The Francestown Select Board is considering appealing the ZBA’s July 17 decision on the Torrey Pines condos on the grounds that the decision did not include a condition of site plan approval from the Planning Board.
The ZBA’s decision struck language from a 2004 Notice of Decision restricting occupants of the Torrey Pines units, which were previously operated as timeshares, from becoming permanent residents of Francestown.
The ZBA amended the notice on the advice of town counsel, as well as recommendations by Patricia Panciocco, the attorney representing TAK Real Estate Holdings, the current owners of the condos. Both attorneys advised that the language in the 2004 Notice of Decision was unlawful and could not be enforced.
“You cannot dictate who lives in your town. It is exclusionary,” Panciocco said July 17.
The ZBA’s decision enables TAK Real Estate Holdings to start renting the units out on a long-term basis without going though a site plan review process with the Planning Board.
“This is not about the residency language. It is about getting a site plan review,” Select Board Chair Charlie Pyle at Monday’s Select Board meeting.
Select Board member Scott Heath expressed concern that the condition of the condos was unknown.
“We need to figure out how to get (TAK ) back in here for a site plan review, because right now, they are not accountable in any way for the conditions that are required at the site,” said Heath. “There are conditions we need to look at, such as the impact on the neighborhood. We might need to to a road study. We need to look at life safety. We need to look at codes.”
Pyle said that following the July 28 meeting of the Select Board, when Heath first raised the issue of an appeal, the board received an opinion from town counsel that the Planning Board does have the right to request a site plan application from TAK.
“It is usually a condition in cases like this,” Pyle said. “The most-recent decision was about changing the units from a timeshare to full-time use. I would argue that it is a change of use, which falls under the Planning Board. The change of use would normally trigger the owner coming to Planning Board for site plan review. That would include traffic, parking, impact on neighborhood, all the conditions.”
ZBA Chair Cindy St. Jean, who attended Monday’s meeting at the request of the Select Board, declined to comment on the matter as the case is still active.
“I’m sure everyone is on same page here. We all want to everything in the best interest of all the stakeholders — the applicant, the town and the law, and the ordinances that our townspeople have put in place. All those things must be taken into account in these decisions, and they have been, and they will continue to be,” St. Jean said.
Any appeals in the decision must be filed before Aug. 15.
Heath noted that the development may already meet all the conditions of the previous Notice of Decision, including parking and water use, “but we don’t know, because no one has looked into it.”
At Monday night’s meeting, the Select Board voted to draft a letter to TAK requesting they apply for a site plan review with the Planning Board. The board also voted to reach out to the Planning Board its meeting on Tuesday to share thedecision.
“Our appeal would be to make the ZBA’s decision stronger, not to overturn it,” Heath said.
On July 17, Panciocco stated that TAK was not planning to go before the Planning Board.
“We are not moving one spoonful of dirt up there. We are planning no new development up there; there is plenty of parking. We don’t have an application before the Planning Board,” Panciocco said.
The Select Board will discuss the issue again on Aug. 11.