Roger Road

Ed May Calls Third Strike on Gary O’Brien’s Roger Road

By David Scribner
July 27, 2011

GREAT BARRINGTON – For the third time in the last seven months, Gary O’Brien’s landscaping and construction operation on Roger Road has been found to be in violation of the town’s residential zoning bylaws – and has been ordered to cease operations.

Roger Road Site - Photo: Ed May

This time, however, resolution of the dispute will be determined in open session by the Zoning Board of Appeals rather than in closed-door conferences with lawyers.

Following two early morning inspections on July 8 and July 11, Building Inspector Edwin May once again issued a cease-and-desist citation, noting that O’Brien had failed to bring his activities into compliance with a June 23 cease-and-desist citation.

“There was no attempt to abate the issues,” May said. “He is still operating as a contractor’s yard which is not allowed. There were at least 10 vehicles parked there.”

READ MORE >>

O’Brien Ordered to Shut Down Roger Road Operation

By David Scribner
June 29, 2011

GREAT BARRINGTON – Building Inspector Edwin May, with the newly energized backing of the Great Barrington Board of Selectmen, has ordered the controversial O’Brien construction and landscaping business situated in a residential zone off Blue Hill Road to shut down, declaring that the property is not being used as a tree farm.

“In a letter to Town Counsel from your attorney,” May wrote in his cease-and-desist order, “it was stated that future use of the property by your company would be primarily for commercial agricultural/horticultural nursery use. However, the primary use of the property is not for agriculture or horticulture. It is for a landscaper’s yard. As noted above, the use of the property as a landscaper’s yard is not permitted.”

The building inspector has issued a second cease-and-desist order. Click the image to read the letter.

As a result of May’s directive, it may soon be a lot quieter for the residents of Blue Hill Road. But it took determination on the part of the embattled building inspector to get the law upheld. At one point, May said, his boss, Town Manager Kevin O’Donnell, threatened to fire him if he didn’t stop his enforcement campaign, and he had to overcome the influence of O’Brien’s attorney, Edward McCormick. READ MORE >>

Denmark Meets Main Street: Something’s Rotten


Great Barrington Building Inspector Ed May – Photo © David Scribner

As I sat there in the Great Barrington Selectmen’s meeting, I was thinking about once again falling down a rabbit hole. But instead of something from “Alice in Wonderland,” I heard in my head that famous line from “Hamlet:” “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.”

Pretty funny seeing as how I recently wrote a column about good government and the EPA. I haven’t attended a Selectmen’s meeting since the meetings about Downtown Redevelopment. But I became interested after reading about the Rogers Road dispute in the Berkshire Record.

To read the complete article:

Local News: A Tree Farm, A Dump, & A Town Manager


GREAT BARRINGTON, MA

It wasn’t what I had expected to hear. It wasn’t what I wanted to know.

At a Memorial Day weekend picnic with friends from Great Barrington and beyond, Judith Kales said to me: “They started up again. This morning. Early. Sunday. Can you believe it?”

She was referring to the construction and excavation business situated next to her home on Blue Hill Road, an operation that has been under a cease and desist order from Great Barrington’s Building Inspector Ed May for nearly a year.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

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