The long-stalled Edgartown Stop & Shop expansion project appears to be back on a front burner, after a state land court judge denied repeated claims from an abutter that shadows and noise from the development would adversely affect his property.
In a 21-page decision issued July 12, Massachusetts land court judge Hon. Diane Rubin granted summary judgment to Stop & Shop — affirming the Edgartown planning board’s 2018 approval of the project, and rejecting claims of aggrievement by attorney and abutter Benjamin Hall Jr.
Judge Rubin also declined to consider several late filings from Mr. Hall, clearing the way for Stop & Shop to begin construction on the major expansion at the busy Edgartown store.
“I conclude that the Stop & Shop defendants have successfully rebutted [Mr. Hall’s] presumption of standing, and that the [Hall family] trust has failed to come forward with evidence to substantiate its allegation of aggrievement,” Judge Rubin wrote in part.
Approved by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in early 2018 and the Edgartown planning board last summer, the Stop & Shop expansion project was due to begin last fall. Among other things the plan calls for adding some 15,000 square feet of space to the store and redesigning and reconfiguring the parking lot.
Mr. Hall appealed late last summer, stalling a project that had already been three years in the works. The court appeal claimed among other things that the permitting process was flawed; in later filings Mr. Hall argued that the noise and shadow impacts from construction would decrease his property value.
According to documents filed in court, Mr. Hall resides at 14 Cyprien Way. Edgartown assessor records indicate that the quarter-acre abutting parcel shares a 92-foot border with the north side of the property owned by the supermarket. It also includes a 1,356-square foot ranch home, assessed in 2018 at $537,600.
The court appeal has dragged on through the winter, with Mr. Hall repeatedly requesting extensions for filing deadlines.
Eventually, Stop & Shop filed a motion for summary judgment. A telephone hearing on the motion was held at the end of May, court records show. In court filings, Mr. Hall said despite the shadows from the supermarket building that already existed in the winter months, the new construction would cause undue harm to his property “because the sun comes up every day and goes down every day.”
In her decision last week, Judge Rubin disagreed.
“This speculation cannot serve as the basis for a finding of standing,” the judge wrote.
She went on to dismiss all claims of aggrievement, stating that a noise study indicated acoustic disturbance from the project would not exceed Massachusetts DEP noise standards. She also said a shadow-impact study determined the proposed project would only cast a “de minimus” amount of additional shadow on Mr. Hall’s property, rejecting what she described as “vague and generalized concern about a loss of property value” from the project. Judge Rubin also said no financial damages would be awarded.
In court documents, Stop & Shop attorneys said the store hopes to begin construction this fall.
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