YARMOUTH – Jon Tolley, the Yarmouth lobsterman who was told that he could not sell lobsters from his house, appeared before the Yarmouth Planning Board last week.
Last summer, the Yarmouth building commissioner took action after a complaint was issued by another resident. The order stated the retail sales could not continue in the residential zone, and that the sales were not protected as a pre-existing use.
The Yarmouth Zoning Board declined to take up the matter in a contentious hearing in April.
Tolley and his father before him have sold lobsters from their West Yarmouth house since the 1950s.
The planning board chair said they are starting the process of writing an amendment to the zoning bylaw to allow Tolley to sell lobsters from his home, which would go before a special town meeting in the fall.
Tolley’s attorney also said they plan to appeal the zoning board’s original decision.
Concern was expressed at last week’s meeting about what Tolley will do in the interim this summer. It was suggested that he might sell his lobsters from an alternative location.
By Jim McCabe, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About Jim McCabe
