An appeal to stop development of a business park at 71 Hedges Pond Road in Cedarville was delayed Monday night, because the Zoning Board of Appeals did not have a quorum available to hear the case.
ZBA Chair Michael Main was present but recused himself because he is a defendant in a lawsuit brought by Meg Sheehan, the environmental activist and attorney representing the group appealing the Cedarville case.
Only four of ZBA’s seven members attended Monday night’s meeting. A minimum of four are required to consider a case. So, when Main stepped aside, the appeal was off.
The hearing is now scheduled for April 7.
Monday night’s delay was expected. The petitioners were notified by email from the town’s lawyer that in addition to Main, board members Kevin O’Reilly, and Thomas Wallace would recuse.
The attorney’s email did not list the reasons for their recusal, but O’Reilly presumably would not vote on an appeal because he is a director of the Plymouth Foundation, the nonprofit economic development organization that once owned 71 Hedges Pond Road and now holds a mortgage on the property after selling the land to the Standish Investment Group, developer of the business park. Wallace is a past director of the foundation.
The delay is the latest turn in the controversial project. At several public meetings , residents voiced opposition on grounds the earth removal and clear-cutting of much of the site would degrade the environment and threaten the region’s water supply. Those concerns are restated in the ZBA appeal, along with the assertion that state law requires an archeological study before land can be disturbed.
Meanwhile, the 34-acre site has been largely clear-cut since the building permit was issued, with just a buffer of trees still standing along most of the parcel’s boarders, as site work was allowed to continue pending the appeal.
Michael Cohen can be reached at michael@plymouthindependent.org.