Neighbors are worried about a proposal that would knock down a four-unit apartment home at 324 Front Street to make way for a new three-story building with five condos, 11 total bedrooms, and a much larger footprint.

“This building is too large,” neighbor Jean Maher said. “It would be a detriment because of its appearance and its overshadowing of a historic house…Three stories high? You can see it from Route 6. Please keep in mind why most of us decide to live in Marion.”

Developer Christian Loranger built the Cottage Street condos that opened this past summer. The current building is three stories, but the rebuild would be bigger and cause at least a portion of the structure to exceed the 35-foot height limit for the area. A proposed elevator shaft would put the highest point of the building at 38 feet, though Loranger said he believes that's an exception allowed under the bylaws.

Loranger is seeking a special permit to allow the substantial extension of a pre-existing non-conforming building, as it is a single-family residential zone. His attorney John Mathieu said the building has always been non-conforming, as all three previous owners used it as a multi-family home since at least the '70s. Thus, it precludes the structure from any new bylaws.

"According to bylaw, a pre-existing non-conforming use is grandfathered, there for it's exempt from all new bylaws that are created in Marion," Mathieu said. "We just want to expand the existing use."

Originally the plan outlined six units, but after backlash from neighbors Loranger decided to combine the two units on the third floor into one. Reducing the number of units will not reduce the footprint of the project, but does slightly reduce the square footage.

Within the five units would be 11 bedrooms.

Loranger plans on razing the current structure and rebuilding. However, neighbors are concerned the sheer size of the new building would negatively impact the neighborhood.

Demetrios Kalkanis said he supports improvements in the village but is unhappy with a project this large in his neighborhood.

“We feel very uncomfortable and saddened by the sheer size of the plan,” he said. “This will negatively impact our neighborhood…We would not be opposed to this historic home being restored, but kept within its original footprint.”

Neighbor Susan Donaldson is worried about the noise and privacy issues of putting the parking lot so close to her property line.

“A crushed stone parking lot will add a lot more noise,” she said.

According to Mathieu, there is a landscaping plan already designed to combat that issue.

“We’ll put in arborvitaes to block any light from the cars and it will soak up any additional sound of the cars, and it it’ll be a screening to provide abutters privacy.”

Mathieu and Loranger said that though there are homes in the area, they do not think of the neighborhood as a residential one.

“The road is a gateway into the Village of Marion,” Mathieu said. “It’s five hundred feet from the biggest intersection in town…There’s the Cumberland Farms… the biggest boatyard in town across the street…further down the street there’s Marion Sports Shop, then Tabor Academy. The neighborhood here is mixed at best. We’re asking for one additional unit in a multifamily structure.”

Ultimately the hearing was continued until April 13. Loranger presented new plans with one less unit and the board thought it was fair to give residents more time to look at them before making a decision.