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."