St. Onge v. Donovan

522 N.E.2d 1019 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

A variance was granted for a party to use a house as a real estate office. The condition on the variance made that variance personal to the then owners of the house. Donovan (P) wanted to take over the property and continue its commercial usage and applied to the Board for continued use as a real estate office. The Board denied that petition and P appealed. The trial court held that a variance runs with the land and cannot be a right personal to the landowner; thus, the variance was unconditional with no time limit. In Driesbaugh, P1 owned and operated two auto body repair shops one of which was a nonconforming use. P1 was served with a Notice of violation and applied for a variance. The variance was granted but imposed six conditions. P1 instituted a proceeding to annul the sixth condition that limited the number of cars he could recondition in a week.