Following review by Town Counsel Mark Lanza, the Planning Board’s May decision to allow the Capobianco property at 281 Still River Road to be divided has been invalidated. According to board Chairwoman Erin McBee, Lanza informed her that the board’s decision had been made in error, based on an incorrect understanding of the rules surrounding voting.
On May 21, the board had voted 2–1 in favor of the division, which members at the meeting believed meant that the board would be counted as having reached no decision, because it required a three-person majority. Because 21 days had already elapsed without the board voting against it, the applicant was informed he could proceed with his project. However, in the week since then, Lanza explained that the 2–1 inconclusive vote counted as a rejection of the proposal, and that if the applicant wished to continue pursuing the plan he would have to submit it again. The applicant has done so, and discussion will continue at the board’s June 4 meeting.
The details of the size and position of the Capobianco property and its relation to the roads it connects to are complex. The property in its current form encompasses about 28 acres and has frontage on two different roads. It is a hammerhead lot with a long driveway connecting to Still River Road, but it also has about 200 feet of frontage on Willard Lane. This is possible because the property, which is fairly long, runs roughly parallel to Still River Road until it reaches Willard Lane. (See the map that accompanies this story.) The residents have not used the Willard Lane frontage for anything; they do not access the property from that road and so have not paid into the maintenance of Willard Lane.
The proposed split would divide the property into a 4.8-acre section and a 23.3-acre section. The 4.8-acre section would include the house and its driveway. In other words, the proposed lot would include the property’s major improvements. This section would have frontage only on Still River Road.
The 23.3-acre lot would form a long tract of unimproved land running between the 4.8-acre section and Willard Lane. It would have no frontage on Still River Road, so it would have to be accessed from Willard Lane, using the 200 feet of frontage. Residents of Willard Lane are concerned by this, because if the 23.3-acre section is developed, it would add traffic to their road, as a previously unused section of frontage would then include one or more driveways.
