Carver ZBA Grants Spring Street Frontage Variance, Clears Path for Home Construction

CARVER — April 9, 2026 — Carver's Zoning Board of Appeals granted a 40-foot frontage variance for a Route 44 eminent-domain remnant lot and continued a contested accessory dwelling unit case to May 27. The board voted unanimously on April 9 to uphold Building Commissioner Rod Palmer's denial of a rear-lot classification for the 3.84-acre parcel at 0 Spring Street — finding that a lot reduced by state taking was never "created" as a rear lot under the Carver Zoning Bylaw — but immediately granted petitioner Kevin Perkins a 40-foot frontage variance on grounds of topography and lot shape under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A, clearing the way for a single-family home. In the ADU matter, attorney Rob D'Ambroso of D'Ambroso Law LLC argued that the McLaughlin family's medical needs require a 900-square-foot detached unit at 57 Foster Road, 119 square feet above what the bylaw allows given the 1,562-square-foot principal dwelling; member Anita Dahl noted surrounding towns hold firmly to the 50-percent-of-GFA threshold even where they permit ADUs above 900 square feet, and the board was not prepared to grant the variance without further discussion. The board also adopted a new policy requiring wet-stamp engineering drawings with five board signature blocks as a condition of final zoning approval, after Vice Chair James Barrington raised concerns about post-decision plan changes.