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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5201 183 South Sea Ave Petitioner Narrative Received 10.06.25La Mare LLC RECEIVED 185 S Sea Avenue West Yarmouth, MA 02673 OCT 0 6 2025 YARMOU-M Attn: Zoning Board of Appeal Town of Yarmouth BOARD OF Ap; E October 1, 2025 Dear Members of the Town of Yarmouth Zoning Board of Appeals, We are Constantin Carseli and Anca Bulgaru, owners of La Mare LLC, 185 S Sea Avenue, West Yarmouth, MA 02673 (Registry of Deeds Book 35952, Page 233). We are appealing against the building permit BLDRL-25-363 issued retroactively to Andrew and Cynthia Laird of 183 S Sea Avenue on September 10, 2025, for an illegal garage building on 183 S Sea Avenue that had started 11 months prior. Crowell Heritage Condominium was officially registered (Assessor's Map: 17, Parcel 101.1, Registry Deed Book 35024, page 301) on June 23, 2023, and included 185 S Sea Avenue Unit# A and 185 S Sea Ave Unit# B. The addresses were officially changed on February 23, 2024, when Unit# A became 185 S Sea Avenue (Map Parcel 17.101.ICA) and Unit# B became 183 S Sea Avenue (Map Parcel 17.101.1 CB). Of note, the only common space for the Condominium units is the dividing shed wall. Massachusetts State Condominium Law (M.G.L. Chapter 183A) does not make any specific distinction between the setbacks for a condominium unit versus any property that is not part of the condominium. As per this law, any construction on the condominium requires condo association approval and compliance with town zoning setbacks. Upon extensive review of the Zoning Bylaws (amended through Nov 19, 2024), The Town of Yarmouth should enforce zoning and general bylaws that apply to all properties, including zoning restrictions (setbacks, land use, density), building and safety codes. There is no specification made for the units of a condominium being excluded from these rules. I emailed Mr. Grylls asking for help in getting an official copy of the rules applied to the condominiums, but no such documentation was provided by him. Each of the two units of the Crowell Heritage Condominium are subject to exclusive use and subject to a different tax ID for the Town on Yarmouth. Therefore, it does make sense to treat them as separate single unit properties. The fact the retroactive garage permit was issued specifically to 183 S Sea Avenue, with no mention of the Condominium name on the permit, emphasizes the fact it was treated as a self - standing property. The owners of 183 S Sea Ave failed to obtain valid approval from the condominium trustees as per Crowell Heritage Master Deed and did not follow the standard setback for the Town of Yarmouth, building within inches of the exclusivity line, to the point of damaging the invisible dog fence on our property. They started building the garage in October 2025 without having a permit from Building Department, in violation of Article 103.1.1 of the Zoning Bylaws. Although there is documentation that they had been working on the garage plans at least since February 2023, on the initial permit application (BLDR-24-332 issued on 9/11/24), they omitted to include the plans for the garage and surreptitiously uploaded them to the project later, without asking for the building approval and permit. This issue became known to the Building Department on December 20, 2024, when Anca Bulgaru visited the Town Hall. Over the subsequent eight and a half months, Anca Bulgaru made multiple visits to the Town Hall on the same issue and requested at least 10 times a copy of the permit issued for the garage built on 183 S Sea Avenue. It was only on September 5, 2025, that Mr. Grylls acknowledged via email that no building permit had ever been issued for the garage. Ultimately the permit was issued retroactively on September 10, 2025, 11 months after the building started, unauthorized neither by Condominium trustees as required by the Crowell Heritage Master Deed, nor by the Town Hall. We consider that for almost 9 months, under the direction of Mr. Timothy Sears, the Building Department of The Town of Yarmouth engaged in a cover-up of the illegal garage built by Andrew and Cynthia Laird, the owners of 183 S Sea Avenue. The Building Department had a dismissive and discriminatory attitude towards Anca Bulgaru and La Mare LLC, refusing to properly address the issues brought up repeatedly and advising us to pursue legal options against The Lairds instead. Several staff members stated that this kind of situation happened quite often between condominium owners. In our opinion, it indicates the stringent need for updating the rules and regulations for the condominiums in the Zoning Bylaws. We, La Mare LLC, as represented by its owners Constantin Carseli and Anca Bulgaru, request a hearing by the Zoning Board of Appeal and ask for revocation of the retroactive permit BLDR-25-363 and demolition of the garage built illegally by Andrew and Cynthia Laird on 183 S Sea Avenue, West Yarmouth, MA 02673, so that the standard setback approved by the Town of Yarmouth is (at least closed to being) respected. In addition, in the spirit of fair and nondiscriminatory treatment of all community members, we request an amendment of the Building and Zoning Bylaws to specifically stipulate the rules and regulations applied to condominiums and treat the units of small condominiums as separately owned self -standing properties especially when the common area is extremely limited. We consider the Town on Yarmouth should ensure that both provisions of the Massachusetts State Condominium Law (M.G.L. Chapter 183A) are fulfilled before issuing a permit for a condominium unit. Advising legal action instead of addressing the issues on hand is expensive emotionally and financially and time consuming for all parties involved, and not conducive to the nice inclusive community that Town of Yarmouth strives to be (goal reflected in the North Start Planning Comprehensive Yarmouth Plan 2024). Thank you for your kind attention to these issues and for granting us the hearing with the Zoning Board of Appeal to have the opportunity to discuss them in more detail. We are proud to live in a society with liberty and justice for all and grateful that the Zoning Board of Appeal will carefully consider the rights of all the citizens of The Town of Yarmouth. Looking forward touring om you s n, La Mare LLC Constantin Carseli Anca Bulgaru