A Massachusetts law is at the center of two controversies regarding construction projects in Marion and Wareham this summer, with one Acushnet family involved in both.

In Marion, Tabor Academy’s controversial athletic field project at the fields commonly known as Hoyt Field have been defended by the private school as being covered under the Dover Amendment.

The Dover Amendment, a law that provides a broad exemption to essentially all zoning laws for certain types of uses, including solar power, daycare, religious, agricultural, and educational facilities.

In Wareham, meanwhile, residents have been protesting a group home for the mentally ill slated to open at 7 Lynne Road in the Beaver Meadows neighborhood consisting of two cul-de-sacs off of Swifts Beach Road.

Acushnet-based builder Jeff White, who owns the property, has been renovating the home since purchasing it this spring with plans to lease it to Rhode Island-based Fellowship Health Resources, Inc.

Fellowship officials say they plan to open a six-bed "therapeutic respite program" for patients with mental illnesses and disorders. Patients will live at the home for anywhere from a week to 30 days.

In Marion, Tabor has plans to build three athletic fields with 90-foot lighting towers, dugouts, and bleachers, all of which will be visible from Front Street.  Acushnet-based construction firm D.W. White, in conjunction with other contractors, is installing athletic fields at Tabor Academy. Jeff White works for D.W. White, though his project on Lynne Road in Wareham is a private venture.

Residents and abutting neighbors have expressed frustration with the project, saying that the field will be unappealing and could potentially be dangerous due to the crumb rubber used in construction.

The Town of Marion has twice issued cease-and-desist orders for the project in recent weeks, arguing that the project's permits did not cover the placement of matting and bluestone over the field or construction of structures such as dugouts. One of the orders came from the town's Health Director who said Tabor had not complied with storm water and drainage codes.

“They’re using the Dover Amendment but really that has nothing to do with the Board of Health,” said Marion Board of Health Director Karen Walega.  Walega has been issuing Tabor Academy a ticket every day since her cease and desist order that the school has continued to work. Under town bylaws, Walega is allowed to issue tickets for $100, $200 and $300 with the amount going up $100 a day and capping at $300.  Tabor Academy has 21 days from the date of notice to pay the fine.

Construction continues on Front Street. Tabor Headmaster Jay Stroud says the school must complete the field by the time school begins in September. Stroud has maintained that construction falls under the Dover Amendment.

"Under the [Dover Amendment], structures, themselves, must be built to proper safety and access codes, should meet a test of 'reasonableness' and their location, size, and, most importantly, their purpose must further the mission of the organization," Stroud wrote in a July 5 letter addressed to Marion residents. "Clearly, from our perspective, athletic fields are reasonable and definitely further the educational mission of the school as required."

Back in Wareham, the town's attorney says the group home is also an educational facility.

White has maintained that the home in Wareham is exempt from zoning laws under the Dover Amendment. Town officials have repeatedly said they cannot stop the operation of the home for that reason.

The case against White in Wareham went all the way to the Plymouth County Superior Court and on June 28, a judge granted the Beaver Meadows Homeowners' Association a temporary restraining order against White and ruled that no one is to occupy the home except for White and his immediate family until the case could be heard on July 19. The court date was then postponed until August 8 to provide White’s new legal representation an adequate amount of time to be briefed on the issue.

In Tabor’s case, on July 14, the Massachusetts Land Court heard the Town of Marion's request to halt construction of the new athletic fields under construction at Tabor Academy in violation of a cease-and-desist order issued by the Marion Building Commissioner, according to a news release by the Town of Marion.

Judge Piper, of the Land Court, ruled that construction may proceed on the turf field but not on the proposed lighting, dugouts and bleachers and backstop unless the same is approved by the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals.

The court did not conclude that the project was exempt from the site plan review process, as Tabor has asserted.  The town's position remained that Marion's site plan review bylaw is applicable to Tabor's proposed project.

The Marion Zoning Board of Appeals concluded the continued public hearing on Tabor's proposal for 90-foot light towers on July 28.  An additional hearing on Tabor's appeal of the town's requirement for site-plan review is set for September 15.

Wareham Week Editor Jaime Rebhan assisted in preparation of this report.