Chester building owner seeks driveway permit to stop neighbor ‘harassment’

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

It’s unusual for a permit to put in a driveway to find its way to a select board for a decision, but in the case of 116 Main St. in Chester the situation itself is unusual.

Also known as the Henry Office Building, the 1880s structure at 116 Main has rear parking that has been  accessible via an easement written into the deed.

But for years now, the easement has been anything but easy, according to building owner Kevin Longo. Longo says he and his tenants have been harassed and even plowed in by his neighbors Skip and Amy Norton, who own the Bargain Corner at 128 Main, next door and just west of 116 Main. They own the driveway involved in the easement.

An easement is an agreement by a landowner to allow someone to use the land of another without owning it. In this case, the Nortons have bridled at the easement, which went with the deed, since opening their store there more than 10 years ago when the Henry Building was owned by Lawrence & Wheeler Insurance.

As a solution to the problem of dealing with his neighbors, Longo has proposed putting a driveway on the eastside of the Henry property to access a parking lot to be built behind the building. And that’s where the Chester Select Board comes in.

According to Town Manager Julie Hance,  the approval of a “highway access permit” would normally fall to Road Foreman Kirby Putnam, and he was inclined to deny it since it falls outside Vermont’s guidelines for Class I highways.  But once Longo’s lawyer weighed in, Hance said Putnam was uncomfortable making that decision since Longo’s situation with his neighbor should not enter into considering the permit application.

Longo said he never intended the lawyer’s letter to be threatening. But he noted that the portion of Main Street from the Dollar General to Lovers Lane is not labelled as “state highway,” labelled as “town highway,”  and so is not subject to state guidelines. Hance and Select Board member Peter Hudkins disagreed, noting that the town goes by state guidelines for all its highways. The portion of the highway between those two points is maintained by the Town of Chester as a Town highway.

In a lengthy presentation, Longo showed the board photographs taken from cameras on his building that he said document the problems he has had with the Nortons. Longo said he is obliged to pay for plowing as part of the easement, while Skip Norton does the plowing. However, he said, Norton has repeatedly plowed his building in, blocking both parking and entrances. Longo showed a photo of his van plowed in so he had to dig it out before he could leave.

In addition to the plowing and the verbal harassment he said he and his tenants have endured from the Nortons, Longo  asserted that the Nortons have changed their use of the building by beginning to sell sheds from their parking lot. This has resulted in large numbers of truck deliveries that block the street and the sidewalks. Longo showed the board a number of photos of the trucks, adding that he could show them many more.

Hance said that under current zoning laws, retail can happen indoors or out, but the increased truck traffic may need to be looked at.

Board members asked Longo why the Nortons were doing these things. Longo said he couldn’t speak for them but he said he has received messages from them saying that they want him to buy their building for $500,000 and will “make your life miserable until you do.”

He also said the situation has escalated to the point of physical confrontation. He added that both he and the nearby Chester-Andover Elementary School have taken out no trespass orders on Skip Norton. The Nortons were not in attendance at the meeting.

Lauren Fierman, who lives next door to the Henry Building to the east, said she was sympathetic to Longo’s plight and has heard the shouting from the Nortons. But she added that her property line next to Longo is within inches of her house and she has concerns about driveway drainage into her basement and snow plowed up against basement windows. She said Longo could make assurances about taking care not to do harm, but what would happen if he sold the building?

Fierman said she would feel differently if some sort of protections for her property could be worked out. Longo said work to build the driveway, drainage and fencing is estimated at  $40,000, although he’d rather put that into the building.

Board members Lee Gustafson and Tim Roper asked Longo if he had considered taking legal action against the Nortons. Longo said that he could, but thought that enforcing any judgment would be difficult. He added, “If it was a viable option I wouldn’t be wasting your time.”

A straw poll of the board found that Gustafson was in favor of granting the permit to help keep a local business — the office building — viable. Roper said he was inclined toward no, but that the board should keep talking about the issue. Hudkins said that the road standards are set for a reason and he was a “flat no.”

In the end, Jonynas said the board would consult with the town attorney before making a decision on the permit.

‘Vision Zero’ resolution to eliminate traffic fatalities

Logan Nicoll of the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission came before the board to explain a federal program called Vision Zero that has the goal of eliminating traffic-related fatalities by funding projects to reduce their chances.

The idea is to collect information from a wide variety of sources – including the public – about places and situations that could use work.

Nationally, this is known as Safe Streets for All (SS4A) and has $1 billion in funding for such projects. MARC is one of the first regional commissions that’s writing a required Safety Action Plan. To be part of this, all of the 12 towns in the MARC area need to approve and sign a resolution. Then MARC can give technical assistance to the town in writing federal grants to fund their safety projects.

Weathersfield’s road foreman has been especially active in this effort and is hoping to fund a number of guardrail projects, according to Nicoll. Such grants would require a 20 percent match from a town.

Gustafson asked who would be “in the driver’s seat” with the grants. Both Hance and Nicoll said the town would choose its own projects, submit applications for them and administer the grants. MARC would offer technical assistance.

After some discussion the board decided to sign the resolution on behalf of the town.

The public is encouraged to participate in the program by reporting specific locations where traffic safety is a concern or where there are a lot of accidents – especially if they don’t require reports and places where accidents are just waiting to happen. You can get to the the tool for inputting information here.