps more. Attendance,
signing in, and speaking your opposition would be the best.

Please forward this on to anyone who lives in Somerville, you think might be
interested in coming to the hearing and asking that the building be stopped.

---

Planning Board hearing, Thursday, November 2, 2006, 6 PM at
Somerville City Hall.

Zoning Board hearing, at Somerville
City Hall. See

http://www.haydenterrace.com/

after Wednesday, October 4, 2006 for the new ZBA hearing date.

---

Could you please forward this on to anyone who might come and support my
neighborhood?

You are welcome to come by and look at the development in question.

Thank you either way.

We also have a web site that suggest more things to do and has much more
information.

http://www.haydenterrace.com/

One more thing to do is to call the Somerville Journal's Speakout phone line
at 671-776-9844 and comment on the article that George Vroom got started and
is quoted in. It is at

http://www.townonline.com/somerville/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=565347&format=text

When I've done this in the past, they made the headline out of the first few
works. I know suggest a headline at the start of my Speakout.



Thanx either way,

-len tower

Comments

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Are you in Ward 2? This has happened before you know. I don't why Somerville and sneaky Developers try to skip the proper public proccess for these additions? These zoning rules are important to have and should be followed in a densely populated cities and neighborhoods like ours. I don't like the way these things get handled at all Click here for the case (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ma&vol=appslip/15726&invol=1)

KATZMANN, J. Manuel Kramer alleges that a wireless antenna facility (also referred to as the structure), constructed on a building adjacent to his, obstructed his skyline view and diminished his property value. Appearing pro se below and on appeal, he asserts that he received no notice from the zoning board of appeals of Somerville (board) of a public hearing at which he might have opposed the planned structure. The Superior Court judge dismissed Kramer's complaint for damages, as well as equitable and declaratory relief, on the ground that it was filed outside the statutory appeal period. We reverse the dismissal of Kramer's claims against the board and the city of Somerville (city) insofar as he seeks a hearing and attendant relief pursuant to G. L. c. 40A, § 17, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We also reverse the judge's dismissal of the claims against the private defendants and remand for further consideration of those claims by the judge.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

What's the policy for lj-cuts on this forum? This request seems long enough that I would like it to be behind one; maybe it's just the bad formatting.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

It says simply that long posts should use an lj-cut - this one should definitely use one.

Also, to better reach your audience, len, you might move that paragraph that actually explains what you're fighting to the top of the post, instead of having it buried after a bunch of links.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

In fact, speaking as a moderator: yes, this could use one. It's not too late to edit one in, though perhaps not urgent; but definitely use one in the future for posts this long, please.

[ron_newman]

Len is brand new to LJ, having come here at my suggestion after he posted the same message to a somewhat disused Somerville mailing list. He probably doesn't know about lj-cut yet. Here's an explanation of how to use it.

Ward 5

[lentower.livejournal.com]

This monster building and I both live in Ward 5.

As a read of the web site would tell you, the Land Court has said that taking the 3rd floor down is one remedy.

I don't like all the legal loopholes developers have either. It would take a lot of lobbying up on Beacon Hill to cahnge all that.

best -len

lj-cut; editing; help button needed

[lentower.livejournal.com]

Ron: thanks!

Everyone else:

1) The real solution to this is to modify the LJ software so that it does this automatically, and let each user set an ljcut threshold. The number of lines before the "Read more" button.

2) Just looked through the FAQs, and think I can edit the LJ cut in. (There should be a "Help" button at the top of each page, linking to the Mini Sitemap at the bottom - I hadn't scrolled to the bottom of a page yet)

Re: Ward 5

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

we can elect city officials that believe there is a real purpose to having a public process which requires notices to be sent and meetings to be held before developers are allowed to slide by and build whatever they want. Developers can't pull these stunts if the city is not helping them.

Hearing Dates have changed

[lentower.livejournal.com]

The developers have found a new way to stall and delay getting this
matter back to Land Court.

The Planning Board hearing date has been changed to Thursday, November
2, 2006, 6 PM at Somerville City Hall.

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) hearing will occur after this. See

http://www.haydenterrace.com/

after Wednesday, October 4, 2006 for the new ZBA hearing date.

thanks -len

Re: Hearing Dates have changed

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

You guys should sign up for Denise Provost's Newsletter (it talks aabout some rescheduling, not sure if it is the same). The Newsletter and her website are both very informative. I wish we had more people like her in local politics! You probably would not have this issue if we did.

