Supersized home design has Wellfleet couple in doghouse

A beach on Cape Cod Bay in Wellfleet lies below the construction site of a more than 5,800 square-foot house. (Vincent DeWitt for the Boston Globe)

WELLFLEET - When the so-called Billboard House was demolished in June, residents might have applauded. The big, modern house high on a bluff so offended local sensibilities that Town Meeting members issued a unanimous vote of disapproval.

But that was in the 1980s, when no one knew what big was. This summer, the Billboard House was razed to make way for the new - a mansion triple the size at nearly 6,000 square feet, with one side designed to resemble a lighthouse.

The owners, Mark and Barbara Blasch, won a permit from the town building inspector, even though their property lies within the Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park formed in 1961 to preserve the Cape and protect its character.

"I thought there were such strict laws on houses being built so close to the water," said Sharon Jacobs, a regular Wellfleet visitor from Newton. "Who in good consciousness in this era would make such a large footprint on a seashore that's here for everyone?"

It's the question that has riveted Wellfleet this summer along with its natural successors: How big is too big? Do neighbors have the right to decide? And can residents reach agreement on a new standard that will limit some of their property values?

"What we're trying to achieve is a balance between property rights and community character. That's not always easy," said Barbara E. Gray, a member of the Wellfleet planning board and the head of the Wellfleet Community Forum, a discussion group that has dealt with the issue this summer. "We hope we have the answer this time."

The town of Wellfleet already started down this road in the 1980s, when the Billboard House triggered a period of civic hand-wringing. The Cape Cod National Sea shore, an arm of the National Park Service, urged the town to adopt limits on home expansions. But it could not impose them, even within the Seashore boundaries, and Wellfleet officials disagreed with the specifics.

Now, with the Billboard House demolished and site work being done for the Blasch house, the federal government is suing to halt the construction. The National Park Service is arguing that the town should have required a special permit and asking the Zoning Board of Appeals to reconsider the project, which it upheld last month. Meanwhile, work continues at the owners' risk.

With at least four more big houses on the drawing boards, Wellfleet is joining a wave of towns trying to adapt zoning regulations to prevent an influx of large houses from crowding the landscape and changing the character of their communities. In January, the state's highest court issued a so-called anti-McMansion ruling that gave communities broad authority to deny permits for demolition and reconstruction projects that would not fit the character of their neighborhoods.

"What we're doing now is catching up to the fact that, for a whole variety of reasons, nothing was ever really done," said Dale Donovan, a member of the Wellfleet Board of Selectmen. "Now that we have become . . . a target for people who are buying and tearing down and building much larger houses, we found it absolutely necessary to act."

On Aug. 19, the selectmen approved zoning bylaw changes that would limit house sizes within the Cape Cod National Seashore. The planning board approved its own version and plans a public hearing next month.

But the plan faces its ultimate test from the neighbors: To take effect, complicated zoning changes must be approved by two-thirds of voters at an Oct. 27 Town Meeting.

The Blasches did not respond to a request for an interview, but their lawyer said they have played by the established rules, which Wellfleet residents only want to change because the Blasch property is so visible. The property overlooks the Herring River where it meets Cape Cod Bay and is viewed by the road as well as the trail to Great Island.

"I don't have a right to tell my neighbor what to build. I have a right to tell my neighbor to build within the existing zoning laws," said lawyer Ben Zehnder.

More than 60 percent of Wellfleet is part of the national park, including about 250 properties built before the seashore was protected. Local zoning already makes it tougher to expand within the National Seashore than elsewhere in Wellfleet. The house's footprint can take up just 5 percent of a lot, compared with 15 percent in the rest of the town.

But that zoning leaves the town vulnerable to plenty more mansions. About 40 lots in the Seashore are larger than 3 acres and could be developed with houses of 6,000 square feet, said Griswold "Gooz" Draz, who researched house sizes to determine what is the average in Wellfleet (1,800 square feet).

The selectmen's bylaw changes would limit homes in the National Seashore to 3,700 square feet, but with a sliding scale based on the size of the lot. That would prevent future homes like the Blasch house, which residents still hope will be blocked by the courts.

"This house is like poking your thumb in the eye of the town of Wellfleet, as far as I'm concerned," said Peter Watts, a landscape artist. "It's just antagonizing people."

As uncomfortable as trophy houses make some residents, others also say they have no right to tell their neighbors how to build.

"I'm kind of in favor of property rights," said Jerry Gould, 48, of Boxford, who owns a vacation home in Wellfleet. "I understand where people come from with the aesthetic business. But I think if it were my property, I'd feel pretty put-upon."

Zehnder expressed a fondness for the old styles. He is a Wellfleet resident whose father, an architect, designed homes here. "I really don't like to see the old camps get turned over," he said. "But I also believe that . . . we all have a right to build our own homes the way we want to build them without intrusion by our community."