TRURO — Attorney Ben Zehnder once again put off asking for a formal vote on a proposed sprawling house with a swimming pool at 17 Coast Guard Road after the planning board refused his request to take a straw vote first.
The plan needs four of the seven members to secure site plan approval. Chair Anne Greenbaum told Zehnder at the board’s June 22 meeting that she didn’t believe he had four votes. Until the planning board signs off, consideration of special permits by the zoning board of appeals remains on hold.
The proposal calls for demolishing five of six cottages at the former Hi-Land View cottage colony on the 6.3-acre site. The remaining cottage would become a pool house. After board members questioned the plan at a June 8 hearing, Zehnder went back to the owners, who agreed to trim 345 square feet by removing a family room from one of the two wings.
At 4,779 square feet of living space, the new plan was just 519 square feet over what is allowed by right in the National Seashore District, Zehnder said.
Under Truro’s zoning bylaw, only living space is included when calculating building size. Wellfleet’s bylaw includes garages, accessory buildings, decks, and porches in the calculation.
On June 8, vice chair Richard Roberts said the Coast Guard Road house would be over 10,000 square feet if the garage, pool house, porches, overhangs, and mechanical space were counted.
Planning board member Paul Kiernan asked on June 22 whether the mass of the building had changed at all; the architect said it essentially had not.
Zehnder asked for a continuance and planned to go back again to the owner, whose identity is still unknown. The property was purchased by Outer Shore Nominee Trust for $5 million last summer; the same trust bought 23 Coast Guard Road for $2.9 million.
Boston Attorney Rachel Kalin is listed as trustee on the deeds and is the applicant for the permits but is likely not the owner. Trust beneficiaries in Massachusetts are secret.
