BETHEL — A resident’s request for an easement to park on town property that’s being considered for a veterans monument was tabled by selectmen Monday.

It was the second consecutive week the board delayed a decision. Selectmen decided Monday to get the town attorney’s advice.

Interim Town Manager Steve Eldridge said the town acquired the lot on Main Street from George Dunn for nonpayment of taxes. The town in the process of allowing an Honor Roll Committee to build a new veterans memorial on it.

Debra Mills, of 126 Main St., who lives next to the lot, sent a letter to selectmen this year saying she has used part of the property as a parking space for “quite some time and hopes to do so in the future.”

Asked by selectmen why she couldn’t park at the side of her building, Mills said she had to “look into the removal of encroachments” placed by neighbors on her property.

She asked selectmen for permission to park on the lot into 2015 and place an article on the 2015 town meeting warrant asking for an easement.

Selectmen agreed to give Mills two additional weeks to explore alternatives and research parking options.

Several members of the Veterans Memorial Committee were dissatisfied that it has taken selectmen so long to solve the property issue. One resident said he was worried that fundraising support for the memorial would fizzle out if they didn’t get started on the project soon.

At Monday’s board meeting, Eldridge said there were “stipulations in terms of the town’s ability to grant anything to Mr. Dunn’s property.”

“The town attorney told us that the town of Bethel owns this property, but in order for you to do anything with it, you’d have to sell the property back to Mr. Dunn and then have it gifted back to you,” Eldridge said. “That’s the way your ordinance reads.”

Jared Crockett, a resident of Bethel acting as legal agent for the American Legion, said he had spoken with Dunn, and Dunn is willing to donate the property to the town to use for a veterans memorial.

Crockett said if Dunn wanted a tax break for donating the property, the town would have to give the deed to the property back to Dunn, and he would gift it back to the town.

Eldridge said in order to that, the issue would have to go to town meeting and the property would have to go out to bid.

Crockett recommended the town accept a quitclaim deed from Dunn, which would end any interest Dunn has in the property and would allow the town to move forward with the property.

“When it comes to building something noble like a veterans memorial, it’s always better to take the property by donation than it is by tax foreclosure,” Crockett said.

One resident asked if Dunn could make a claim to the property in the future if the town did not accept the property as a donation.

“He could come back up to 15 years later and say that the property is his,” Crockett said. “It’s his statutory right. It doesn’t mean he’ll win, but he would have the right to move forward with a lawsuit.”

Crockett told the board, “If you’re going to use any portion of that land for a veterans memorial, you don’t want to invest $100,000 and find yourself in court the following year, arguing on whether or not your title was good or not.”

Scott Cole, the legal aide for Mills, said he was concerned about Dunn receiving a tax break for donating the property to the town.

“I’d ask where the taxes are that Mr. Dunn was supposed to pay,” Cole said. “I’d wonder if he was going to pay those taxes. If not, and he receives a tax break, I would say that it’s almost fraudulent.”

Crockett said if Dunn agreed to donate the property and decline the tax break, there would be no problem.

Selectmen agreed to postpone the vote on whether to allow Mills to continue parking on the property until they speak with the town attorney about the benefits of accepting a quitclaim deed from Dunn.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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