The August meeting of the Hudson Zoning Board of Adjustment heard a request to rehear the recent rejection of a cease-and-desist letter to stop the operation of a boarding house for those recovering from substance abuse at 12-14 Gambia Street.
Property owner, Keystone Estates, LLC, did not send anyone to the August 22 meeting, instead requesting a deferral in what Zoning Administrator, Chris Sullivan, saw as a confusing email.
“The email that they sent stated that we did not grant their accommodation variance which they never applied for,” said Sullivan, who noted that the original meeting with Keystone Estates was to address a cease-and-desist letter, not a variance. Sullivan signed the original letter, with the Zoning Board upholding his decision. “They will be ready to go by the next meeting.”
Members of the Zoning Board were equally confused as to what the rehearing would cover.
“Are they going to be ready to go on the rehearing of their appeal on the Administrator’s decision?” asked Vice Chair, Norm Martin. “Or are the going to be presenting their variance?”
“What are we voting on here?’ added Board member, Tristen Dion. “This is a request for a rehearing of our decision?”
Legally, there is no downside to deferring as the Town Administrator concluded that any rehearing would need to cover an old decision, meaning the July vote to uphold the cease-and-desist letter.
The rehearing request specifically cited a “lack of accommodation,” arguing the Gambia Street sober house should have been allowed under Hudson’s Zoning regulations.
As deferments are a commonly approved request for the ZBA, it was equally unclear what would happen if one was rejected.
“If we deny it, I don’t know what happens,” said Dion.
Board Chair, Gary Daddario, predicted that a denial would push Keystone Estates towards “going to court on the original decision.”
“If we upheld the decision, this should go to court,” Martin added. “The applicant is appealing a code enforce violation cease-and-deist order and requires a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment and, if approved, site plan approval from the Planning Board. Now, we upheld his decision, there was no request in front of this Board for a variance.
The Vice-Chair was unconvinced by the arguments in the rehearing request and saw no reason to put the decision off another month.
“I think this literally should never have been on our schedule,” said Daddario, after going through the details of the deferral request and learning that Keystone Estates made a late rehearing request. According to the Zoning Administrator, the property owner might not have gotten the official, written decision upholding the cease-and-desist letter in time.
Eventually, the ZBA voted to schedule the expected rehearing for their next meeting.
That meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Meeting Room of Town Hall.
