Douglas Zoning Board Denies Pine Street Trailer Permit, Cites Bylaw on Catastrophic Events

DOUGLAS — January 7, 2026 — Douglas Zoning Board rejects trailer permit for Pine Street homeowner, continues disputed lakefront lot case. The board voted unanimously to deny a special permit sought by Cassidy Granger to live in a fifth-wheel trailer at 106 Pine Street while constructing a new home, with Acting Chair Michael Stevens stating flatly that "there are no provisions in there that allow you to use temporary housing while you're building a residential structure." The relevant bylaw limits temporary trailers to situations involving loss of a dwelling by fire or other catastrophic event; Granger, who lost a Rhode Island rental when that property was sold, argued the homelessness itself qualified as a catastrophic event, but the board disagreed. A neighbor, James Wright of 256 L Street, testified that the applicants had ignored two enforcement notices and that the property's buffer zone had been destroyed. In a separate matter, the board continued the application of Pensco Trust Company, LLC — co-applicants Doug and Linda Ward — to build a three-bedroom house on a 0.4-acre non-conforming lakefront lot at 48 Shady Lane to its February 4 meeting, after attorney Henry Lane, appearing for abutters, argued the existing structure had been vacant for roughly 35 years and had therefore lost its pre-existing non-conforming status under the town's two-year abandonment bylaw.