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Where a Land Court judge upheld the Tisbury zoning board's denial of a permit to a plaintiff who sought to tear down a building and replace it with a larger structure, the board's decision must be affirmed because a variance would be required.
"In this appeal, we must decide whether a division of land pursuant to the subdivision control law's existing structures exemption, G.L.c. 41, S81L (S81L), entitles the structures on the resulting lots to 'grandfather' protection against new zoning nonconformities created by the division. As is more fully set forth herein, the plaintiff is the most recent owner of a lot in the town of Tisbury (town). The lot was created in 1994 by a division of land pursuant to the existing structures exemption. On the lot is a structure built before both the subdivision control law and the Zoning Act, St. 1975, c. 808, went into effect.
"The plaintiff sought a permit to tear down the existing structure and build a new one, somewhat larger and taller than the existing structure. The permit was denied on zoning grounds, and the plaintiff appealed to the Land Court. A judge in the Land Court concluded that the S81L division created new zoning nonconformities that...