FARMINGTON – Abutters have filed for an injunction to prevent a Farmington couple from continuing conversion of an attached barn into living quarters.
The abutters, through their attorney, David Sanders, have also asked Franklin County Superior Court to prohibit Mark and Heidi Goodwin from making any modifications to what abutters claim is a nonconforming structure on a nonconforming lot.
They also seek to prevent occupancy of the structure until the town determines if a review is required and until any review or appeal process is completed.
Justice Joseph Jabar issued a restraining order Sept. 24 that prohibits modifications to the lot at 247 High St. only until a hearing on the preliminary injunction is heard at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 at Superior Court.
The Goodwins received approval from the Planning Board of their site review application, with conditions, in September 2003. The application was to convert a duplex with an attached barn into a four-unit apartment complex.
Abutters Rod Prior, Holly Price, Ralph Granger and Judith Granger appealed that decision.
The town’s Board of Appeals found, among other things, that the Planning Board failed to consider adequately certain factors required by zoning. Those omissions: that the conversion would be a change of use, not an expansion, and that such a change might have a greater impact on the neighborhood.
The Goodwins withdrew their application in April.
Instead, they approached Farmington Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser looking for alternative options, according to documents in town files. Kaiser offered three options and had the town’s attorney, Frank Underkuffler, review the options. The Goodwins also had their attorney review them.
The couple chose Option 2: to continue using the house as a duplex and add bedrooms to the barn to make each duplex a four-bedroom unit. This option, both Kaiser and Underkuffler agreed, was neither an expansion of a nonconforming use nor an expansion of a nonconforming structure, and therefore did not require Planning Board review or a code enforcement officer’s permit, according to a letter to the Goodwins from Kaiser.
The Goodwins’ lawyer, Roy Pierce, agreed.
The abutters’ attorney, Sanders, claims that there have been secret discussions about the converting the structure without going through he process of town review and abutter notification.
Sanders claims his clients should have been notified of the modifications being done in the barn, initially used as storage. He claims Kaiser ignored that the conversion changes the existing use of the barn and that Kaiser failed to enforce the town’s zoning ordinance.
Abutters have asked the Planning Board to schedule a review of the conversion and change of use and any plans for additional parking.
In the event Kaiser or the board determines that no review is required under the town’s ordinances, Sanders says his clients intend to appeal to the Farmington Board of Appeals.
The Sun Journal was unable to contact the Goodwins on Thursday. Kaiser said there were no secret meetings and gave information to abutters when they came to his office to find out what was going on.
In a letter to Sanders dated Sept. 23, Kaiser stated that the Goodwins are currently renovating their existing duplex building in a manner that does not trigger review.
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