Date: Fri 19-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Baumer-library-suit-easement

Full Text:

Baumer Seeks Exclusive Easement From Library

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

A Main Street resident who is suing the town and the borough over the Booth

Library expansion project wants the town to grant him an exclusive easement to

use his driveway - which is on town-owned land.

Edwin Baumer of 23 Main Street, represented by attorney Randall Carreira of

Bridgewater, is trying to reach a compromise in which he may drop his lawsuit

if he is given a permanent exclusive easement to land on which his driveway

sits.

"It's not too much to ask," Attorney Carreira said. "We'try trying to reach an

accommodation of all of the parties - something that would benefit everyone -

and this is one of the things we are proposing as part of a settlement."

The request for the easement was on the agenda of the Board of Selectmen

meeting Monday evening. The selectmen voted unanimously to refer the request

to the Planning & Zoning Commission, a step which is required under the town

charter. An easement conveyance also must be approved by the Legislative

Council and, last of all, at a town meeting.

Town Attorney David Grogins said that Mr Baumer, who lives next door to the

library, has a deeded right-of-way which allows him to use a strip of

town-owned land adjacent to the library property as his driveway.

"We own the land, he has an easement and now he wants an exclusive easement,"

Attorney Grogins told the selectmen. "Theoretically, Mr Baumer (then) would

drop his appeal."

Mr Grogins said granting Mr Baumer's request would avoid the possibility of

additional legal costs and the chance, however small, that the town might lose

if it went to trial.

Mr Baumer filed a lawsuit in Danbury Superior Court on April 4 against the

Borough Zoning Commission, Borough Zoning Commission Chairman Robert Connor,

Town Clerk Cynthia Curtis, Borough Clerk Darlene Spencer, the Town of Newtown

and the Booth Library Board of Trustees. In it he repeated many of the charges

he made in earlier lawsuits, which were dismissed last month by Danbury

Superior Court Judge Sandra Leheny, which allege that "spot zoning" was used

to approve the library expansion project. He also asked the appellate court

for permission to appeal a lawsuit which concerned the library's site plan

approval.

"There have been settlement discussions," Mr Carreira said. "We're also trying

to reach agreement on other items with the Library Board of Trustees."

Mr Carreira said the existing right-of-way was mentioned in a deed that dates

back to the 1920s. But with the construction of a library addition and an

80-vehicle parking lot, his client now needs a permanent exclusive easement.

"Otherwise, who knows what might happen 10 years from now?" Mr Carreira said,

suggesting that town officials could someday decide to use the driveway as an

exit from the parking lot unless an exclusive easement is granted.