Citizenry of Oak Bluffs Raises Chorus of Protest Over Disputed Building

By CHRIS BURRELL

An indignant crowd of more than 70 people piled into last night's hearing of the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals and clamored for town leaders to tear down the three-story building in Joseph Moujabber's backyard.

Zoning board members were just as thorny, repeatedly questioning how Mr. Moujabber's $22,000 garage replacement could have turned into something more than 30 feet tall with balconies and sliding glass doors.

But the ZBA - which was being asked to reinstate Mr. Moujabber's building permit revoked in May - deferred any decisions and voted instead to continue the hearing until next Wednesday or Thursday.

Turnout for the last night's appeal hearing was so heavy that town officials urged zoning board members to relocate the meeting from the conference room in town hall - where there was seating for only 30 people - across town to the council on aging building on Wamsutta avenue.

The forced migration did nothing to thin the numbers: The senior center was a packed house by 7:15 p.m. And it was anything but divided.

"It is a blight on the landscape," Renee Balter, chairman of the town historical commission, said of Mr. Moujabber's building that sits behind his bungalow at 10 Seaview avenue.

"This is a clear case of build first and ask later," said Tricia Wallace, a resident of the North Bluff neighborhood.

Such comments were greeted uniformly with applause.

The building project that ignited a neighborhood and caused political friction all over Oak Bluffs started last fall when Mr. Moujabber, an Oak Bluffs businessman and the co-owner of Nancy's Restaurant, applied for a building permit to replace an existing 200-square-foot garage at a house he owns in the North Bluff - a neighborhood now under consideration for inclusion in the Cottage City Historic District.

Mr. Moujabber stated on his application that the building was for storage use only, not for habitation. But by March, the so-called garage project had grown into a building three stories high and encompassing nearly 3,000 square feet. Neighbors protested, and town counsel Ron Rappaport drafted a legal opinion in May, saying the building permit shouldn't have been granted in the first place.

Oak Bluffs building inspector Richard Mavro issued a cease-and-desist order and then revoked the same permit he'd granted five months earlier. By June, Mr. Moujabber had shot back, hiring the Boston law form of Piper Rudnick to appeal the revocation.

Last night, Mr. Moujabber's lawyer, an attorney from Boston named Bruce Bennett, found himself on the hot seat for the duration of the hearing, nearly two hours. Mr. Moujabber didn't attend the meeting, a fact that perturbed ZBA members. Also conspicuously absent was Mr. Mavro.

ZBA chairman Gail Barmakian took the lead.

"Why are balconies and sliding glass doors necessary for storage space?" she asked.

Mr. Bennett said Mr. Moujabber wanted to build potential living space and come back and request approval later from the zoning board.

"He only wanted to build it once," said Mr. Bennett, who argued that the original permit was legal based on the town zoning bylaws and should be reinstated.

Mr. Moujabber's lawyer pointed out that the structure was legal since it was set back further from the neighboring lot lines than the old garage, lessening the nonconforming nature of the property.

Ms. Barmakian was skeptical: "You don't see the increase in size and increase in use as increasing the nonconforming nature?"

ZBA members were also sharply critical of the lack of detailed plans that accompanied the building permit application back in November and the fact that there was no paper trail that showed approvals for a project whose scope had clearly widened from simply a $22,000 garage.

"I'd like to see a site plan with elevations and setbacks," said zoning board member William Sullivan.

Mr. Bennett tried this explanation: "When they got going, they got other permits and the cost escalated to $200,000."

Ms. Barmakian was unconvinced. "I don't remember ever seeing that," she said. "All we have is the original plans for $22,000."

And he said he was going to do the work himself. I don't believe he has?" she continued.

"No," said Mr. Bennett.

"And I don't think he ever changed his application either," she added.

Not that they needed any prodding, but Ms. Barmakian's tough questioning had primed the room. Immediately apparent was the fact that Mr. Bennett was a lone voice in an ornery crowd. Not one other person spoke in favor of the appeal.

"Drive by that building and use common sense and tell me that building is not in violation," said Don Olson.

Ms. Wallace picked up steam, expressing her anger at a building permit that stated one thing and a construction project that was something else entirely.

"That $22,000 permit morphed into a three-story - in quotes - garage," she said. "This is a distortion. We're being told the emperor is wearing clothes, and he is buck naked."

Stephanie Kiefer, a Boston attorney representing neighbors of the Moujabber property, said the building permit was incomplete and contained false information. "That permit application was signed under penalties of perjury and should not be taken lightly," she said.

Sizing up the legal arguments, Mr. Kiefer pointed out that since the old garage was removed, the building that went up isn't a reconstruction but a new construction on a new foundation subject to a different set of bylaws.

"The use is an undefined concept. It was supposed to be a garage, and now it may house people. Those uses are not allowed," she added.

Paul Iantosca said that if ZBA members granted Mr. Moujabber's appeal, it would set a precedent in town, enabling anyone with a garage to turn it into a guest house.

Abe Naparstek, also a neighbor, announced that he had learned that Mr. Moujabber submitted a new building permit application on June 24, seeking to move the three story building 10 feet closer to the main house and connect the two structures.

Under questioning from the ZBA chairman, Mr. Bennett confirmed the statement. "He has an existing structure into which has been put time, effort and money. One thought was to move the building and attach it to the primary residence in a way that was acceptable to the town," he said.

News of this new wrinkle flustered some of the board members. Mr. Sullivan asked about wastewater. "There would be an increase to the number of bedrooms," he said.

Others stressed that such a project would require approval from the Copeland District commission since the North Bluffs was recently included under that district of critical planning concern (DCPC).

After the meeting, Oak Bluffs town administrator Casey Sharpe said that a July 29 hearing in front of the Copeland review board has already been set for the latest permit application from Mr. Moujabber.

As last night's ZBA hearing pushed past 9 p.m., there were still hands in the air. Ann Margetson's comment resonated: "The existence of this structure shows us we are not protected by the zoning bylaws of our town."