By Susan MacEachron

Norfolk’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has given the green light to construction of a driveway
and parking lot across the street from the sober house now operating on Ashpohtag Road.

Mountainside Treatment Center in North Canaan, which runs the sober house as part of its extended
residential treatment program, said the additional parking is needed to accommodate the needs of staff,
participants in the sober house program and visitors.

At its March 12 meeting, P&Z decided that the planned parking lot does not need a special permit. If a
special permit were required, it would have necessitated a public hearing with notice of the project sent
to nearby property owners.

Dan Smith, vice-president of strategic operations for Mountainside, attended the meeting and said the
plan is to create parking for approximately 10 cars on a side lot where there was formerly a tennis court
and the remains of an apple orchard. Technically, even though the sober house is a business with
participants in its program paying Mountainside, under Norfolk’s P&Z regulations it is treated as a single-
family residence.

Smith noted that former zoning enforcement officer Michael Halloran had previously said that because
the proposed parking lot would be on a separate parcel of land, it would be an accessory use and
therefore require a special permit. In an email to the P&Z, attorney Ward J. Mazzucco, representing the
sober house, maintained that the land is on both sides of the road and is all part of the same parcel and
that Norfolk’s zoning regulations do not require a permit to install residential parking.

The P&Z agreed that it is customary to have parking with a single-family residence and therefore no
special permit or further hearing is required. The vote was 5 in favor, 1 opposed and 1 abstention.