Commission Approves Duplex Amid Trespass Claim
Bellingham Conservation Commission approves duplex despite trespass allegations, nearly denies a Chase Street garage.
Conservation Commission · Meeting of September 23, 2026
Bellingham Conservation Commission approves duplex despite trespass allegations, nearly denies a Chase Street garage. Attorney Dan Doyle, representing the Tunjian Family Trust, told the board applicant Paul Petanatti's soil-testing crew trespassed onto his client's property "yet they chose to trespass anyway," prompting a formal notice and a planned survey and fence. The board still voted 6-0 to issue an order of conditions for the duplex.
At 15 Chase Street, engineer Paul De Simone clashed with commissioners over a garage sited within a 100-foot wetland buffer; a motion to deny was withdrawn after Conservation Agent Hannah Chace asked for time to write a legal basis, and the hearing was continued to October 7. Elsewhere, the board closed nine house lots in the Red Mill on the Charles subdivision, citing a cumulative 3,320-square-foot reduction in buffer-zone work, and opened an enforcement inquiry into an unpermitted wood structure built in wetlands on a Central Boulevard "paper street."
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,961 words
Source: the Conservation Commission meeting of September 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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