Property Tax Attorney Cited For Violating Town Zoning Regulations

Attorney John D. Watts has been cited for violating town zoning regulations by moving his professional offices into a new residential building he built at 186 East Main Street.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Thomas Lane said Watts could run his legal practice from the building if he lived in it as his residence, and if the home business was “subordinate and incidental to the residential use of the lot.”

According to Lane, the property is part of the "Village Zone" and can be a combination of residential and commercial. But, the application and building permit Watts won approval for by the town's Planning & Zoning Commission was for a residential property.

"You can operate a business out of the residential property, but it needs to be about 25 percent of the total space of the home," said Lane. 

Watts previously housed his legal practice in a historic building at 130 East Main Street shared with Attorney Arthur Schubert and their office staff. Now, town officials say, Watts and Schubert have vacated the 130 East Main Street site and moved their practices to the new building at 186 East Main Street.

“There isn’t any furniture in it you would associate with a home,” Lane said. “It’s all office furniture and equipment.”

Watts continues to maintain his residence in a 5,000 square foot home in Deep River, town officials say and as Deep River land records indicate.

In a letter dated March 28, Lane notified Watts that he is conducting a use on the property without a permit; that an accessory use requires a permit; that professional offices in a dwelling must be a subordinate use; and that the person conducting the home occupation must reside there.

Watts has 10 days from his receipt of the notice in which to notify zoning officials of his plans to remedy the violation, Lane said. If he fails to respond, Lane says he will be sent an order to discontinue the use of the property for business within another 10 days, and if he is not in compliance, the matter will be taken to court 10 days after that.

The courts can impose monetary fines of $250-$2,500 a day or more, Lane noted.

Watts’ effort to develop the property, the eastern neighbor of the town police station, dates to 2005 when he won an agreement from town officials to sell him a small portion of the police station property to allow him to build a professional office building and apartments.

Rather than the sale, a 2008 town meeting approved an exchange of property that would allow Watts to reshape his lot for development.

Lane said his building plans evolved to propose two structures on the site – the office building and a separate residence, but the zoning commission rejected his application over concerns about traffic issues, Lane said.

The site fronts Route 1 near its intersection with Route 145 and also shares a secondary driveway into the police station property.

Watts immediately appealed the decision to court, where the matter remains unresolved, and very soon afterwards began clearing the lot and constructing the secondary, residential structure.

Lane said Watts was entitled to build a residential building on the property and initiated construction in part to take advantage of low construction costs.

Rather than moving his home into the recently completed building, Watts erected a sign there for his law practice, and Lane said, “He’s working there. They’re definitely running their practice out of it.”

Given Watts’ dispute with the town, Lane said, “We all saw it coming. We were just keeping our eyes open to see when he moved in.”

Watts was reached by phone where he said, "I am in compliance." 

Watts confirmed that he had received Lane's letter and that "he was trying to finish the building. Everything is new."

When asked who was living at the house, he referred all questions to his attorney, George Kinsley of Clinton.

Zoning commission attorney David Royston was not available for comment.

As part of his law practice, Watts represents the town when necessary to institute legal action to collect unpaid property taxes, handling about 120 accounts this past year. The town does not pay him for his services, Tax Collector Melanie Yanus said, but he is compensated through fees imposed when the foreclosure is completed.