Eastern Point, LLC v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Eastern Point, LLC (plaintiff), brought suit in Superior Court seeking reversal of a decision of the zoning board of appeals of Gloucester (board). That decision permitted Virgil Martinonis (defendant) to reconstruct on his property a house that had been destroyed by fire and to do so without authority of either a variance or a special permit. In the event of catastrophic destruction of a prior nonconforming residence, a *482provision of the Gloucester zoning ordinance (ordinance) allows reconstruction of the house “in substantially the form” of the destroyed house. A judge of the Superior Court…