DERRY — A zoning issue pitting one landowner against a local neighborhood rears its head again this week.
Dr. Jonathan Sobel, an orthopedic surgeon, will ask the Zoning Board for a variance Thursday so he can build multi-family housing on a piece of property he owns along Wilson Avenue.
Recent zoning changes have kept Sobel's 21-unit condo plan at bay.
Last summer, the Town Council approved rezoning 68 properties on Oak Street, Park Avenue, Fenway Street, Grove Street and Wilson Avenue, changing those properties from Medium High Density Residential to Medium High Density Residential II, which excludes any multi-family or duplex housing.
That decision followed an earlier petition submitted by neighborhood residents, who were hoping to keep multi-family housing out.
The new zoning derailed Sobel's housing plan.
"These petitioners don't want any new neighbors in the neighborhood," he said following the zoning change.
Sobel has owned his Wilson Avenue property since 1985.
Residents backing the petition said having Sobel's multi-family housing in the area would lower their own property values.
Erich Whitney lives at 5 Wilson Ave. As a 15-year Derry resident, he said he appreciates the way his neighborhood is now.
He said he will attend the meeting Thursday.
"Our position is the same as before," Whitney said. "We can accept the idea of a one- or two- family home on the subdivided land behind us, but 21 condos is a major unwelcome change to the neighborhood."
Whitney said he hopes the issue can be resolved soon.
"It's so frustrating to spend as much time as we do trying to make Derry a better community, only to have our own neighborhood threatened by the inappropriate development plans of one property owner," he said. "We continue to hope that the issue can be resolved once and for all, but it looks like they have every intention to use every means at their disposal to get what they want. We don't understand it and we don't like it, but that's the situation."
The Zoning Board meeting Feb. 2 begins at 7 p.m. in the third-floor meeting room at the municipal center.
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