SP3-18: 10 Waushakum Ave.

Waldir DaCosta, owner, has applied for a Special Permit under Chapter 282 Sections 3.3 and 4.1, along with any other applicable sections of the Ashland Zoning Bylaws, to allow the reconstruction/replacement of a single-family residential structure on a substandard 4,500 sq. ft. lot with fifty (50) foot frontage. Petitioner seeks relief from the minimum 150 ft. frontage, 30,000 sq. ft. lot size, and to exceed the volume and footprint of the original structure. The property is located at 10 Waushakum Avenue in the Highway Commerce Zoning District. A public hearing will be scheduled pending the outcome of Public Hearings in front of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals as per M.G.L. Chapter 40A Section 16.

John F. Trefethen, Chairman
Ashland Zoning Board of Appeals

Please note this application is currently under review as per M.G.L. Chapter 40A Section 16. The background is the following:

The applicant applied to the ZBA for a Special Permit which was ultimately denied. According to Commonwealth law, they are not allowed to reapply with the same application for the same permit for two years.

However, M.G.L. Chapter 40A Section 16 allows for parties to reapply within those two years if the project has "specific and material changes" as deemed by both the Planning Board and the ZBA.

The Planning Board must decide if the new application presented is different enough from the previously denied application to be considered by the ZBA. In other words, if the new application has “…specific and material changes in the conditions upon which the previous unfavorable action was based,...”. The merits of the Special Permit itself are not part of the question, only the question of “specific and material changes” from the previous application during the Section 16 Hearing.

If the Planning Board gives its consent, the application then moves on to the ZBA for a Section 16 hearing. If both Boards consent, then, and only then, can the ZBA hear the application itself.

M.G.L. Chapter 40A Section 16 states:

“No appeal, application or petition which has been unfavorably and finally acted upon by the special permit granting or permit granting authority shall be acted favorably upon within two years after the date of final unfavorable action unless said special permit granting authority or permit granting authority finds, by a unanimous vote of a board of three members or by a vote of four members of a board of five members or two-thirds vote of a board of more than five members, specific and material changes in the conditions upon which the previous unfavorable action was based, and describes such changes in the record of its proceedings, and unless all but one of the members of the planning board consents thereto and after notice is given to parties in interest of the time and place of the proceedings when the question of such consent will be considered.”