Brockton Zoning Board Approves Three Housing Variances on Long-Vacant Lots

BROCKTON — May 12, 2026 — Brockton Zoning Board of Appeals approved variances for three vacant residential lots at its May 12 meeting, clearing the way for new housing on parcels that have sat undeveloped for years. Chair Kenneth Galligan and the four-member board voted unanimously on two cases and 4-1 on a third, all granting relief from lot size, frontage, and setback requirements in R3 and R1B zones. At 21 Dana Place, the board approved a three-bedroom single-family home for the Montero family — who live next door — on a 5,000-square-foot lot, after engineer Scott Ferrier of Holmgren Engineering testified that construction and regrading would resolve chronic flooding on the low-lying parcel; the vote was 5-0. At 50 West Park Street, the board voted 4-1 — Galligan dissenting — to allow applicant Hannah Splane to build a two-family dwelling on a 3,757-square-foot lot vacant since 1997, where attorney Philip Nazarella Jr. argued the $53-to-$67 annual tax bill on unbuildable land represented a hardship not in dollars but in the "inability to use your property for its highest and best use." The board separately flagged a buried five-foot culvert beneath the West Park Street sidewalk — a section of Colebrook Stream — as a construction hazard to be resolved with DPW. At 99 Stonehill Street, a 5-0 vote reinstated in substance a variance the board had already granted twice, in 2017 and 2020, for a four-bedroom raised ranch; the prior variance lapsed after the wrong document was recorded in 2022 during probate delays tied to the death of original petitioner Paul Bartarelli. All three grants carry stipulations requiring single-family dwellings to remain as such, with any occupancy changes requiring a return to the board.