TreeTop Adventures, a zipline park in Canton, Massachusetts, just celebrated its first anniversary of operation on the property of the Irish Cultural Center. But not everyone is celebrating.
"I love theme parks, I just don't want it 70 feet from my property," said Edward Tasi.
Tasi says the park gets loud, especially on the weekends, and he says the lights at night keep his elderly mother awake.
"It went from a quiet, serene atmosphere that you see now to a carnival-like atmosphere," Tasi said.
TreeTop co-owner Molly Kerr says they went through an extensive process to get approval to build.
"Zoning board, planning board, conservation board, many months, after which we got our permit," Kerr said.
But at Tasi's urging, the Building Commission determined the park is actually built on property that's zoned residential – and issued an order to shut it down.
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"Which is a huge surprise to us because the Irish Cultural Center represented to us that the entire campus is zoned limited industrial," said Kerr.
Building Commissioner Edward Walsh agreed the discrepancy lies in a document from 20 years ago in which the zoning board said the property was light industrial.
"I agree that says it in the top paragraph of that decision from '97," Walsh said.
But as that gets sorted out, Tasi has sued while TreetTop tries to mitigate the disturbance to its neighbors.
"We've actually installed a 60 foot lighting screen," said Kerr. "At night, we pull that screen across so that it blocks any visibility of light from the neighbors."
TreeTop Adventures is still open for business and plans to appeal the building commissioner's order within the 30 days allowed.
There is also a motion to dismiss Tasi's lawsuit scheduled to be heard next month.
