Weston ZBA Allows Withdrawal of Black Oak Road Recording Studio Variance

WESTON — September 23, 2022 — Weston ZBA unanimously accepts withdrawal of a home recording studio variance at 70 Black Oak Road. The three-member Zoning Board of Appeals — Chair Jane Carlson, Winifred Lee, and Natalie Sawyer — voted 3-0 at its September 23 meeting to allow petitioner Prashanth Palakurthy to withdraw a variance request for a multi-use detached accessory structure rather than face an outright denial. Sawyer argued the case belonged before the Select Board, citing Palakurthy's Massachusetts-incorporated commercial entity Juju Studios, the amenities shown on the plans, and solicitation of outside artists as evidence of a commercial use. Carlson said she could not find a legally sufficient hardship to support the variance, telling the applicant, "I'm very sympathetic to the petitioners, but yeah, we were trying to build less." The board indicated that constructing a physical breezeway connecting the accessory building to the main house — a distance of less than 20 feet — would remove the project from ZBA jurisdiction entirely, and Palakurthy agreed to withdraw and work with the building inspector on a redesigned plan.