COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

MIDDLESEX, SS.                          SUPERIOR COURT DEPARTMENT
                                        No.:
                              
                                             
___________________________________
CHARLES DIRRING                    )
               Plaintiff           )    
          V.                       )    COMPLAINT
                                   )
THE BOARD OF APPEAL OF THE         )
TOWN OF BILLERICA MASSACHUSETTS,   )
DORIS M. PEARSON, CHAIRMAN         )
JOHN F. GRAY, JR., VICE-CHAIRMAN   )
ELLEN SARGENT, SECRETARY           )
JOSEPH P. SHAW                     )
FRANCIS M. FRAINE                  )
PATRICIA H. FLEMING                )
JAY H. THOMAS, III                 )
               Defendants          )
___________________________________)


                          JURISDICTION

1.   This is a complaint pursuant to MGL 40A to annul a decision
of the Board of Appeal of the Town of Billerica (the "Board")
which failed to act on a complaint that multiple decisions,
particularly a lack thereof, of the Inspector of Buildings have
resulted in a failure to enforce the provisions of the Zoning 
By-Law of the Town of Billerica and those Rules, Regulations and
Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  This appeal to the
Board was global in nature.  This lack of enforcement was most
recently illustrated in a decision received by the Plaintiff on
January 9, 1997 where the Inspector of Buildings refused to act
on issues raised in my December 21, 1996 letter to the Inspector
of Buildings, concerning 83 Alexander Road, Units #6 and #7. 

                            PARTIES

2.   The Plaintiff Charles Dirring resides at 86 Alexander Road,
Billerica, Massachusetts, is an abutter to the property in
question, and is an aggrieved party under MGL 40A, Sec. 17, who
is and will be directly, substantially and adversely affected by
the total failure of the Board to act.

3.   The defendant Board of Appeal and its individual members are
the duly constituted zoning board of appeal of the Town of
Billerica and citizens who reside in the Town of Billerica.  The
names and addresses of the individual defendant members and
alternate members are as follows:

          a.   Doris M. Pearson, Chairman
               25 Harjean Road
               Billerica, Massachusetts 01821

          b.   John F. Gray, Jr., Vice-Chairman
               65 Ellingwood Avenue
               Billerica, Massachusetts 01821

          c.   Ellen Sargent, Secretary
               Bridle Road
               Billerica, Massachusetts 01821

          d.   Joseph P. Shaw, Member
               22 Marlyn Road
               Billerica, Massachusetts 01821

          e.   Francis Fraine, Member
               24 Floyd Street
               Billerica, Massachusetts 01821

          f.   Patricia H. Fleming, Alternate Member
               753 Boston Road
               Billerica Massachusetts 01821

          g.   Jay H. Thomas, III, Alternate Member
               68 Pinehurst Avenue
               Billerica Massachusetts 01821
                                
                             FACTS
4.   The provisions of the Billerica Zoning By-Law (BZBL) and the
Massachusetts State Building Code (MSBC) were being violated in
the locus of buildings at 77 and 83 Alexander Road, Billerica,
Massachusetts and this matter was first brought to the attention
of the Town of Billerica in 1989.  

5.   The Plaintiff has furnished numerous photographs, video
tapes and written evidence of violations at the locus of
buildings at 77 and 83 Alexander Road, Billerica, Massachusetts
to officials of the town of Billerica over the past seven years.  
  
6.   In March of 1995, the Town Administrator advised the
Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in writing that the
Town was pursuing further remedial actions against a number of
property owners, but remedial actions and results have
consistently been unobservable.

7.   The Plaintiff filed a letter of complaint to the building
inspector on December 24, 1996 requesting an investigation of the
premise of Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road,
Units 6 & 7, relative to seven items (and any other new items
that the building department would choose to add), where such
violations may exist.  A summary of these seven and three past
issues ("a" through "j" below) are: 
     a.   Sale of trucks without motor vehicle sales license or
          Special Permit.
     b.   Rental of trucks without motor vehicle rental license,
          Variance or Special Permit..
     c.   Leasing of Trucks without motor vehicle leasing
          license, Variance or Special Permit..
     d.   Painting of trucks without spray booth, dust capture
          ventilation & explosion protection.
     e.   Repairing of Trucks without a Special Permit.
     f.   Salvage/ scrapping of trucks without motor vehicle
          salvage license, Variance or Special Permit.
     g.   Office Space with only one egress point.
     h.   Hazardous materials generation (oil, antifreeze, paint,
          etc.) without effective disposal equipment.            
     I.   Motor vehicle washing without effective disposal
          equipment.
     j.   Industrial uses without the required green areas, trees
          and fencing.

