Special Permit Granted For Route 6A Storage Operation

ORLEANS – A special permit was granted last month to allow storage operations at a commercial building at 260 Route 6A.

The permit allows the applicant, Perseverance Coast, LLC, to utilize 21 outdoor storage trailers in the rear of the building and utilize the top two floors of the three-story building for additional indoor storage space.

The May 21 approval from the zoning board of appeals brings to a close a lengthy back-and-forth review that initially resulted in the board’s vote to deny the permit in August 2024. An appeal to Massachusetts Land Court resulted in the matter being remanded back to the board this past April.

In April 2024, Building Commissioner Davis Walters issued a stop work order on the building after he observed electrical work and demolition being done inside without the necessary permits. When the property owner, Donald Cameron, retroactively applied for a permit to continue the work, he was denied because of the presence of the storage containers, which are not allowed in the general business district without a special permit.

Cameron then appealed Walters’ denial before the zoning board, which voted to uphold the commissioner’s decision last August. But a Land Court judge in November remanded the matter back to the local board, finding that Cameron was not given a fair chance to make his case for a special permit.

The zoning board in April indicated its willingness to grant the special permit pending approval from the town’s site plan review committee. The committee approved the applicant’s plans with conditions, and further discussion was entertained by the zoning board May 21.

Zoning board member David Lyttle expressed frustration with not having plans presented for consideration ahead of the meeting. Plans were submitted to board chair Gerald Mulligan just hours before the May 21 hearing.

“I need more time to see this,” Lyttle said.

Cameron’s attorney, Jonathan Silverstein, said plans were submitted to both the zoning board and site plan review committee. But he said the matter before the board was whether the proposed use of the building for storage represented something “substantially more detrimental" to the surrounding neighborhood than what currently exists.

Silverstein provided aerial photos of the Route 6A property and those surrounding it during the May 21 meeting.

“This clearly is not going to be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s going to be substantially less impactful than maintaining complete office use.”

Silverstein argued that storage is a preexisting nonconforming use on the property, but Ben Zehnder, an attorney who at one point represented one of the building’s former tenants, Community Development Partnership, argued that if the owner abandoned the building’s use as office space by evicting its former tenants, the proposal before the board would constitute a change of use, not an extension of the nonconformity.

“It’s absolutely false that we removed all the tenants,” Silverstein said. 

Silverstein said Cameron bought the building as an “investment property” and that he intended to continue operating it as office space. He said the three former tenants have since left the property on their own accord.

“His belief when he purchased this property was he was buying a fully leased office building that he was going to be able to derive income from. And that all dissipated in the blink of an eye,” Silverstein said, adding that attempts to find new tenants have been unsuccessful with a diminished demand for office space post-COVID.

The board voted 4-1 in favor of granting the special permit with conditions, with board member Sibel Asantigrul voting against. Other members said while they supported the permit, they took issue with the lengthy process that led the board to grant it.

“I wish the owner of the property had thought this through better before than putting us all through this,” board member Martin Szeber said.