Boat storage case in judge’s hands

LACONIA — A Superior Court judge is considering whether Meredith zoning officials erred when they ruled that a landowner cannot store boats on his property.

Douglas Frederick is suing the Meredith Zoning Board of Adjustment for refusing to reconsider its decision of last August prohibiting boats from being stored at his property at 194 Daniel Webster Highway (Route 3), the former American Police Motorcycle Museum.

Earlier this year Frederick filed a motion in Belknap Superior Court to introduce more documentary evidence for the court to consider, including a video recording of the proceedings of the ZBA meeting at which Frederick’s variance request was denied.

Justice James D. O’Neill ruled that Frederick could not bring the additional material into evidence, and on Monday he heard arguments from both sides on the merits of Frederick’s case.

The town’s attorney Christine Fillmore said the ZBA denial of variance was lawful because Frederick’s failed to prove that his request satisfied the five legal criteria required to obtain a variance.

Fillmore said Frederick failed to show how allowing the variance would have been consistent with the town’s zoning ordinance, that failing to grant the variance would be an unnecessary hardship, the granting the variance would be in the public interest, and would satisfy a standard of fairness. The only criterion that Frederick’s request met, Fillmore told the court, was that it would not reduce the value of surrounding property. But she reminded the court that in order to receive the variance Frederick needed to show that his request satisfied all five requirements.

Frederick told the court the zoning board had erred by comparing his property with others nearby. While his neighbors’ parcels were more typically one acre in size his property was 29 acres, and so storing boats on his land would not be as detrimental to the area as the board maintained. In addition, he said the board’s contention that allowing boat storage would create traffic serious problems when boats were being hauled by trailer to the nearby Meredith Marina. Because of the short distance, Frederick argued that the impact on traffic would be negligible. Moreover, he said the use of his property for boat storage during the summer would be minimal.

He requested the judge overturn the ZBA’s decision and order that it place only “reasonable restrictions” on the reuse of the property.