Shacka v. Board of Appeals of Chelmsford

The decree in the Superior Court upholding the grant of a variance was in error.

The evidence shows that the applying owner, the intervener, had purchased the property at 46 Gorham Street, Chelmsford, on a “main highway,” as a site for an automobile service station, a use not permitted in this general residence district. For seventeen years the intervener had operated a service station at 15 Gorham Street on land being taken for State highway purposes. The new site was ordinary, flat grassland, suitable for almost any purpose, and was the only place for a station which the intervener could…