Jan. 6, 6 p.m.

Mon, 01/04/2021 - 3:00pm

ROCKPORT — On Jan. 6, the Rockport Zoning Board of Appeals will continue its consideration of citizen objections to the approval that the town’s Planning Board gave last spring for the construction of a 26-room hotel in the Village. The meeting, the fourth so far on this appeal, begins at 6 p.m. and will be held via Zoom. The public can view the proceedings at https://livestream.com/rockportmaine

At the end of a Nov. 17 virtual meeting that lasted more than four hours, Rockport’s Zoning Board of Appeals chose to continue the public hearing of an appeal brought against the town's Planning Board approval a four-story, 26-room hotel to be built in Rockport Village.

On Dec, 1, four attorneys, members of Rockport’s Zoning Board of Appeals, and project proponents continued the review with no final decisions made.

On Dec. 9, the ZBA again met via Zoom, and voted to continue its review of an appeal brought against municipal approval of a new downtown hotel, rather than proceeding with the appeal as originally scheduled.

The board agreed that it would use the interim to review four letters submitted by attorneys for the applicants, the appellants and the Chair of the Rockport Planning board; those letters were received within days of the scheduled Dec. 9 hearing.

Read: Rockport ZBA enters new letters as evidence to consider in appeal of downtown hotel

By the end of the last meeting on Dec. 9, the ZBA had made no decision to uphold or dismiss the appeal of the Rockport Planning Board approval granted last spring that would allow Stuart and Tyler Smith to pursue a building permit for a new four-story hotel at 20 Central Street, in Rockport Village.

The appeal contends that the Planning Board abused its discretion and made findings not supported by substantial evidence when approving the project’s site plan last spring.

The appeal was filed by 13 Rockport residents who are represented by Attorney Kristin Collins. The appellants own homes located in Rockport Village and around the site of the proposed hotel, 20 Central Street.

Read: Zoning Board of Appeals begins review of Rockport hotel case; no decision, yet

Consideration of an Appeal

Continuation of the consideration of an appeal of the application of 20 Central Street LLC for site plan review pursuant to Section 703.2 of the Land Use Ordinance to appeal the site plan approval issued by the Planning Board on May 21, 2020 on the grounds that the Planning Board made errors of law, abused its discretion and made findings not supported by substantial evidence in the record.

The Board of Appeals closed the public comment period on Nov. 17 and closed the public hearing on Dec. 1 and will continue its deliberation on the appeal application Jan. 6.

The following submitted the appeal: David Barry, Lisa Breheny, Katie Grealish, David Kantor, Michael Hampton, George and Eliza Haselton, John Priestley, Kimberly and Rex Rehmeyer, Mark Schwarzmann, Craig Sweeny, and Winston Whitney, represented by Kristin Collins, PretiFlaherty.