Orleans ZBA Approves Hidden Valley Permit, Delays Vote on 6,355-Square-Foot Bay House

ORLEANS -- March 4, 2026, Orleans ZBA approves a modest Hidden Valley Road addition but balks at a 6,355-square-foot Pleasant Bay teardown. The board voted 4-0 Wednesday to grant a special permit to Scott and Kathleen Smith for a six-foot deck expansion and a 150-square-foot pantry addition at 23 Hidden Valley Road, finding the projects a permissible intensification of a lawfully pre-existing nonconforming structure. The board then heard but could not act on Case 2026-04, in which Robert Dewar of Bracken Engineering presented plans by John H. Ferring IV to demolish a four-bedroom home at 199 Namequoit Road and replace it with a seven-bedroom, 6,355-square-foot dwelling and detached garage, well above the 4,000-square-foot threshold that triggers a special permit under Orleans Zoning Bylaw Section 164-44. Member Gerald Mulligan said he was "not at all comfortable" with the proposal and called it "too much of an impact on Pleasant Bay," while member Robert Wilkinson predicted residents would be alarmed once the structure was built. Only four of five members were present, and an approval requires a super-majority of four votes; with at least two members opposed, the board voted 4-0 to continue the case to March 18, 2026, and suggested the applicant consider reducing the proposed footprint.