Three Stories, Balconies, a Roof Deck: A Garage Project Stirs the North Bluff

By CHRIS BURRELL

When he applied for a building permit last fall, Joseph G. Moujabber told the Oak Bluffs building inspector he was replacing an old one-car garage in his backyard. It would cost just $22,000 to build and would be used for storage space only, the application states.

But almost five months later, the building under construction - three stories tall with balconies and a roof deck - looks more like a Florida condo than a garage.

Now the neighbors are threatening legal action, the town historic commission is talking and the zoning board of appeals has scheduled a hearing for next month.

The town official least interested in discussing the case this week was Richard Mavro, who issued the building permit in November. Contacted by the Gazette Wednesday morning, Mr. Mavro said, "I've got nothing to say."

The construction project, in full swing this week, is going up on Seaview avenue extension in the neighborhood called the North Bluff, a section of Oak Bluffs that town planners say is worthy of architectural preservation and protection.

Zoning board chairman Jane Lofgren told the Gazette this week that the Moujabber project is set for a hearing on April 15 because a neighbor has appealed the decision by Oak Bluffs building inspector Mr. Mavro to grant the building permit.

"It was a very small garage, and it is a very large structure now," said Ms. Lofgren. "It's definitely in our faces now."

Mr. Moujabber, an Oak Bluffs businessman, did not return calls from the Gazette yesterday.

The question that some neighbors and at least one town official are asking is why the project wasn't referred to the zoning board in the first place.

According to records in Mr. Mavro's office in town hall, the garage was a preexisting, nonconforming structure. Town zoning bylaws clearly state that substantial changes to such buildings must be approved by a special permit from the ZBA.

But Mr. Mavro simply signed the permit back in November and never referred it to the zoning board.

The difference between the little garage and the new structure that has sprung up in its place is staggering.

Mr. Moujabber's old single-car garage, which faced Pasque avenue, wasn't demolished. It is now sitting on blocks in a yard near the intersection of Dukes County and Vineyard avenues.

The new structure being built on the same site facing Pasque avenue encloses nearly 3,000 square feet. The building permit states that the construction will not be for habitable space, but a roughly-drawn sketch on file in the building inspector's office depicts a building with four balconies, four sliding glass doors and at least six windows. A roof deck complete with railings is also shown on the sketch.

A flag flying from the pictured deck has the name "Doug" written on it.

Mr. Moujabber is the cousin and business partner of Oak Bluffs businessman Douglas Abdelnour. They own and operate Nancy's Snack Bar, an established restaurant on the Oak Bluffs Harbor.

The connection between the controversial garage project and Nancy's Snack Bar is noteworthy because four years ago, Mr. Abdelnour and Mr. Moujabber added a second floor to that restaurant under strict rules from the ZBA that it would be used for storage only.

By 2002, the two businessmen had appealed the zoning board decision to superior court and convinced neighbors not to object to the expansion of their restaurant to the second floor, a move that created 140 more seats, a new bar and second floor patio for Nancy's. The restaurant was founded in 1958.

Mr. Moujabber, according to town records, purchased the five-bedroom house on Seaview avenue extension three years ago for $405,000.

Neighbors of the house are now angry about the construction project happening in this thickly-settled, residential neighborhood.

"These kind of radical changes should be brought to the ZBA," said Arthur Naparstek, a seasonal resident of the neighborhood for the last 25 years. He has hired Edgartown attorney Arthur Smith and is appealing Mr. Mavro's decision to sign a building permit for Mr. Moujabber's storage barn.

Mr. Naparstek, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, said he has also asked his attorney to contact Oak Bluffs town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport and request a cease and desist order for the construction.

Albert Read, whose family has owned an abutting house since the 1930s, told the Gazette yesterday that the new structure being built is out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.

"We feel a commitment to preserving the area. What we present along Seaview avenue is visitors' first view of the Vineyard," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Oneonta, N.Y.

The neighborhood is currently under review by the Martha's Vineyard Commission as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC). The Oak Bluffs planning board wants the area to be included in the larger Copeland District DCPC.

"We want to protect the architecture in that area," said planning board chairman John Bradford. A building moratorium went into effect in the neighborhood last Thursday, the day after Mr. Moujabber's building sketches were submitted to the building inspector's office.

Oak Bluffs voters will decide at the annual town meeting next month whether they want the North Bluff neighborhood to come under the added protection of the Copeland District DCPC.

The historic district commission has also been considering the neighborhood for inclusion in the newly formed Cottage City Historic District.

At the request of one of its members, Renee Balter, the commission was planning to raise the issue of the Moujabber project at its meeting last night.

"The process was definitely not followed. It should have gone to the ZBA," Ms. Balter told the Gazette this week.

Meanwhile, the hammers are busy over at the corner of Pasque and Seaview avenues. Mr. Moujabber's building application stated that he would perform all the construction work himself, but the sign tacked up on the building advertises the builder's name, Wangler Construction.