Davis v. Zoning Board of Chatham

The plaintiffs are keen recreational sailors living on Stage Island, Chatham, who describe their community as “a yachtsman’s dream.” Their desire to share in that dream, by converting a former Coast Guard launchway and boathouse to which they had acquired property rights, into a facility accommodating their boats for private recreational purposes, was deferred when the zoning board of Chatham (board) denied their application for a special permit to effect the conversion. The plaintiffs appealed both that denial and the application of the town of Chatham’s (town) zoning by-law to the existing…