‘This case began with a murder, still unsolved’

Judge upholds ZBA Needham Rd. decision

Published in the September 26, 2018 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — A Land Court judge on Sept. 19 upheld a Zoning Board of Appeals decision regarding the case of Alexander Styller of 8 Needham Rd.

The ZBA sided with Building Inspector Building Inspector Jack Roberto, who issued a cease and desist order seeking to prevent Styller from renting out his property “for lodging purposes on a short-term rental basis” in the fall of 2016. Roberto sent the cease and desist order because short-term rentals violate the Zoning Bylaw, which prohibits short-term rentals in the single-family zoning district. These types of rentals are classified as a hotel, lodging or rooming house use.

The cease and desist order was issued after Keivan Heath, 33, of Randolph was shot and killed at a house party at the home over Memorial Day weekend in 2016. Police found Heath, a father of two children, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds after arriving at the scene, according to published reports. Heath was pronounced dead at Union Hospital.

Prior to the May 2016 murder, the town was unaware Styller was renting out his house. After the ZBA rejected Styller’s appeal and Town Meeting approved a bylaw banning short-term rentals in October 2016, Styller subsequently filed a lawsuit against Roberto, ZBA member John Fallon, ZBA member Brian Shaffer and former ZBA members Tom Aylward, Janis Markakis and Patrick Rondeau in Land Court. The trial took place on July 18, 2017.

Judge Keith C. Long noted in the beginning of his 17-page ruling “this case began with a murder, still unsolved.”

“The case was tried before me, jury waived,” said Long. “Based on the agreed facts and exhibits admitted at trial, my assessment of the credibility, weight and appropriate inferences to be drawn from that evidence…I find and rule that the town may prohibit short-term rentals of Mr. Styller’s house without a special permit, that such rentals were always unlawful under the applicable provisions of the Lynnfield Zoning Bylaw without a special permit, and thus that he has no grandfathered right to make such rentals.”

Long disagreed with Styller’s argument that he should still be able to rent out his home because of the state’s grandfathered clause, which protects “uses lawfully in existence or lawfully begun” before zoning changes.

“Airbnb-type rental arranges are not such uses,” Long wrote in his decision. “Rather, they are ever-changing technologies that produce materially-different uses as the technology changes, and Airbnb and the other platforms have reserved the right, at their sole discretion, at any time, for any reason, to change that technology and the types of rentals they make available.”

Long also noted that Styller began renting out his home on sites such as Airbnb on Oct. 19, 2015.

“Mr. Styller’s home was, and is, in a Single Residence District,” Long wrote. “In relevant part, the permitted uses in such districts were single family residences and ‘accessory use as hereinafter limited and defined bylaw.’ Mr. Styller contends that his short-term, Airbnb-type rentals were such an accessory use. I disagree.”

Additionally, Long noted in the decision that Airbnb rentals can have a negative impact on neighbors.

Long stated that “all of Mr. Styller’s short-term rentals fall outside the definitions of permitted accessory uses, and thus have not been grandfathered.”

“I find and rule that Mr. Styller’s short-term rentals of his residential property without a special permit are, and always have been, in violation of the applicable Lynnfield Zoning Bylaws, and have no ‘grandfathered protection,’” Long wrote. “They are thus subject to the current Zoning Bylaw, which prohibits rentals of 30 days or less in his Single Residence District, and the Zoning Board’s decision prohibiting Mr. Styller from making such rentals is thus affirmed.”

Local officials pleased

In a phone interview with the Villager, Selectmen Chairman Dick Dalton commended the judge’s ruling.

“We are very pleased, but we are not surprised because we thought from the very beginning that we had a strong legal position,” said Dalton. “In reading the judge’s decision, he was very firm in upholding our position.”

Town Counsel Tom Mullen agreed.

“I am delighted,” said Mullen. “The court was entirely correct in its understanding of the decision.”