Adams v. Town of Brunswick

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedFebruary 13, 2009
DocketCUMap-07-41and51and08-10
StatusUnpublished

This text of Adams v. Town of Brunswick (Adams v. Town of Brunswick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Town of Brunswick, (Me. Super. Ct. 2009).

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE CUMBERLAND, ss. ".,"'~r-". k iJ til!, T 'j' \

:";dt-,1rJfRC L~ I ,- ') I ' • f~,_ fIr;) .~\ I';.,~,.) SUPERIOR COUR J l.(JI'\ S or/';c[' CIVIL ACTION

Docket Nos. AP-07-41, /OJ! fEB 13 p :;, 41P-07-51, AP-08~lq,_ "0" "

'f\ , f~~J J ," ' ; ,7 '\>, MICHAEL ADAMS, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

TOWN OF BRUNSWICK,

and

DIMITRI SERETAKIS, et al,

Defendants,

ORDER DIMITRI SERETAKIS, et a1.,

Plaintiffs, v.

Defendant.

Before the court are three Rule 80B appeals concerning 17 Cleaveland Street in

Brunswick. Seventeen Cleaveland Street is located within the TR2 District in Brunswick

and is owned by Dimitri and Anthony Seretakis. Seventeen Cleaveland is also located

Zoning 0 rd'Inance. within the'Ji\\a%e Review Zone established by the Brunswlck ' , rnes uevllaqua, The first appeal (AP-07-41) is brought by Michael Adams E t l:! .

Warren Dwyer, and Patricia Welsch (collectively, the" Abutters") from a May 30, 2007

decision of the Brunswick Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBAl affirming a ruling of the

BrunsWick Planning Director that 17 Geaveland, as it is proposed to be used by the Seretakises, meets the definition of a dwelling rather than a boarding house. Dwellings

are permitted within the TR2 District, but boarding houses are not. See R. Tab 62 at 418.

The second and third appeals are brought by the Seretakises with respect to

certain alterations they made to install dormers at 17 Cleaveland Street. In AP-07-51 the

Seretakises appeal from a preliminary ruling of the Brunswick Village Review Board

(VRB) that an appeal taken by the Abutters to the VRB with respect to the construction

of the dormers was timely. In AP-08-10 the Seretakises appeal from the VRB's decision

that two of the seven dormers installed by the Seretakises were not appropriate within

the Village Review Zone.

All these appeals involve a somewhat convoluted procedural history.

1. Procedural History

In early April 2007 the Seretakises applied pursuant to the Brunswick zoning

ordinance for Certificate of Appropriateness for the addition of seven new dormers at

17 Cleaveland (five for the main house and two for the barn). Under the Brunswick

zoning code a certificate of appropriateness is required, inter alia, for any alterations to

the exterior structure of a building within the Village Review Zone. See Ordinance §

216.4 (R. Tab 62 at 488). Ordinarily applications for certificates of appropriateness are

made to the Village Review Board with notice to abutting landowners. See Ordinance §

216.8 (R. Tab 62 at 490). However, the ordinance also provides that where the impact of

proposed alterations will be minor in the judgment of the planning director, the

planning director may grant certificates of appropriateness. Ordinance § 216.4(B)(l) (R.

Tab 62 at 488). In such instances the ordinance makes no provision for notification to

abutters.

2 In this case the Seretakises' application for a certificate of appropriateness was

approved by staff of the Brunswick Planning Department on or about April 9, 2007. (R.

Tab 1 at 1). Nothing in the documents submitted for the certificate of appropriateness

disclosed anything as to how many people would be living in 17 Cleaveland Street or

the circumstances of their occupancy. See R. Tab 1. No notice had been sent to abutters.

See R. Tab 35 at 195.

A certificate of appropriateness is a prerequisite to the issuance of a building

permit to perform the actual alteration work, and on April 17, 2007, a building permit

was issued to the Seretakises by the Town. (R. Tab 3 at 34). The Seretakises' application

for a building permit mentioned only the construction of dormers. (R. Tab 2 at 17-33).

Nothing in that application disclosed anything about the number of people who were

expected to reside in the building, their status, or the conditions of their occupancy.l

Moreover, the Brunswick ordinance does not require that notice of a building permit

application be given to abutters and there is no evidence that any such notice was

given.

In early May the Abutters became aware that the Seretakises intended to rent 17

Cleaveland to eleven Bowdoin students. See R. Tab 53 at 264. The record reflects that

Adams, Bevilaqua and Dwyer met with Town Planner James Fortune on May 11, 2007

and queried whether such a use would constitute a boarding house not permitted in the

TR2 Zone. (R. Tab 6 at 41). Shortly afterward, the code enforcement officer got in touch

with the Seretakises and was informed that their position was that they were continuing

the existing use of 17 Cleaveland as two dwelling units. Id. 2

1 Although the permit application contained a space for the applicant to provide a "brief description of current and proposed uses," that space was left blank. R. Tab 2 at 17. 2 As far as the record reflects, this was the first time any town officers looked into this issue.

3 Further discussions were thereafter held between the Abutters and town

officials. The Town acknowledges that the Abutters were first informed that a building

permit had been issued for the dormers on May 23, 2007, more than a month

previously. See Town's Rule 80B Brief dated August 8, 2008 at 3; R. Tab 12 at 83-85.

On May 30, 2007 the Town's Director of Planning and Development, acting on

behalf of the code enforcement officer (who was temporarily incapacitated), issued a

written opinion on the proposed use of 17 Cleaveland by the Seretakises (R. Tab 8 at 65).

That opinion stated the Town's understanding that the prior use of the property had

been a two-unit residence with a family residing in one unit and two students residing

in the other unit. The Seretakises had submitted two rental leases that contemplated 6

students in one unit and 5 in the other. The opinion set forth the code enforcement

officer's determination that the proposed use still fell in the two-unit residential use

category and did not constitute a boarding house. Id.

That same day Adams, Bevilaqua, Dwyer, and Welsch filed an appeal to the

Brunswick ZBA. (R. Tab 9 at 61-70). That appeal contested the CEO's May 30, 2007

ruling that the Seretakises' proposed use of 17 Cleaveland did not constitute a boarding

house and also sought to challenge the prior issuance of the building permit on April

17, 2007. See R. Tab 8 at 62. On May 30, 2007 Adams, Bevilaqua, Dwyer, and Welsch

also filed an appeal to the Village Review Board from the issuance of the certificate of

appropriateness for the seven dormers. R. Tab 7 at 58-60.

2. Proceedings on appeal to the ZBA and VRB

The Abutters' appeal to the VRB was heard first, on June 19, 2007. At that time

the VRB determined that the Abutters' appeal from the grant of a certificate of

appropriateness was timely because, although the Brunswick zoning ordinance

4 specified a30 day appeal period for building permits, it did not set forth any time limits

for appeals from the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness (R. Tab 17 at 107).

Aware that there was also an appeal pending to the ZBA on the boarding house issue,

the VRB then voted to table the dormer appeal to its next meeting. (R. Tab 17 at 112).

Disagreeing with the VRB's decision that the dormer appeal was timely, the Seretakises

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