The application asks the board to authorize 35 cottage units under a bylaw that caps buildings in the district at 20,000 square feet. The developer’s attorney has not answered questions submitted two weeks ago.

By John Barrella

MIDDLEBOROUGH — The Zoning Board of Appeals returns to the proposed East Grove Street surf park on Sept. 24, taking up an application that would authorize three buildings, several accessory structures and 35 cottage-style hotel units on roughly 20 acres off Route 28.

The agenda, posted by the Town Clerk’s office at 9:57 a.m. Thursday, carries a date that may matter more than the meeting itself. The surf park hearing is listed as continued, with a deadline of Oct. 21 — leaving the board under four weeks from the Sept. 24 session to act on a project its own agenda describes in five lines.

The application was filed by attorney Michael O’Shaughnessy on behalf of N.E.S.P., LLC, and seeks a special permit under four sections of the town’s zoning bylaw: 4.1.1, 4.5.3, 5.3.13 and 9.2.1. The agenda identifies the property not by street number but as a “20+/- acre parcel of land being a portion of the lot shown on Middleborough Assessor’s Map 072, lot 2616,” in the General Use B District.

The section doing the heaviest work is Section 4.5.3, and it is one sentence long: “In all GU Districts, no structure shall exceed 20,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area unless a special permit is issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals.”

The bylaw sets that ceiling per structure. The agenda describes the 35 cottage units as ones “whose cumulative square footage will exceed 20,000 square feet.” How the application reaches the threshold — by aggregating the cottages, or through any single building — is not explained on the agenda.

Also cited is Section 5.3.13, which allows the permit granting authority to adjust the town’s off-street parking and loading requirements “where it finds that such adjustment will not be substantially detrimental to safety.” Its inclusion indicates the applicant is seeking relief from parking standards that would otherwise apply to a facility of this scale.

The surf park would be the first in New England. The Boston Globe reported in June that Rhode Island developer Clay Rockefeller and Weymouth real estate consultant Jerry Pucillo are behind the roughly $80 million project, which would build a six-acre artificial lagoon using Wavegarden technology capable of producing waves up to seven feet, on the former Schobel Farm property at 177 East Grove Street. The developers told the Globe they hoped to open in 2028, expected to employ more than 120 people, and were still seeking equity partners and debt financing.

The G.O.A.T. News sent O’Shaughnessy 18 questions on the record on Sept. 4, with a deadline of 5 p.m. on Sept. 10. The questions covered ownership of the parcel, the project’s financing, a seven-lot subdivision associated with the land, water supply, liability, and the town’s financial exposure. He did not respond. Follow-up calls on Friday, Sept. 11, and on the morning of Monday, Sept. 14, reached voicemail and were not returned.

The questions remain unanswered as the hearing approaches.

Earlier this month, The GOAT published a letter from resident Jaime Meserve arguing that the town’s handling of a River Street recycling and composting special permit dispute bears directly on how the East Grove Street application should be evaluated. The letter ran with a note that The GOAT had not fact-checked its claims and took no position on them, and was published as a courtesy to residents and in the interest of transparency in local government.

The surf park is not the only special permit before the board that night. Joseph E. Phelan of 98 West Grove Street is seeking a permit under the same Section 4.5.3 to construct a 100-foot by 82-foot metal addition — 8,200 square feet — to the rear of an existing metal building on the property. That hearing is also continued, with a deadline of Dec. 9.

The board will also vote on the minutes of its Sept. 10 meeting, which become the official record of that session once approved.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Select Board’s Meeting Room at 10 Nickerson Avenue. The agenda, posted by administrative assistant Tammy Mendes, reserves time for unanticipated business. The board will announce at the opening that the meeting is being recorded under G.L. c. 30A, § 20(f).