Daniel Stein, the developer who dismayed and upset Beaver Hill neighbors by slashing down this tree, withdrew Tuesday his request for a zoning variance to build a house on that lot. He plans to build a house there anyway.
The contentious matter arose at Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Stein had been seeking a variance on a front yard setback so he could squeeze a house onto a corner lot at Colony Road and Dyer Street. About 20 neighbors, all saddened at the loss of the copper beech tree and dead set against Stein’s proposal, showed up to protest.
Stein wasn’t at the meeting. His lawyer, John Lambert, gave the news: His client “decided not to pursue the variance and to build another house” on the lot. The new house would be rotated 90 degrees to face Dyer Street, and would obey city laws that require a 25-foot front yard setback from both streets, said Lambert.
Odds are the BZA might have ruled in Stein’s favor anyway— City Plan staff, in a report, said being on a corner lot amounts to a hardship. “Because this lot, by regulation, has two front yards that result in a narrow buildable area, the department advises a hardship exists,” opined planner Stephen Harris. Harris suggested approving the variance, as long as Stein kept the building under 35 feet tall.
So why the change of plans? Lambert suggested Stein just didn’t want to wait around. Withdrawing his application means Stein doesn’t have to wait another month to get the green light to build his house. He can start building right away, as long as the plans don’t violate zoning code. “I can’t speak for him, but I think he thought the people of the neighborhood would try to tie him up,” said Lambert.
“I guess he wasn’t ready for a fight of that magnitude,” said Alderwoman Babz Rawls-Ivy (pictured at left) upon hearing the news.
Attorney Marjorie Shansky, representing a group of Beaver Hill neighbors, urged the BZA to reject Stein’s request for withdrawal because Stein hadn’t given proper notice before the meeting. She urged the board to vote on the matter anyway.
Board members weren’t swayed. They voted 3 – 2 to allow Stein to withdraw his case.
Neighbors filed quietly out of the room and huddled with Shansky in the hall. If Stein’s new house doesn’t violate zoning code, they’ll lack a vital legal means to oppose it.
Beaver HIll’s Peaches Quinn said, “we’ll oppose the project” anyway “on the issues of exploitation of land and house,” of “flipping” property — buying real estate to turn it around and make a profit. “He’s using every morsel to buy and flip,” she said. “We’ll find a way to protest.”