On June 11, the board signed the agreement with landowner Jean Damon whereby she will receive $230,000 for .71 acres of land on Reed Road where the town has drilled a well for a municipal water project in the road right of way. The sum also settles Damon’s claims in three separate lawsuits against the town regarding the road and the water project.
The settlement comes after six months of negotiations between the town and Damon. The town has also been in negotiations with Virginia Houston whose property also abuts Reed Road. The town began condemnation proceedings at the same time as it began negotiating with the two landowners for access to the well after a Vermont Superior Court judge ruled that the town had not shown sufficient proof that Reed Road was a town road.
The town drilled the well for the water project in 2007 based on legal advice that it was a town road. Houston and Damon challenged that assumption leading to last December’s Superior Court ruling. Work on the water project began last fall and when it resumed this spring, the only portions that were under construction were those away from Reed Road.
The settlement with Damon leaves the town still in negotiations and involved in condemnation of 1.22 acres from Houston. Houston is involved in multiple legal actions against the town over the water project.
At this week’s select board hearing, board chair Kate Williams said that the town was continuing with the “same parallel path with Houston.”
The settlement with Damon provides that the town will receive title to .71 acres of land around the well site and in the well isolation zone as well as an access easement along Reed Road for a right of way and underground utilities related to the well.
Damon, as part of the agreement, consents to having chlorination facilities on the conveyed lands with the provision that the chlorine itself be stored off site when not in active use.
Damon and members of the Richards family (who own land adjoining the Damon property) have entered into a road agreement with the town whereby the town will upgrade a segment of Ronk Road (which runs along their property) from Class 4B to Class 4A, which means that the road will receive periodic winter maintenance such as pushing back snowbanks.
Both parties agree that segments of Floodwoods Road and the Northfield Mountain Road, as they cross property owned by the Richards family, are not public highways. The town will no longer include these sections on its highway or other maps.
While the town has agreed to relinquish any claim on those sections of roads as town highways, the parties have signed a five-year license allowing non-motorized public use of that section of the Northfield Mountain Road. That license is renewable by mutual written agreement. The Richards family will agree not to post that section of Floodwoods Road for five years, other than “No Hunting and Fishing.”
In connection with the final agreement, Williams thanked Damon and the Richards family for their willingness to engage cooperatively in the settlement process, and stated: “This comprehensive agreement represents a major step forward for the water project and also avoids potential future litigation over the roadways that cross the Richards’ land. The town has now secured legal rights – through good faith negotiations – to all but a small portion of the well site. We look forward to resolving the remaining issues related to the water project as reasonably and efficiently as possible.”
Complete settlement documents and associated maps are available at the Town Office.
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