The owner of Lakehouse Recovery in Francestown did not attend a zoning board of adjustments meeting Thursday night, leading to a unanimous decision to deny an appeal regarding a potential zoning violation filed by select board members last fall.
“Where I am from if you don’t show up, you lose,” said zoning chair Silas Little during the meeting. Little said the appeals process is also suppose to be completed within a reasonable period of time, although this case has not necessarily followed those parameters.
“He (owner Mark Hatfield) has been slow to the trough to date, based upon a letter the selectmen sent in September,” Little said during the meeting.
Given the procedural issues, he said, the application can not be based solely on its merits.
Lakehouse Recovery, founded by Hatfield of Salem, opened in July without knowledge or approval from town officials. Select board members became aware of the recovery home that is located on Scoby Road only after an article in the Ledger-Transcript was published in September. It opened its doors in July.
Shortly after the piece ran, select board members agreed that it may not be in compliance with the town’s zoning ordinance and issued a letter to Hatfield stating its concern.
The home is currently zoned residential, although town officials think it may need a special exception or a variance to operate.
But Hatfield remains steadfast that he is in accordance to the zoning law.
“I do not believe there is anything that we are not in compliance with,” Hatfield said in an email to the Ledger-Transcript. “The selectmen have stated that I do not ‘appear’ to be in conformance with the zoning ordinance. I have asked them exactly what they mean by ‘does not appear’ and I’m getting rather vague answers in which they are asking me to refer to certain sections of the towns ordinance in which they believe I fall under a commercial business. I have gone over them with a fine-tooth comb and we are in conformance. We are not a commercial business we are an in-home business.”
Hatfield said he intended to be at the meeting on Thursday, but was unable to do so because of the snowstorm that slammed the area that day.
He now has 30 days to appeal the decision handed down by the town’s zoning board of adjustments. If Hatfield doesn’t pursue the appeals process, Lakehouse Recovery will eventually be fined $250 for every day that it’s open. It’s unclear at this time when the fine will be put into place, a decision that will be left up to select board members. Chair Brad Howell has recused himself from any decision regarding Lakehouse Recovery because he abuts the property. That leaves select board members Henry Kunhardt and Abigail Arnold, who issued the letter, to make that call if the time comes.
On Friday, Hatfield said he fully intends to appeal the decision. He said he has reached out to select board members via phone and email since Thursday’s meeting, but said he has not received a response as of Monday morning.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.