Zoning Board of Adjustments — August 12, 2025

Public speakers made corruption allegations against the board, challenged core legal doctrines previously decided, and raised unresolved privacy and precedent concerns about lakefront development — while the board repeatedly closed debate and retreated to non-public session, producing a meeting with real and unresolved community-board friction.

Date Tuesday, August 12, 2025 Duration 2.5h Speakers 16 Public comments 4 Decisions 6 Spirited

▶ Video 📄 Minutes

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At the August 12, 2025 Zoning Board of Adjustments meeting in Sunapee, the board reversed the Select Board's denial of a zoning compliance certificate for a reconstruction project at 46 Burma Road — a lakefront property that has been the subject of ongoing community dispute. Before voting, the board held a sealed non-public session with legal counsel to resolve a key question: do rooftop deck railings count as part of a structure's height under the town's zoning ordinance? The minutes from that session were sealed by roll call vote. Neighbors who had raised the height question — and attended specifically to speak to it — had no access to the legal reasoning that shaped the board's final conditioned approval.

The meeting also included a serious allegation that went unaddressed on the merits. John McMahon, a former Sunapee building commissioner, told the board that its prior use of 'municipal estoppel' to accept a foundation certification for the same property was legally incorrect, citing a 2019 New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling. Chair Jeff Claus shut down the discussion, characterizing it as settled and 'emotionally charged.' No public legal rebuttal was offered. Whether McMahon's argument is right or wrong, a former building official citing a specific court ruling deserves a substantive response — not a procedural dismissal.

The applicant's attorney added another wrinkle: he characterized the Select Board's original denial as an act of responsibility-avoidance, saying the Select Board 'just wanted to kick it back' to the ZBA without identifying any specific zoning deficiency. The ZBA agreed, reversed the denial, and authorized its own chair to sign the compliance certificate directly. That's a significant inter-board accountability question that received no public scrutiny.

Finally, abutters raised a concern that the approval of a rooftop deck within a lakefront shoreline setback sets a precedent for similar structures across Sunapee's waterfront properties. The board's response was that precedent, privacy, and aesthetics are outside its purview — it only reviews dimensional compliance. That may be legally accurate, but it means no body in this process formally considered the broader community impact. If you own or live near lakefront property in Sunapee, the August 12 ZBA minutes are worth reading carefully. Official minutes have been published.

Aug 12, 2025 2.5h long 16 speakers 4 public comments 6 decisions Spirited

❝ Notable statements ↔ Drag to browse

“The Select Board just wanted to kick it back to you and not be held responsible for saying yes. They did not identify any deficiencies with the revised design that impacted anything in the zoning ordinance.”

— Nathan Fennesee (Attorney) · Criticizing Select Board's decision-making process on certificate of zoning compliance ▶ 15:08

“I don't believe that the plain intent of a roof is to provide protection for a structure and individuals do not customarily gather on a roof.”

— Tracy Appleby Cole (Abutter) · Arguing against characterizing rooftop deck as a roof for zoning purposes ▶ 32:29

“The New Hampshire Supreme Court finds the doctrine of municipal estoppel does not bar the town from enforcing its zoning regulations and building code.”

— John McMahon · Challenging the board's previous application of municipal estoppel doctrine ▶ 42:05

“Zoning board is not looking at the aesthetics of this building. We are concerned with items such as meeting our height requirements, meeting our side setbacks, our horizontal dimensional controls.”

— Chair Jeff Claus · Explaining board's role in reviewing compliance with dimensional requirements rather than design preferences ▶ 43:29

“In my experience, these items have never come to a zoning board for permission to access existing structures, that sort of thing. But the town sunfeet ordinance requires this.”

— Speaker A (Landscape Architect) · Explaining why variance is needed for what applicant considers routine safety improvements ▶ 1:56:39

“The Department of Environmental Services has already reviewed this plan and approved it. As far as the DES is concerned, this will not have a detrimental impact on the lake.”

— Speaker C (Legal Counsel) · Supporting argument that project meets environmental protection standards ▶ 2:23:29

“The Townsends are good neighbors and things that they do, they do well. And this is the most impactful from our point of view... So we approve it.”

— Speaker B (Neighbor) · Public comment supporting the application ▶ 2:27:57

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Public ⁠impact

Issues from this meeting with documented community impact.

What was discussed

Localized but precedent-setting; affects interpretation of 'roof' vs. 'deck' for all future shoreline setback applications in the town.