Previous meeting postponed, so last night was first time back. After 30 mins determining whether a fence could be placed on some guys property, and what style, required landscaping, etc., my hearing commenced. The 'Chair' started with a recount of how onerous the situation was, how bad things looking for me and turned the floor over to the town atty.
As he began to read his 'findings', I asked if I might interrupt but was told to hold my tongue until after the atty was finished. Fine. 20 mins later - yes, 20 full mins! - he was done... basically saying I was S.O.L. and they could not possibly issue a variance because it was in the FEMA flood plain and, therefore, it had to be torn down. I again asked if I could speak. The Chair said "the board has ruled, there is nothing you can say or do to change our minds or the legal situation that you brought upon yourself." And the gavel came down.
I again asked if I could speak. After a somewhat annoyed sounding "yes, but quickly, we must keep the meeting moving along...", I asked the atty which map he based his determination on. "The EPOD map", he responded. Since I had seen at least two EPOD maps that contained conflicting boundaries, and that didn't include the subdiviaion map with it's elevation lines, I asked which one, He would not elaborate further than "the town EPOD map". So much for accountability.
So I gave the Chair a copy of the subdivision map I obtained from their own building inspector/dept., and my newly certified instrument survey with the elevations clearly marked to show the shed not in violation. The silence was defening, with the exception of a few hurumpf's from the zoning board chair and town atty.
After several more minutes of questions, the determination was once again postponed until the next meeting, "in order to confer with the building dept. about the validity of maps in question." I respectfully pointed out that every map I had presented contained a raised seal certification and also showed the original receipt for the survey update. But noooo.... gonna drag it out ANOTHER three weeks just to teach me a lesson I guess. Sheesh.
