Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Barnstable Patriot
Barnstable, Massachusetts
HOME Browse Search List Of All Titles New! Global Image Search
Free Search  Subscribe  Sign In
October 13, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
PAGE 3     (3 of 36 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
© Publisher. All rights reserved.     Upgrade to access Premium Tools
 
PAGE 3     (3 of 36 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
October 13, 2006
 
Newspaper Archive of Barnstable Patriot produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




Declines to review case that set clock at 1929 By Edward F.Maroney emaroney@barnstablepatriot.com THE MESS IN THE MILLS - In 1999,this sand pit on Wakeby Road was a bone of contention between the town and its owners. The case went as far as the doorstep of the U.S. Supreme Court. HOLDING THE LINE AT '29 - Town attorney Bob Smith had reason to celebrate last week when the Supreme Court declined to review a case that established Barnstable had townwide zoning in 1929. Townwide zoning in Barnstable began in 1929. A Massachusetts court decided that years ago, and last week the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would not review the case. "The important piece of this is that it is now truly conclusive that zoning began in the town in 1929 ," said town attorney Bob Smith. "That' s obviously significant and of perceptual importance to the town." The Supreme Court' s deci- sion not to review the case for constitutional questions mean that 1929 is the year from which pre-existin g, non-confirmin g uses will be dated. "If you didn't have a business use in '29,you weren't entitled to claim one,"Smith said. "Anything that was business stayed busi- ness, and anything that was resi- dential has to stay residential , unless you get what amounted to a special permit from the board of selectmen. " Things got murky later on, ac- cording to Smith , when a high- profile land use zoning lawyer in town, Dick Anderson ("a wonder- ful, delightful guy") "realized that the purported village by village zoning after the Second World War had created such amishmash that he decided it was a public service to declare zoning had started in 1956." It wasn 't until David H.H. Martin of Barnstable , one of the architects of the current form of county government , discovered a "narrative form" of townwide zoning in old records that the 1929 date was put forward. What brought things to a head was a sand pit on Wakeby Road near the town line. "At that time, Marstons Mills was truly wilderness ,"Smith said. "They started digging some sand out of there. It never came to light until the town issued a contract for material needed to cap and close the landfill. Being an enter- prising outfit , (the contractor) discovered this deposit of sand right up the road a piece." The pit had been owned by the Gifford family of Cotuit , which included a Congressman but also other members who operated a junkyard in the heart of the vil- lage , according to Smith. Back in the Mills, neighbors started to complain about the noise and dust from the pit as materials were brought from the dump and processed there. "The grief started growing, " Smith said, and the town brought an enforcement action in the mid- 1990s. The case began in Barnstable Superior Court ,where Smith said the town got a "six of one, half a dozen of the other " decision. The judge "paid no attention to our assertion that townwide zoning actually began in 1929 ," he said. The town brought that part of the decision to the state ap- peals court and won. Then , four or five years ago, the case was presented to the state Supreme Judicial Court for review, which was denited. Three years ago, Smith said , a writ of certiorari was field with the U.S. Supreme Court by the property owners , whose employ- ment of the site had been limited to residential use by previous decisions , It takes four judges to grant certiorari , and after readin g briefs by both sides, the court declined to take up the case. "We didn't have to farm this out,"said Smith, who is amember of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. He said assistant town attorney Charlie McLaughlin car- ried the "principal responsibility " for preparing the winning brief. Supreme Court backs town's zoning stance I¦j i ¦ hull-time , part-time and K\ ' temporar) staffing Mm ¦ Workplace regulations ¦ Stafl training JK>' ¦ Organizational planning if*nllh HR Regulations begin to impact a small business/ I I after you hire your second employee. Don't be ciught without the proper input from an HR professional. Jt£ j A Virtual HR relationshi p with The Executive Sulfl^B j will make a difference. J LOW COST ¦ EFFECTIVE « EFFICIENT Cape Cod's premier human resource consultin g company. Please call Elizabeth Harris, President, for an appointment. f^^f^l Refinishing • Stripping Custom Painting • BrassPolishing WICKER -IR ON - FURNIT URE 508-775-7044 Lewis Rd., Hyannis P A I D P O L I T I C A L A D V E R T I S E M E N T Re-Elect Demetrius J. Atsalis 2nd Barnstable District Leadership , Experience & Results H;.*3. ¦ ^»tv ^BV^^^^^^^^^^^^^B ^1 ^L Ik* m \ ' mV y m mmmmmmmmm & B%*^:* ^1 VTj il' l^v J H Wi ') 11T j ^^m "Committed to Barnstable & Yarmouth's Future" Paid for by the Committee to Elect Demetrius Atsalis 242 Ocean Street. Hyannis. MA 0260 1 www.electatsalis.org • datsalis(acape.com The Cape's #1 Location For Gas Logs # Mori.- Fri. FREE Estimates MWr ;2^m 9:00 - 4:30 i__—_—__, 1 sat. | t(¥r ; .„ — 9:00-11:30 ZJ. ~, . Z ... ~ ii r- -iT i" ¦ i . ,-** ' ¦ .. ..i^./^ftizTj Tt\ A3' 508-398-3831 ' ^.^ ' Toll 398 3831 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^^ f|^BReaKaway •m Ri. 134 . P.O. Box [ 5 ) 1, S Dennis , Next tojuid Caw Home ( enter This Season Kick Up Your Heels sre I Mephisto Jack Rogers Donald Pliner Stuart Weitzman Zalo Loeffler Randall Taryn Rose Paul Green La Coste Iron OSTERVILLE A 837 Main Street -^^^^. :r4, ° WHESHOE SALON CHATHAM \ X 521 Main Street J* X. ""^ ^ FINE FOOTWEAR -508-945-0292 / X ' ^ & ACCESSORIES Ifthepowergoesout willyoubeready? When the power ^uAgtaftixr goes out, depend on GUARDIAN Home -ft *""""*% Standby generators f: . lor automatic back-up I (,« , „"' power 24 Hoursa day. ^ ^B ~- , - ^QUAROIAN tJitpSERVICE LIIICDEALER CapeCodIndependentPower 508-250-8888 Cotuit • ccip@comcast.net j peck out our Web site...^ ! Mw.barn.stablepatriot.CMJ j