ROCKLAND — Cheryl Michaelsen and John Laposta own and operate the Berry Manor Inn at 81 Talbot Avenue in Rockland. They currently reside at that address as required by the zoning regulations of bed and breakfast establishments. The 81 Talbot Street address includes the inn and a carriage house they have owned for 17 years.

Having recently acquired the Talbot House, which abuts their property, their plans call for making the Talbot House part of the existing inn campus since it sits only 20 feet from the carriage house.

Current regulations allow for an eight-room maximum for B&Bs, per dwelling, and stipulates that an owner must live on the property. Michaelsen said their plans for the Talbot House is to use it as a residence only.

There are four guest rooms in the carriage house and eight in the Berry Manor Inn. City Attorney Kevin Beal said the eight-room maximum would apply if they decided to have guest rooms in the Talbot House.

In an excerpt from the Jan. 15 Comprehensive Planning Commission minutes, motion was made with a unanimous 7-0 vote to allow the owner of an existing B&B, if allowed by the Rockland Code Enforcement Officer, to reside in a residence on a parcel that is immediately contiguous to the B&B establishment parcel where the property line separating the parcels is uninterrupted.

At its meeting on Monday night the Rockland City Council further amended the motion as follows:

Amended to allow the Code Officer to approve the owner of an existing Bed & Breakfast to reside in a residence on a parcel that is immediately contiguous to the Bed & Breakfast Establishment parcel where the property line separating the parcels is uninterrupted; requiring Planning Board approval for an owner of a new Bed & Breakfast Establishment to reside in a residence on a parcel that is immediately contiguous to the Bed & Breakfast Establishment parcel where the property line separating the parcels is uninterrupted; and eliminating the requirement that the parcels intersect with the boundaries of two streets separated by the subject parcels.

Council voted 4to 0, with 1 abstention on the amendment. Mayor Frank Isganitis abstained from voting on the ordinance, as amended, because it could affect his business. Isganitis owns the LimeRock Inn in Rockland.