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Departments: Zoning Board of Appeals

About Us

The Board of Appeals holds public hearings on applications for zoning variances and special permits and decides appeals of administrative decisions of the Town's zoning officials. Zoning hearings are generally held on Thursday evenings in the Central Meeting Room of the Town Hall, 210 Central Street. Staff is available Monday through Thursday to assist you in the application process and to answer zoning questions.

2011 Annual Report

The Board of Appeals has three regular members, appointed to 3-year terms, and four associate members appointed to 1-year terms. The Board of Selectmen makes all appointments. 

In 2011 a total of thirty-one applications were received, resulting in thirty-seven hearings being held.   The Board of Appeals granted thirteen Variances.  Variances are authorizations to use land or structures in a manner that is otherwise prohibited by the Zoning By-Law where the applicant demonstrates substantial hardship, unique conditions affecting the property and no substantial detriment to the public good.  The majority of the Variances approved were related to residential garages, both attached and detached. The Board granted a modification to the existing Variance for the Hingham High School Athletic Department to allow for portable lighting for one evening football game held on Veterans Day in November.  In June, after numerous hearings had been held, the Board allowed the withdrawal of a Variance application to re-establish the use of an existing structure as a single family dwelling on a parcel of land in a residential zone on Bonnie Brier Circle.  The Board ultimately decided it was not the intention of the Zoning By-Law to terminate currently conforming uses, even if a property had been left vacant or unused for two or more years. 

The Board heard applications on fourteen Special Permit requests.  Special Permits are authorizations to use land or structures for a specific use which is expressly permitted by the Special Permit, provided general guidelines as detailed in the By-Law and specific conditions arising from the review process itself are met.  Special Permits are designed as a flexible tool to assure that the use is in harmony with the intent and purposes of the Zoning By-Law.  Special Permit applications approved include a wireless telecommunications monopole in the Industrial District on Sharp Street, two residential docks/piers along the waterfront and ground and building signs for the previously approved bone and muscle center in the Industrial Park. Applications also approved, after jointly held hearings with the Planning Board, include a sit-down/take-out coffee bar along the waterfront on Otis Street and a sit-down/take-out cupcake bakery on Main Street. 

In October the Board approved an application filed by the Hingham Affordable Housing Trust for a Comprehensive Permit under Chapter 40B to construct eight residential housing units on Beal Street.  This development will add two affordable housing units to the Town’s Subsidized Housing Inventory. 

The Board would like to express its thanks for the support, cooperation and assistance we have received from all Town departments during the past year. The Board also would encourage all interested citizens to attend its hearings, which are held on selected evenings at Town Hall.

SUMMARY
    Applications:    31
    Hearings:    37
    Special Permits:    14     (11 granted with conditions,
             3 withdrawn)
    Variances:    20    (13 granted with conditions,
             5 withdrawn, 1 dismissed
             1 denied)
    Appeals:    2    (1 denied, 1 withdrawn)
    Comprehensive Permits:    1    (1 granted with conditions)


   
   
W. Tod McGrath, Chairman
Joseph M. Fisher, Vice-Chairman
Joseph W. Freeman, Clerk


Suzanne Letizia-Eddy, Zoning Administrator