Rowley Zoning Board Upholds Cease-and-Desist Over Junk-Car Storage Violations

ROWLEY -- April 18, 2019, Rowley Zoning Board upholds cease-and-desist against junk-car storage at a Boxford Road property near town wells. The board voted unanimously at its April 18 meeting to sustain Building Inspector Ken Ward's February 20, 2019, order against Michael Blantos, doing business as Rally Auto Parts, at 164 Boxford Road, after a site inspection found between 700 and 1,000 unregistrable vehicles stored on the property in violation of a 2015 special-permit decision. Attorney Peter Ross argued the permit had lapsed and that a 45-year family nonconforming use protected his client, but board members rejected the argument, with one member stating that Blantos "didn't come to us" before changing the use and instead obtained annual licenses from the Select Board "in direct contradiction of what this decision said." Attorney James Gallagher, representing original complainant Curtis Bryant of 80 Boxford Road, argued the pre-existing nonconforming use had already legally lapsed before the 2015 permit was issued, and that the town's Water Supply Protection District bylaw independently prohibits the use. The Water Department requested mandatory soil testing near Well No. 3 before any future license or property transfer is approved, a condition the board did not formally codify at the hearing.