Halifax ZBA Approves Carver Street Setback Variance, Tables Cedar Lane Application

HALIFAX -- April 13, 2026, Halifax ZBA grants a Carver Street setback variance unanimously but stalls a Cedar Lane new-home application over an undevelopable land designation. The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 on Monday to approve a five-foot side-setback variance for a home addition at 37 Carver Street (ZBA-26-1), after the applicant trimmed the proposed structure by three feet from the eight-foot intrusion flagged at the prior hearing. A separate application to build one single-family house on a two-acre parcel at 0 Cedar Lane (ZBA-26-2) was continued unanimously to the May 4 meeting after board members learned the lot carries an undevelopable designation of unclear legal origin and discovered the deed is held by a trust in the applicant's children's names rather than the applicant's own. Neighbor Byron Craven of 60 Cedar Lane raised the concern that under Massachusetts law a variance runs with the land, warning "what's to prevent [a future owner] from putting an identical plot point" for additional houses. The board said it will seek a Town Counsel opinion on both the undevelopable designation and the enforceability of a single-dwelling condition before ruling.