VNA to square off with neighbors
Published on August 26th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.
Thursday night's Board of Appeals meeting is sure to add a few sparks and a little heat to the Town Hall Banquet Hall as Beacon Street residents are expected to finally get their chance to address the board about what they allege is the illegal use of the East School by the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA).
At the July 30 board meeting, members of the public were not allowed to voice their opposition to the VNA and its lease of the East School because, Chairman Lawrence Allen said, the board needed to review its 1983 decision with the aid of legal counsel. Any testimony given at that time, he said, would be a waste of time since the board was not prepared to address any comments made.
Residents were up in arms about this statement, saying that board members were ill-prepared for the meeting.
This Thursday, as promised by Allen, residents will finally be given a public forum to complain about their longtime neighbor, the VNA.
Stephen Columbus, attorney for Beacon Street residents, declined to comment on the board's July 30 meeting which spurned a number of residents to contact the Independent.
He did say that the Board of Appeals' 1983 decision in which the VNA was granted usage of the East School, contained restrictive language which has since been violated by the non-profit organization.
"The smoking gun is the Board of Appeals decision," Columbus said. "Every subject that was covered in that original decision, I think, should be reviewed again."
He claims that the board's use of the wording "limited to the term of the lease by and between the Visiting Nurse Association and the Town of Stoneham and any subsequent extension" nullifies further leases.
He further states that, once the original lease ran out in 1986 and the one year extension ran out in 1986, the VNA should have been forced to leave the premises. Instead, the VNA entered into another lease with the School Department and has resided in the East School since that time.
Charles Houghton, attorney for the VNA in both 1983 and the present day, alleges that the 1983 board intended to include subsequent leases in the wording "any subsequent extension."
He also explained that the matter was before the board because the VNA chose to oppose the alternate building inspector's finding.
In May, Acting Building Inspector John Gregorio notified Houghton of what he considered to be "alterations" to the original lease on the part of the VNA and recommended that the VNA's occupancy permit be voided.
The board said that they would speak to Town Counsel William Solomon and 1983 board Chairman August Niewenhous about the legal issues surrounding the language. Solomon, however, removed himself from the case in order to remain available if further action was taken against the Board of Appeals on the matter.
Niewenhous, reached for comment earlier this week by the Independent, said that, due to prior commitments, he would be unable to attend. He will, however, send correspondence to the board in which he will attempt to explain the wording of the decision.
Niewenhous declined to divulge what would be contained in the correspondence, citing fairness to sitting members of the board.
"A lot of (what will be contained) is conjectural," he said. "I've been asked to comment in the present tense about something that happened the better part of 15 years ago.
"It's just one of those things that crops up now."
Niewenhous said that, in reviewing the language of the board's 1983 ruling, "The decision, in my mind, was clear and to the point.
"What that language means to the board now is clearly not within my purview to judge."
He went on to say that the board's allowance of the VNA's occupation of the East School was due, in part, to a lack of opposition on the part of residents back in 1983. At that time, the board was allowed to grant an "exceptional use" to the VNA, an option that was done away with by Town Meeting voters in 1985.
Questions about the legality of leases entered into between the School Department and the VNA subsequent to this bylaw change were also raised by Columbus.
"On behalf of the abutters, I hope the Board of Appeals understands the matters of the case and acts accordingly," he said.
The public hearing will be continued at 7:30 pm on Thursday in the Town Hall Banquet Hall(located in the basement.)
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