Zahavi informs Planning Board of foundation intentions
BY PETER B. BRACE
Dreamland Theater Attorney Ed Woll, Jr. told the Planning Board on Monday night that the only thing his client needed to renovate the building was a building permit for a new foundation.

Haim Zahavi, the South Water Street movie house's owner, filed his updated building plans along with his application for a permit for renovation of the theater building with the Building Department on Nov. 22, Woll told the board on Monday night.

Woll attended the Nov. 27 Planning Board meeting to outline for the board a timeline Zahavi would follow to get the Dreamland's movie operation running by next summer. The board had previously requested he produce this letter by Oct. 24. In it is a detailed description of events leading up to Zahavi's inability to open in time for the 2006 season and how he plans to get the theater open by May 31.

One hurdle that Zahavi has cleared since he sent the letter to the board is obtaining a variance from the State Building Code Appeals Board. Nantucket's Building Inspector Bernie Bartlett denied Zahavi's most recent attempt to get a building permit for the Dreamland on Aug. 7 because he said Zahavi needed a variance from a State Building Code requirement for a party wall/firewall on an interior lot line running through the building.

Because the Planning Board signed off on Zahavi's approval-not-required plan for the Dreamland's lot last winter, which split the lot in two, doing one building over two lots is not possible without this variance, as there would have to be two separate buildings.

Upon getting this variance, Zahavi filed for a building permit last week to put a new foundation underneath the Dreamland. The current foundation is rotted beyond repair and soil conditions are not conducive to support the building as it sits today, said Woll. Though Zahavi said in his Oct. 6 letter that he is committed to getting the theater open by May 31, Woll told the board that June 15 is the new date given a timely issuance of a building permit.

"I understand that if we get this foundation permit and get working on it, we should be able to open that theater this summer," said Woll. "It is doable if we get to work right now."

Woll added that Zahavi's construction team would be on Nantucket Tuesday to look at the Dreamland and to get a sense of the job ahead. Members of the public at the meeting, including Selectmen Michael Kopko and Nantucket Film Festival Organizer Jonathan Burkhart, urged the board to go see the theater and its decrepit foundation firsthand.

"What I saw was a theater in dire condition," said Burkhart, who was invited to tour the theater with Zahavi's mortgage broker. "I would urge you and your board members to see the theater

for yourselves so you can see the condition that it is in. I just want to share with you that what I saw was most unique and I've been tracking what Mr. Zahavi's plans are. But I would strongly urge you to, any of you, to see this theater for yourselves so you know what's going when you review his plans and submissions for permits."

The Planning Board, however, short of contacting Bartlett, has no power over the speed by which he issues building permits and therefore could not expedite the process with a site visit. Moreover, what could delay the opening of the Dreamland even further, noted Nantucket Land Council Director Cormac Collier, is the possibility that Zahavi may have to amend his order of conditions for his project to do his foundation.

The Planning Board approved Zahavi's special permit to renovate the theater, add four luxury condominiums on the second and third floors, and build a restaurant in the existing parking lot of the Dreamland and underground parking beneath it on Jan. 9. But Zahavi violated that permit by not adhering to Condition 6.2(a) of the permit; Obligation to Conduct Theater Operations by not operating the film aspect of the building this summer.

Operating with a demolition permit issued in March, Zahavi's engineers discovered extensive work needed to be completed before he could open, but unable to secure the necessary building permits to do the work, the Dreamland remained closed through the 2006 season.

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