Burlington Official Resigns Over Herb Chambers Lawsuit

BURLINGTON, MA —John Kelly, who has held elected office in Burlington for more than 40 years, abruptly resigned from the planning board last week. Kelly said he made the decision because the board had been marginalized by a lawsuit between the town and the Herb Chambers Porsche dealership. The planning board granted a special permit to the Herb Chambers to split the Porsche dealership from the company's Audi dealership. The permit, however, contained a provision that would have capped the number of trade in cars the dealership could sell.

That clause, the Herb Chambers land court lawsuit said, would "entirely upend" the profit margins of the dealerships. In August, the company emailed town meeting members, saying the planning board's stipulation violated the intent of a zoning change narrowly approved by town meeting last year over the planning board's recommendation to not approve the new rules.

I "cannot, in good conscience be part of this deliberate marginalization, diminishment and undermining of one of the most professional and hardest working departments in town," Kelly said at the end of last week's planning board meeting. "Consequently...I have decided this is my last Planning Board meeting."

Planning board chair Barbara L’Heureux asked Kelly to take a few days to reconsider his decision. Kelly responded by saying he intended to deliver his resignation later to the town clerk's office as he left the meeting that night.

A spokesperson for Herb Chambers previously declined comment because of the pending litigation.