It's back to the drawing board for a Cranberry Highway land owner looking to build a jet ski repair shop in East Wareham.

At his hearing before the Zoning Board of Appeals last Wednesday, Richard Mann, who owns the property at 3166 Cranberry Highway, was told to come back with a much smaller design for his proposed repair shop.

At a Zoning Board meeting last month, Mann proposed a 15-foot high, 50 by 100 foot building with five garage bays and 12 parking spots for repairing jet skis. That drew the ire of board members as well as Wareham residents at the meeting.

Mann and Bradley Bertolo of Wareham-based JC Engineering returned last week with a proposal of the same 5,000 square feet but two less parking spots.

"We need a smaller building," said Mary Scarsciotti, vice chair of the Zoning Board. "This is ten pounds in a five pound bag. Nothing has changed."

Scarsciotti said the board wants a building that fits in with the community aesthetic, not just the biggest building allowable. Scarsciotti also read a letter from the Planning Board, detailing the same issues with the project. That board also said the building was too big and the parking didn't make any sense.

"You've got to dial it back," she said.

Mann ran a jet ski repair shop over a decade ago out of the 1,200 square foot building on the property, which is now Seakers, a boutique secondhand furniture shop. Mann said, however, that 3,000 square feet would be the smallest space in which he could run a profitable repair shop.

Town Engineer Charlie Rowley said a 50 by 60 foot building with two bays would provide 3,000 square feet, lower the parking requirement to four spaces and allow for a 40 by 50 square foot area for parking in the rear, seemingly fixing many of the problems with the proposal. The board suggested Mann evaluate how much space he needs and coming back to the board with a simple design.

The proposed location of the building is on a vacant lot just west of Seakers at 3166 Cranberry Highway. There were some small cottages on the property that were abandoned decades ago and were demolished after they fell further into disrepair under the stewardship of Calvin Carnes.

Mann transferred the property to Carnes in 2006. After Carnes failed to bring in a proposed motel and then a retail business on the lot, Mann foreclosed on Carnes in July 2014 because of debts owed to Mann.

"He wrecked everything he touched," Mann said of Carnes.

In addition to Seakers, one small residential cottage remains on the lot. One of the residents at the meeting alleged that Carnes was ordered to demolish all of the cottages on the lot, but kept the remaining one and rented it along with an allegedly illegal apartment he built above Seakers.

The board said that the legality of the two residences must be straightened out throughout Mann's proposal process. Mann is scheduled to return to the Zoning Board on April 8.