Property owners, business owners voice concerns over building commissioner Turner to Select Board

Residents’ grievances with Wareham Building Commissioner Paul Turner dominated the public comment section of the Wareham Select Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18

A group of over 20 people, composed of Wareham homeowners and people who do business in the town, complained to the Select Board about closed permits being reopened, rules being enforced inconsistently and tens of thousands of dollars spent to deal with issues that many felt were unnecessary.

“My experience has felt arbitrary, capricious, contradictory and confrontational,” said Joe Crepeau, who organized people to come speak at the meeting.

Crepeau said that he was forced to eliminate a tenant from his building in January after Turner deemed his building to be uncompliant. He said that Turner continued to give him items to fix to reach compliance. In his speech, Crapeau said that he has worked with contractors, engineers, state officials and Town Manager Derek Sullivan, among others, to get answers for his permit.

“Ask yourselves: Should it take all of that just to learn how to comply?” he said to the Select Board.

Many residents shared similar stories. Lucille Watson said that she hired a licensed builder to renovate her house shortly after buying it in 1999. She said she received a letter for two open permits from the renovation process this year. The open permits would prevent her or her children from selling the house in the future. 

Watson also pointed to Nancy Roy, whose open permits made her home sale process difficult. 

“That is absolutely unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. I think we as a whole entire community should come together – if everyone went to the town building … to see who has an open permit, we should all sue this town. This is outrageous that this town is not willing to help the homeowner,” Watson said.

Lakeville resident Bill Bachant, a builder and real estate agent who operates an office in Swifts Beach, said that Turner has cost him over $100,000 over the years. He said a local businessman rescinded an offer to purchase a pre-existing nonconforming commercial property from Bachant after Turner told him he needed to get approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board.

Bachant said that business owners have told him they will avoid coming to Wareham until Turner leaves office.

“Citizens and businesses are terrorized by this guy,” Bachant said. “Literally terrorized.”

Tom and Weldia Bowers, who are trying to open a Brazilian restaurant on Main St., said that they have had to remove the ceiling of the restaurant and perform additional plumbing jobs at Turner’s request. They said they’ve spent “six figures” on renovations before even opening their restaurant, which Tom Bowers said they are halfway done with.

“I don’t think he wanted to make it easy,” Weldia Bowers said of Turner.

Bachant, and others, called on the Select Board to improve the culture within the Building Department after Turner retires. Lauren Mahoney, a 25-year resident of Wareham, asked the Select Board to encourage professionalism, respect and responsiveness within the department.

Crepeau, Bachant and Daniel Warren of Warren’s Harborview invited state Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver) to voice his support for Wareham homeowners. Gaskey said the state government has tried to cut red tape to encourage development, but Turner’s rules make that difficult in Wareham.

“This authority and responsibility to manage the local departments rests entirely with this board and the town administrator,” Gaskey said.

Turner is planning on retiring soon, but many of the speakers said that the problems will not end when he retires.

“There’s a lot of unfinished business and difficulties folks are having, losing money, leaving town, never wanting to do business with the town of Wareham,” Roy said. “I’d like to see the next person be better vetted.”