8.   A written request on December 24, 1996 was made to the
office of the building inspector, by the Plaintiff, to advise the
Plaintiff in writing of all violations identified and the
specific steps that the office of the building inspector needs to
take to remedy any violations found.  

9.   The building inspector responded in a January 7, 1997 letter
to Plaintiff that her office did "not find any apparent zoning
violations".  The building inspector made no comment on any
building code violations and took no remedial actions. 

10.  The Occupancy Permit Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83
Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7 of an industrial building is for
"Office Use" (Unit 7) and "Storage & Distribution" (Unit 6). 

11.  Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 &
7 has no Occupancy Permit consistent with the uses of buying,
selling, renting, leasing, repairing or rebuilding motor
vehicles.

12.  The Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units
6 & 7 are situated in an Industrial Zoning District according to 
the Billerica Zoning By-Law.

13.  The Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units
6 & 7 are not licensed by the Town of Billerica to buy, sell,
rent, lease, repair or rebuild motor vehicles.

14.  The building inspector has inhibited access, on several
occasions to some of their public records and totally denied
access to a room full of other public records.

15.  Several public records violations were appealed to the
Supervisor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for adjudication
and relief.

16.  The office of the building inspector has been non-cooperate
with the Plaintiff in and effort to obfuscate and aggravate the
collection of any evidence relating to their inaction to an
exhaustive code compliance effort at these premises.  

17.  The matter of the failure of the building inspector to
affect zoning and building code compliance was appealed to the
Billerica Board of Appeal and a public hearing was held on March
19, 1997.
 
18.  An appeal to force the building inspector to act
accordingly, consistent with the requirements of MGL 40A was
presented to Board.

19.  The appeal to the Board indicated that the building
inspector failed to act on a complaint that multiple decisions
and has had resulted in a failure to enforce the provisions of
the Zoning By-Law of the Town of Billerica and those Rules,
Regulations and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

20.  This appeal to the Board was global in nature to cause the
building inspector and the Board to address any violations in the
industrial land and premises in the locus of 77 and 83 Alexander
Road.

21.  This action was necessary because of the lack of timely and
effective enforcement on building code and zoning violations.

22.  The advertisement of the March 19, 1997 Public Hearing, in a
newspaper of general circulation (the Billerica Minuteman),
required by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, was
inconsistent with the exact "Nature of Application or Appeal"
provided to the Board in the Plaintiff's February 7, 1997
"Application for a Hearing".

23.  The failure of the Board to properly advertise the Board's
March 19, 1997 Public Hearing was part of the oral testimony to
the Board on March 19, 1997.

24.  Town Counsel of the Town of Billerica was present for the
entire March 19, 1997 public hearing regarding this case.

25.  With the advice and assistance of Town Counsel, this formal
request to the Board by the Plaintiff to remedy this defect was
denied.

26.  An inspector from the Town of Billerica building inspector's
office was present for the entire March 19, 1997 public hearing
regarding this case.

27.  Two members of the Board of Selectmen of the Town of
Billerica were present for the entire March 19, 1997 public
hearing regarding this case.

28.  No oral testimony was provided by the office of building
inspector or the Board of Selectmen at the March 19, 1997 public
hearing.

29.  The Plaintiff submitted oral and written testimony at the
public hearing of March 19, 1997.

30.  No other party provided oral or written testimony at the
March 19, 1997 public hearing.

31.  The Board asked no questions of the Plaintiff after
providing oral and written testimony regarding the substance of
the case at the March 19, 1997 public hearing.

32.  Evidence has been furnished by the Plaintiff to the Board
and is on file in the building inspector's office and/or the
Board's office regarding Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road,
Units 6 & 7, to wit:

     a.   The December 24, 1996 letter of complaint letter to the
          building inspectors.

     b.   Copies of the appropriate sections of the Billerica
          Zoning By-Law that identify truck salvage and rental
          uses as prohibited uses attached to the building
          inspectors letter of January 7, 1997.

     c.   A Bill of Sale for $13,150 for a Fork Truck by
          "Engineering Lift Truck Service" (emphasis added).

     d.   A determination by the State Building Inspector's
          Office that a "...fork lift vehicle..." was a "...land
          motor vehicle..." thus is a motor vehicle use. 

     e.   A Town of Billerica Occupancy Permit for Unit 6
          identifying that it was only for "Storage and
          Distribution" 

     f.   A Town of Billerica Occupancy Permit for Unit 7 was
          only for "Office Space".

