Sudbury ZBA approves Hollow Oak addition, continues Brimstone pool case

SUDBURY — October 2, 2023 — Sudbury ZBA approves Hollow Oak addition after legal pivot, defers Brimstone pool variance for survey. The board voted 5-0 to grant Michael Baldock a special permit for an addition at 32 Hollow Oak Drive after Acting Chair John Gossels cited the SJC's 2019 Bjorklund decision and the "convoluted language" of Section 6 to treat the side-setback encroachment under the special-permit standard rather than as a variance; Baldock's revised plan sits roughly 17.9 feet from the line, just inside the existing 17.5-foot nonconforming setback. The Polavi family's variance request for a 37-by-16-foot pool at 34 Brimstone Lane was continued to Nov. 6 after members, led by Clerk John Reardon, said they would not grant a permanent variance running with the land without a stamped survey showing pool, ledge, septic envelope and landscape buffer — a roughly $5,400 expense the applicant said had stalled the project. Cases 23-23 (Victor Nascimento) and 23-33 (Marie Mercier for Herb Chambers) were also continued to Nov. 6, and staff announced a new planning director from Lunenburg starts Oct. 16.