Board of Appeals
The Board of Appeals (listed in the town reports as the Appeal Board or Board of Appeal, and now usually called the Zoning Board of Appeals) was created by Billerica's first Zoning By-Law. After public hearings on July 17-19, 1945, the Planning Board presented its final report with a proposed by-law and zoning map to a special town meeting on July 30, 1945, which adopted them; the by-law took effect after approval by the Attorney General on July 31, 1945 and publication on August 11, 1945. Section 15 of the by-law directed the Board of Selectmen to appoint, within 30 days, a Board of Appeals under G. L. Chapter 40, Section 30, of five members and two associate members (alternates); Section 16 gave it the power to vary the by-law and grant permits, and Section 17 allowed appeals to it from orders of the Inspector of Buildings.
The first board, appointed in August 1945, was Dr. Orland S. Marshall (chairman), Fred L. Smith, Ellis E. Cram, John B. Keaney and Marion Gould, with George M. Dixon and Cyril D. Locke as alternates. It heard 25 appeals in 1946 and 8 in 1947, charging appellants only the cost of advertising the hearings. In 1950 Dr. Marshall resigned because of illness and Fred L. Smith died; Locke and Robert M. Gill were appointed, Attorney Marion D. Gould became chairman and Mildred A. Westhaver was appointed clerk. Keaney resigned in 1951 and Dixon moved up from alternate. Ellis E. Cram served from 1945 until 1979 and chaired the board from 1954 to 1959.
The caseload grew with the town: 17 hearings in 1953, 39 in 1959, 52 in 1962, 58 in 1967 and 71 in 1970. In 1972 the board moved from the Town Clerk's office to the Lewis Memorial Building, took on Elinor T. Lahaie as its permanent part-time clerk, revised its rules and raised the hearing fee from $20 to $40. Zoning amendments of the late 1960s and 1970s gave it site plan approval for garden apartments and made it the special permit granting authority for many sections of the zoning by-law. Under the 1979 Town Charter (Sections 8-4(k) and 3-2(c)) the board consists of five regular and two associate members appointed by the Board of Selectmen for staggered terms (five years in the 1980s; three-year terms appear in recent reports).
Long-serving members include Ellis E. Cram (1945-1979), Robert A. Dunstan (1958-1990), John F. Gray Jr. (1972-1998, later an associate member), Doris M. Pearson (1990-2020, chairman in most of those years), Joseph P. Shaw (1990-2018), Ellen Sargent (1993-2016), Richard A. Colantuoni (from 2000) and Ralph J. McKenna (associate member 2003-2025). Associate (alternate) members are included in the roster and identified in their own descriptions.
Sources: Billerica Annual Town Reports 1945-2025 (lists of appointed officers, annual reports of the Board of Appeals, and memorial lists); the Planning Board report and zoning by-law text printed in the 1945 report.