A Massachusetts law is at the center of controversies for two construction projects in Wareham and Marion this summer, with one family involved in both.

Residents in Wareham have been protesting a group home for the mentally ill slated to open at 7 Lynne Road in the Beaver Meadows neighborhood consisting of two cul-de-sacs off of Swifts Beach Road.

Acushnet-based builder Jeff White, who owns the property, has been renovating the home since purchasing it this spring with plans to lease it to Rhode Island-based Fellowship Health Resources, Inc.

Fellowship officials say they plan to open a six-bed "therapeutic respite program" for patients with mental illnesses and disorders. Patients will live at the home for anywhere from a week to 30 days.

White has maintained that the home is exempt from zoning laws under the Dover Amendment, a law that provides a broad exemption to essentially all zoning laws for certain types of uses, including solar power, daycare, religious, agricultural, and educational facilities. Town officials have repeatedly said they cannot stop the operation of the home for that reason.

Next door in Marion, White's family members are facing their own Dover Amendment battle with that town.

White's family's company, Acushnet-based construction firm D.W. White, is installing athletic fields at Tabor Academy. Jeff White works for D.W. White, though his project on Lynne Road in Wareham is a private venture.

The private school has plans to build three athletic fields with 90-foot lighting towers, dugouts, and bleachers, all of which will be visible from Front Street.

Residents and abutting neighbors have expressed frustration with the project, saying that the field will be unappealing and could potentially be dangerous due to the crumb rubber used in construction.

The Town of Marion has twice issued cease-and-desist orders for the project in recent weeks, arguing that the project's permits did not cover the placement of matting and bluestone over the field or construction of structures such as dugouts. One of the orders came from the town's Health Director who said Tabor had not complied with storm water and drainage codes.

Construction continues on Front Street. Tabor Headmaster Jay Stroud says the school must complete the field by the time school begins in September. Stroud has maintained that construction falls under the Dover Amendment.

"Under the [Dover Amendment], structures, themselves, must be built to proper safety and access codes, should meet a test of 'reasonableness' and their location, size, and, most importantly, their purpose must further the mission of the organization," Stroud wrote in a July 5 letter addressed to Marion residents. "Clearly, from our perspective, athletic fields are reasonable and definitely further the educational mission of the school as required."

Back in Wareham, the town's attorney says the group home is also an educational facility.

At the June 28 Board of Selectmen meeting - which was so packed by concerned residents that the location had to be moved to accommodate everyone - town lawyer Jason Talerman of Blatman Bobrowski & Mead explained: "There are a great line of cases that discuss educational components associated with mental health facilities or group homes of all types, shapes, and sizes. ... What the cases say universally is that it's not education in the classic sense. It's not just opening books and learning math and learning English and learning science. It is the teaching of life skills, healthy eating skills, of other types of educational pursuits that help people function as contributing citizens to their community."

With the town's hands apparently tied, the Beaver Meadows Homeowners' Association has halted the operation of the home, which was slated to open on July 1, through a civil case in the Plymouth County Superior Court.

Members of the homeowners' association are angry that White did not get permission before renovating the home and say the addition he put on the house broke the neighborhood's covenants. The home's garage was converted into additional living space. Three bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom were added on to what was previously a three-bedroom ranch.

On June 28, a Plymouth County Superior Court judge granted the homeowners' association a temporary restraining order against White and ruled that no one is to occupy the home except for White and his immediate family until the case could be heard on July 19. The court date was then postponed until August 8 to provide White’s new legal representation an adequate amount of time to be briefed on the issue.

Sippican Week Editor Matt Camara assisted in preparation of this report.