Official Overreach Lands Norwood In Court

The Land Court lawsuit filed by Lenox LLC over the proposed development at 55 Lenox Street raises serious questions about how Norwood’s zoning laws are being interpreted inside Town Hall.

According to the complaint filed in Land Court, the developer’s legal argument relies heavily on determinations made by Norwood officials. The complaint states that the Building Commissioner concluded the project’s parking configuration, including mechanical vehicle lifts, complied with the zoning bylaw. It further states that Town Counsel advised the Planning Board to defer to the Building Commissioner’s judgment, asserting that the Building Commissioner is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the zoning bylaw. The Community Development Director also recommended approval of the project based on that interpretation.

In other words, the developer is now suing the Town while relying on statements made by the Town’s own officials to support its case.

If the developer is now relying on written guidance from Town officials to support its lawsuit, taxpayers deserve to know who authorized those interpretations of the zoning bylaw and whether they were reviewed by the Town Manager before being communicated to the applicant.

This raises an obvious question: who actually has the authority to interpret Norwood’s zoning laws?

Our zoning bylaw clearly assigns the Building Commissioner the authority to enforce the zoning laws. It does not grant unilateral authority to reinterpret them in a way that effectively determines the outcome of major development proposals. That is precisely why we have a Planning Board and a Zoning Board of Appeals.

If senior town officials represented to a developer that lift parking satisfied our zoning requirements when that authority was not theirs to exercise, the Town may now be facing costly litigation because of those representations.

At a time when residents are already being warned about potential tax overrides, the prospect of taxpayers footing the bill for avoidable litigation should concern everyone.

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Norwood residents deserve transparency about how this situation developed and what steps will be taken to prevent it from happening again.

Steve Konetchy

District 4 Town Meeting Member