DALTON, Mass.—A special permit for a five-bay garage at 32 Cumberland Circle has been withdrawn by applicant Brandon Noyes during the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Tuesday evening. 

 

The original plan was to build a 1,000-square-foot accessory building but after receiving complaints from residents in the area, he has redesigned the project. 

 

Residents felt that the design was too commercial in nature and went against the residential neighborhood designs. 

 

Noyes said that the neighborhood has become a little more "hostile" so it was easier to withdraw the application and move on with the redesign. 

 

He said in the nine years he has lived in that area neighbors would speak with him but for the last three months no one has been talking to him.

 

"You'll see this over time, particularly if it's a contentious issue…we always try to filter things through the board because otherwise it goes right to the petitioner and they go back and forth and it just becomes hostile," Vice Chairman Stephen J. Psutka said. 

 

"It's unfortunate that in the neighborhood that it seems that it's become that way, but that's the reality. And we don't have many that are issues, usually they're much easier."

 

Noyes will submit a new application to change the plans to a smaller building that is in compliance without the special permit. 

 

It's going to be 620 square feet and 13 feet high, the bylaws allow it to be up to 15 feet. The siding will be the same material as his house and the roof will be made of steel which conforms to the other steel roofs within the neighborhood. 

 

The project will be in a completely different portion of the yard that is not visible from where he originally planned to put it. 

 

"It's tucked in between where my current shed is, which will be moved to a different portion of the yard and closer to my house so it'll be 50 yards off the road," Noyes said. 

 

In other news: 

 

The ZBA welcomed the new town planner Janko Tomasic who started on July 10. More information here.