     g.   A determination by the State Building Inspector's
          Office that the Occupancy Permit for Units 6 and 7 as
          representing a "...life threaten to the occupants...".
     
     h.   A determination by the State Building Inspector's
          Office that the Occupancy Permit for Units 6 and 7 that
          identified access/egress violations

     I.   A determination by the State Building Inspector's
          Office that the Occupancy Permit for Units 6 and 7 that
          the premises " . . . violate the non-combustible
          construction classification . . ." and violation of
          occupancy permit requirements.

     j.   A determination by the Department of Environmental
          Protection's Office that identifies the lack of
          effective hazardous materials collection equipment
          "proper and lawful management and disposal of all oil
          and hazardous  waste".

33.  The Board took the matter under advisement and closed the
public hearing on March 19, 1997.

34.  The Board subsequently dispatched Mary Pasho, a resident of
the town, to the hallway to advise the Plaintiff that the  Board
intended to re-opened the public hearing on March 19, 1997.

35.  The Plaintiff returned to the March 19, 1997 Board meeting
and the Board advised the Plaintiff that another vote would be
taken regarding the Plaintiff's appeal.

36.  After a discussion about the Board's need to review the
appeal in more detail, a motion was made and voted by the Board
to re-open the public hearing.

37.  The reason stated by the Board to continue the public
hearing was to allow "discussions" to occur between the Board and
building inspector's office, from March 19, 1997 through April 9,
1997.

38.  A motion was made and voted to continue the matter until
April 9, 1997 as "the last order of business."

39.  After the decision to reopen the public hearing and continue
the hearing to April 9, 1997, the Board moved on to other
matters, the Plaintiff again left the hearing room, and the
Plaintiff retired to the Plaintiff's residence.

40.  On March 27, 1997, the Board sent a letter dated March 26,
1997 indicating that the Board Chairman "...declared this hearing
closed...".

41.  The Plaintiff had no knowledge that the Chairman had 
"...declared this hearing closed..." until receiving the letter
of March 26, 1997.

42.  The Board subsequently re-opened the public hearing on April
9, 1997.

43.  On April 9, 1997, after all the scheduled hearings before
the Board were heard, the Board and advised the Plaintiff that no
additional oral or written testimony could be provided to the
Board.

44.  The Plaintiff requested at the April 9, 1997 public hearing
that the Board disclose if the Board had received other evidence
and the Chairman indicated that the Board had received "paper
work" from the building department two days prior to the March
19, 1997 public hearing.

45.  The Plaintiff requested access to all written evidence of
record at the public hearing on April 9, 1997 and requested was
denied, even though it was a public record and in the possession
of the Board at that time.

44.  The Board voted without discussion to deny any relief.

45.  Even though there was no discussion among the Board members,
their decision contained five detailed and specific
recommendations for denial.


                         RELIEF SOUGHT

46.  That a thorough inspection of the property of Engineering
Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7 be made
forthwith and without delay.

47.  That inspection of the property of Engineering Lift Truck
Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7 be accomplished using a
totally independent and qualified party, with no ties to the town
of Billerica.

48.  To include any other new items that are observed in this
exercise at the premises of Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83
Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7.

49.  That the inspector(s) ordered above be selected and/or
appointed by the State Building Inspector's office to ensure
building code and zoning compliance at Engineering Lift Truck
Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7, from the point of view
of an arms-length and qualified observer.

50.  That a written report of any violations observed at
Engineering Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7,
be produced, including specifically the steps required to remedy
any violations and a definitive remedial timetable, with
non-compliance penalties.
  
51.  That "Cease and Desist Orders" be implemented forthwith and
without delay where violation(s) at Engineering Lift Truck
Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7, are observed.

52.  That free access be granted to every public record held by
the Town of Billerica related to this case, and be made available
to the Plaintiff and other parties that request access.

53.  That fines to be sought, where violations at Engineering
Lift Truck Service, 83 Alexander Road, Units 6 & 7, can be
documented.  

WHEREFORE the Plaintiff request this Honorable Court to:

     a.   Annul the Board's decision.

     b.   Award the Plaintiffs their Attorney fees and costs of
          this action.

     c.   Grant such relief as is just and proper.

Signed under the pains and penalties of perjury:

                                   _____________________________
                                   Charles Dirring, Plaintiff
                                   
                         Address:  86 Alexander Road
                                   Billerica, Massachusetts 01821                              

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