Last modified: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 2:38 AM EDT Chateau restaurant goes before Norton board tonight BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTON - A town-driven version of a zoning change sought by the Chateau restaurant could also encourage the re-use of the vacant O Nosso restaurant nearby, Town Manager James Purcell says. Chateau owners the Nocera family want their restaurant at 48 Bay Road and an adjacent house at 54 Bay Road re-zoned to village commercial from residential-80 at the Oct. 6 annual fall town meeting. The Noceras would then buy and bulldoze the house and build a parking lot of at least 46 spaces. Town officials have drafted an alternative that would expand the proposed village commercial district on the street. The move "could very well save" the former O Nosso restaurant site at 4 Bay Road "for commercial use," Town Manager James Purcell told selectmen last week. "You're helping a business that you already tried to save once before, and you're helping somebody else, too," Purcell said. The planning board is expected to vote its recommendations to town meeting at 7:30 tonight at town hall. Purcell said the O Nosso's zoning has either reverted back to residential or will soon do so because the building has been vacant for about two years. Both residences and commercial uses are allowed in village commercial zones, Town Planner Charles Gabriel said, adding that the state Attorney General's Office is more likely to reject the Chateau's proposal as spot zoning. If voters change the zoning, the Noceras must get planning board and conservation commission approval for the Chateau parking, Gabriel said. The Noceras, who own and operate the Chateau restaurants in Norton, Norwood, Stoughton, Waltham and Andover, bought the former Ann's Place at auction for $1.65 million in July 2005. The Noceras renovated the establishment extensively and then reopened under its new name in June 2006. MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.