SOMERVILLE AT LARGE
An e.newsletter from Denise Provost, Alderman-at-Large Vol. 6, No. 12

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please let me know.
If
you've changed your email address, you will need to re-subscribe. To
subscribe, send a blank email to provost_citywide-subscribe@topica.com

Despite the appearance of Topica's subscription page, there is no need
to provide personal information in order to subscribe to the
newsletter.
In fact, you don’t even need to go to the Topica site - just reply to
the email to confirm your subscription request.

***********************************************************************
Citywide:
1) Zoning and Planning
A) Maxpak Zoning Hearing Time Change
B) Hayden Terrace Epic—Hearings Scheduled
2) Correction-Bus Survey
3) State House job opportunity

***********************************************************************

1) Zoning and Planning
A) Maxpak Zoning Hearing Time Change
The joint Planning Board/Board of Alderman hearing on Alderman
O’Donovan’s proposed zoning for the Maxpak site, advertised for 6pm,
will be recessed until 7pm on Thursday, 9/21. Land Use Committee Chair
Alderman Bill White is making this accommodation for neighbors who want
to attend the Traffic Commission hearing (@ 6pm on 9/21) about a
proposal to make Vernon Street one way from Lowell Street to Central
Street. Since both proposals affect the same neighborhood, neighbors
wanted the chance to testify at both hearings.

The Zoning Hearing Location is still City Hall. The Traffic Commission
hearing, scheduled for 6pm, will be at the Traffic and Parking office,
133 Holland Street. The regularly scheduled portion of the Planning
Board meeting—pending cases, not including the zoning hearing—is still
6pm on 9/21.

B) Hayden Terrace Epic—Hearings Scheduled
Background
The suburbs have their McMansions. Somerville has certain enterprising
developers looking to overbuild every parcel of land they can get their
hands on. Often these parcels are at the end of, or abutting, private
ways.

One such infamous site is 1-4 Hayden Terrace, off Linden Avenue.
“Creatively” characterizing a nonconforming 4-family residence as “2
two-family” residences, and handing over an as-of-right building permit
to expand cost a former Inspectional Services Director his job. For
more
information, see my website at:
http://www.provost-citywide.org/what.html

Note: the existing web link from my website will soon be updated, until
then, go to http://www.haydenterrace.com for this site.

New Hearings
In their on-going efforts to legalize the outlaw expansion of 1-4
Hayden
Terrace, the owners are seeking permission again from the Planning
Board
and Zoning Board of Appeals. Previous Boards denied legalization, but
membership has changed, and hope springs eternal. Anyone interested can
and should attend:

Planning Board- September 21, 2006, 6pm, City Hall

Zoning Board of Appeals- October 4, 2006, 6pm, City Hall


2) Correction-Bus Survey
The correct web site to visit to fill out the MBTA bus survey is
www.somervillestep.org.


3) State House job opportunity
The House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is currently
accepting resumes for an open position with our Research Staff. If
anyone is interested they should send a cover letter, current resume
and
writing sample to the address below.
Carol Ann Aloisi
Chief Of Staff
Office of Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera
Committee on Public Safety & Homeland Security
State House
Room 146
Boston, MA 02133-1057
(617) 722-2230
For more information, contact: Carol.Aloisi@hou.state.ma.us

Material from this newsletter may be quoted freely, provided that it is
credited to Denise Provost, www.provost-citywide.org

copyright 2006 Denise Provost

Re: Controlling Development

[lentower.livejournal.com]

You're right, we need to elect politicians at all level of government from town/city through county and state to the federal levels who are for good controls on development.

That requires getting a lot of voters to consider this an important issue.

Thoughts on how to do this?

best -len

Re: Denise Provost newsletter

[lentower.livejournal.com]

Denise Provost newsletter is worth getting in you email.

She has supported us in fighting against the inappropriate development at 1-4 Hayden Terrace, by

+ coming to the hearings,

+ noting the hearings in her newsletters,

+ and linking to our web sight.

best -len

New Hearing Dates

[lentower.livejournal.com]

The new hearing dates are:

Planning Board hearing changed to
Thursday, November 2, 2006, 6 PM
at Somerville City Hall

Zoning Board of Appeals hearing changed to
Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 6 PM
at Somerville City Hall