Maine Landscaping Company Wins Appeal

A Maine landscaping company won an appeal against homeowners, who were trying to get the company?EUR??,,????'?????<

By a 5-0 vote, the board found that code enforcement officer Angela Chamberlain acted reasonably when she allowed the business to continue operating this summer.

Neighbors argued before the board that Gardens by Design, a landscaping business, is causing ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The business has grown and expanded in intensity since moving to the area in 2002, they said, to the point it no longer resembles the commercial nursery that was run on the property by longtime owner Don Smith for many years. They argued that Gardens by Design, which is owned by Dennis Bracale, is not using the property as commercial greenhouse, nursery, or garden, as is allowed, but as a way-station for landscaping materials and machinery. The use would be more appropriate to an area zoned for industrial uses, they said.

While several on the board expressed sympathy for the noise and dust, all felt that under the parameters of what they could review, the decision by Ms. Chamberlain to allow Gardens by Design to continue to operate was the proper one to make.

The appeal did not focus on the evidence of the case, but rather the question of, did Ms. Chamberlain act in a manner that was clearly contrary to the land-use ordinance? As a whole, the board found that she did not. The area is zoned for commercial uses, they said, and one of those is as a commercial nursery, which Ms. Chamberlain determined Mr. Bracale is operating.

Ms. Chamberlain testified that while Mr. Bracale ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Ms. Chamberlain, in her decision not to take action against Mr. Bracale this summer, argued that because ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Source: mdislander.com