ASHFIELD — After nearly three hours of testimony, Zoning Board of Appeals members said they were not ready to make a determination on the appeal of the building commissioner’s decision that 995 West Road can continue to operate as a junkyard.
Board members will deliberate and potentially vote on the matter on Thursday, April 23, at 7:15 p.m. at Town Hall. Members hope to visit the site before the continued hearing.
“I think that seeing what’s going on there with our own eyes is important,” ZBA member Mollie Babize said at Thursday’s public hearing.
ZBA members heard an argument from attorney John McLaughlin, who filed an appeal on behalf of West Road resident Randy Gobeil. McLaughlin argued that Building Commissioner Jim Hawkins’ determination that the junkyard existed before the 1995 bylaw banning them was incorrect and it could not be “grandfathered in.” Hawkins and town counsel were not in attendance at the meeting.
McLaughlin said that Brian Dickinson, who previously owned the property before transferring it to his son Jason Dickinson and Jason’s wife Sabra Billings, and who still manages the property, may have had some “derelict vehicles” there prior to 1995, but that does not mean a junkyard business was being operated. He added that he has several affidavits and resident witnesses who could testify that there were a few junk vehicles, including a school bus, on the property in 1990s, but it wasn’t until approximately 2015 that activity picked up and neighbors recognized a business was operating there.
He added that even if a business was in operation, the owners cannot claim prior nonconforming rights, also known as a “grandfather clause,” as Dickinson did not have a special permit to operate in the agricultural/residential area.
“Your 1978 bylaws said this is all residential and if anyone wants to do business — industry, commercial, anything except residential — you had to get a special permit,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t claim prior nonconforming rights for an operation that’s illegal.”
Sabra Billings argued that under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, Gobeil did not have standing to file an appeal.
“Randy Gobeil does not have legal standing to file this appeal. The Massachusetts General Law restricts appeals to a person who is aggrieved,” Billings said, adding that those who are aggrieved by zoning decisions are abutters who reside within 300 feet of the property in question. “Mr. Gobeil lives over a mile away.”
Section 11 of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A states, “Parties in interest as used in this chapter shall mean the petitioner, abutters, owners of land directly opposite on any public or private street or way, and abutters to the abutters within three hundred feet of the property line of the petitioner.”
McLaughlin, however, argued the Massachusetts General Law line about abutters needing to live within 300 feet only applies to appeals of decisions made by the ZBA, and that anyone can appeal a decision of the building commissioner.
Billings added that Gobeil did not specify an alleged harm to him that the junkyard causes.
“Merely disliking the appearance of a property that one drives past does not constitute harm to a private interest,” she said.
Billings noted that she wished neighbors had tried to work out their grievances with them, and that much of the junk that is visible from the road is only there because she and her husband have been helping Brian Dickinson move items from deeper into the property to the front so it is easier to remove and get rid of.
She said Ashfield is a small town and “everyone knew what Brian was doing.” In the decades that Dickinson had been storing and hauling scrap metal and other junk, she said no one had ever indicated he needed a special permit, and he felt he did not need one as the operation could not be considered regular employment.
“Brian’s occassional, irregular scrapping and collection activities do not constitute a regular occupation. They do not involve constant employment, they do not involve commercial enterprise,” Billings said. “They’ve never operated within the characteristics of a business, with hours, customers, revenues etc., so we don’t believe there was a special permit required.”
Neighbors and community members — many of whom wore matching “I ♡ Junk” T-shirts with pictures of “Big Bri” on the back — argued whether a junkyard was operating in 1995, when a bylaw banning junkyards was enacted. Despite multiple reminders from Chair Mary Fitz-Gibbon that the ZBA can only address issues related to zoning, and if anyone has comments related to health, environmental or sentimental concerns, they should take those matters to the respective boards, commenters spoke about impacts on soil quality and health concerns, as well as how much people appreciate Dickinson’s work in town.
“I moved in in 1986. There were multiple vehicles there at the time, also lawnmowers, bicycles and a number of other scrap items,” resident Patricia Libby said. “Brian has always cleaned it up and there have never been any issues. He’s actually helped us out by taking scrap metal off of other properties. I have no issue with his operations.”
Darlene Monds, also a West Road resident, said there was not a junkyard business in town when she moved in 1995. She also argued that the bylaw is in place to protect the environment and public health, and she submitted printed GIS (Geographic Information System) aerial maps, and screenshots of a Facebook Marketplace listing to support her claim that the Dickinsons began operating a business more recently.
“Before purchasing our property, my spouse and I perused West Road many times over the year and there was no junkyard at 995 West Road in 1995, the year zoning bylaws barred junkyards. Twenty years later, in 2015, Mr. Dickinson began using 995 West Road for a junkyard,” Monds said. Addressing the ZBA, she added, “If you and the Selectboard allow this unlicensed junkyard to continue, you will establish a precedent that will allow junkyards in other parts of town. How fair is that, that other businesses in town have obtained licenses and permits as required since 1978, but not Brian Dickinson?”
Responding to a question from ZBA alternate Manfred Gabriel, who informed attendees he would not be voting on the matter due to his conflict of interest as an abutter, Billings said she was not entirely sure of the timeline of Brian Dickinson’s activities. He had been intermittently working on the property for decades, and took a few years off due to a serious injury. Billings said that while Dickinson may have moved some junk from 331 Baptist Corner Road — referred to as Fritzy’s Garage — to the West Road site, he had vehicles and other items on both lots.
James Bacon of Cummington Road said he has known Dickinson his whole life, and there have been junk vehicles and other items on the property for decades. He said if the ZBA rules on this junkyard, it would be opening “a major can of worms” because there are many other Ashfield residents who run side hustles or small businesses out of their homes, and he believes many do not have the required special permit to do so.
“Probably more than half of this room would be affected, and probably more than half the town, by trying to enforce this zoning bylaw,” Bacon said. “I think it would be ridiculous for the Zoning Board of Appeals to go with this, to accept this appeal.”