Harwich Zoning Board Approves Four Special Permits at May Meeting

HARWICH — May 27, 2026 — Harwich Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved four residential special permits at its May 27 meeting, working through the full docket in a single evening with four of five members present. The most extensive case, 2026-07, allowed Vincent and Jean Helfrich to add onto their home at 33 Snow Inn Road and demolish an adjacent dwelling at 29 Snow Inn Road, reducing total bedrooms from nine to seven and relocating a cesspool from the coastal bank; engineer Sean Riley of Tye and Bond confirmed a new retaining wall would sit approximately six inches from the south and rear lot lines, language the board wrote expressly into the decision. Jeffrey Merzell received approval to add a second story above a 1959 garage at 12 Lincoln Village Road, and Mary Church's Woodland Road Realty Trust won clearance to raise and replace a 1925 home at 26 Woodland Road, incorporating a detached garage that had sat six inches from the east lot line. The most complicated case, 2026-11, approved exterior stairs and an accessory dwelling unit at 66 Doan Road for owners Joe and Lisa Weiner, but Chair Brian Sullivan warned that the permit cannot result in an issued building permit until the Conservation Commission resolves an after-the-fact filing for unapproved deck and patio work in the 100-foot wetland buffer zone — a process he estimated would push permitting into mid-July at the earliest.