HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982 Feb 24 - Yarmouth Sun Article: "Work ordered to stop on Yarmouth Port house"- - - - - - - Yarmouth Sun, Wednesday, February 24, 1982 5
Work ordered to stop on Yarmouth Port house
A stop work order has been slapped on a new Yarmouth
Port house as a result of the owner's alleged failure to
comply with plans approved by the local historic district.
Acting Yarmouth building inspector Forrest White
confirmed last week that lie has ordered all work to stop on
a house under construction at 101 Route 6A owned by John
R. Foley of South Yarmouth.
Mr. White said lie issued the order because the house
was not being built in conformance with plans recently
approved by the Old King's Highway Regional Historic
District Committee.
Committee chairman Luther Long said lie suggested
Mr. White check the house when it became apparent what
was being built was not the same as what had been
approved.
Mr. Long said the committee has only had to seek stop
work orders a couple of times in the past.
In a letter to Mr. Foley dated February 10, Mr. White
told him to "cease and desist" all construction until
certain violations have been corrected.
Me. Long said historic district violations include a
couple of major differences between the plans and the
house as being constructed.
He said the pitch of the roof over the main house is
steeper than the pitch of the attached garage roof. Both
roof pitches were supposed to be the same, lie said.
Secondly, lie continued, the committee never approved
a large bay window on the front of the house. Plans had
called for more conventional type windows.
Referring to the steep roof pitch, Mr. Long said, "that
is not something that can be corrected by just snapping
your fingers."
Nevertheless, he said, if Mr. Foley were to present new
plans calling for an increase in the pitch over the garage
roof, the situation might be easily rectified.
"We're not trying to be unreasonable," the committee
chairman said.
In fact, the committee has scheduled another hearing
for tonight to give Mr. Foley a chance to present new
plans.
Mr. Long said the committee conducted a site tour of the
property a week ago Saturday so it could advise itself of
the problem.
EP_W_-1nXP
A stop work order halted construction of John for tonight to allow Mr. Foley to present new plans
Foley's new house at 101 Main Street, Yarmouth enabling that order to be lifted.
Port, earlier this month. A hearing has been called Photo by Dwight B. Shepard
Contacted for comment Thursday Mr. Foley did not
want to make any public statement about the problem.
Mr. Long said he thinks the committee will be able to
work out a solution with Mr. Foley, and that in the end, the
Yarmouth Port property owner could be much happier with
the final product.
The chairman expressed concern, however, that the
committee may be in the middle of a neighborhood
squabble. He said residents have taken a specific interest
in the house, and that lie even got a telephone call from
state senator Paul Doane (R -Harwich) on behalf of Mr.
Foley.
This would not be the first instance of friction between
Mr. Foley and his neighbors. Initial plans by him to get the
house approved by other town agencies met with
opposition from residents earlier.
Two years ago, a group of residents appeared at an
appeals board hearing to object to him being granted a
permit to build a second house on his lot. The residents
complained about congestion and the number of guests his
former lodging house on the front of the lot attract in the
summer.
Later, when Mr. Foley got around the appeals board's
denial by getting the planning board to subdivide the lot
into two lots, a group appealed that action to Barnstable
Superior Court. Just this summer, the court handed down
a decision in favor of the planning board and Mr. Foley.
Tonight (Wednesday) Mr. Foley is scheduled to meet
with the historic district committee to try to work out a
solution to the latest problem.