Rocheleau v. Town of Greene, 708 A.2d 660, 1998 ME 59 (Me. 1998)
N/AOUTCOME: Judgment vacated. Remanded to the Superior Court with instructions to remand to the Town of Greene Zoning Board of Appeals for further proceedings consistent with the opinion herein.
The Rocheleaus acquired an unimproved parcel of land fronting on Sabattus Lake from William's mother in 1984, and in 1996 they applied to the Town for a building permit that would allow them to constru ... ct a seasonal cottage on the property. The Town's building inspector denied the application because the 4,500 square foot lot did not meet the Town's lot size, road frontage, and setback requirements as set out in the Town's land use ordinance. The ordinance requires a minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet, a minimum road frontage of 250 feet, a water setback of 100 feet from the normal high-water line, and a minimum side setback of 25 feet. The Rocheleaus' proposed cottage would be set back 50 feet from the lake and 10 feet from the property sidelines. The Rocheleaus applied to the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4353(4) and section 8.3 of the Town's land use ordinance. After a site visit by the Board and a properly noticed hearing, the Board voted to deny the variance. The minutes from the hearing reflect that the Board cited our decision in Bishop v. Town of Eliot, 529 A.2d 798 (Me.1987), for the proposition that "if the applicant is a person who bought the lot after the ordinance took effect, he or she is presumed to have had knowledge of the restrictions on use of the lot which the ordinance imposes," and reasoned "[f]rom this it seemed to be clear that Mr. Rocheleau had a 'self-created' hardship."
