An Excerpt

According to the town’s attorney, Kristin Collins of PretiFlaherty, the appeals board has two areas of jurisdiction that limit its power.

The board can handle traditional appeals, which would remand a case back to the Planning Board, should the appeals board conclude that it had violated an ordinance or made an error in its decision; or it can grant variances, which must meet the requirement of “undue hardship.”

“The Board of Appeals has to look very strictly at the variance standards,” Collins said. “The applicant has a really high bar to meet.”