Missing cul-de-sac at heart of dispute

A cul-de-sac built more than 35 years ago is at the center of a neighborhood dispute that has landed in the lap of the Springfield Select Board.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141115/NEWS02/711159963

An aerial photo shows the former cul-de-sac at the end of Park View Road in Springfield. Photo: PHOTO BY LEN EMERY Published November 15, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Missing cul-de-sac at heart of dispute By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — A cul-de-sac built more than 35 years ago is at the center of a neighborhood dispute that has landed in the lap of the Springfield Select Board. The cul-de-sac at the end of Park View Road was abandoned in recent years because of problems during snow plowing, said Public Works Director Jeffrey Strong. But after hearing from at least four neighbors, the Select Board voted to re-install the small traffic circle, but plow the road this winter using a T-turnaround across the cul-de-sac. That move brought a threat of a lawsuit from Park View resident Peter Annis, who said he had invested $5,000 in landscaping in the area of the cul-de-sac to make the road and his home look better. “Is that your land?” Select Board member David Yesman asked Annis. “No, it’s not,” Annis replied. But he maintained he only did “what the town told me to do.” Annis told the Select Board that retired Public Works Director Harry Henderson had met with him four years ago about eliminating the cul-de-sac and installing a T-turnaround, and as a result, Annis has extended his driveway across what was the cul-de-sac and installed extensive landscaping. But the board, on a 3-2 vote, directed Strong to re-install the former cul-de-sac. Voting against the move were Chairman Kristi Morris and Select Board member Stephanie Thompson. Select Board member Peter MacGillivray said he voted for re-instating the cul-de-sac because it was town property. “This isn’t over,” an agitated Annis said. Earlier in the meeting, Annis and another property owner, Florene Bishop, admitted they installed a large gate on what turned out to be town property to prohibit people from traveling onto Bishop’s fields. Bishop and Annis said they would move the gate to Bishop’s land. Town Manager Robert Forguites said Friday that the gate had been removed Thursday. “It was at the front of the cul-de-sac. They can move it to the back,” he said. He said the town would create a t-shaped turnaround with gravel at the beginning of next week for town trucks — and others — to turn around and for winter plowing. The matter of a full cul-de-sac would be revisited in the spring, he said. Annis and Bishop said people were driving into the fields causing vandalism and stealing wood, and damaged loggers’ property. Strong said plowing cul de sacs is problematic, since the driver is often “chasing” snow around the circle. A t-turnaround, or “hammerhead,” end to the road was created to solve that problem, Strong said. But the t-end to the road has created problems for neighbors, who said that as a result, cars and trucks — including the town’s plow truck, use the end of their driveways to turn around. And Strong conceded that the town likely damaged the end of the driveway belonging to Ted and Ruth Cody. At one point, Strong said he had “inherited” the problem. Ted Cody said that the area “looks very different” with the shrubs and lawn Annis had installed. “But there needs to be a place to turn around,” he said. Ruth Cody said it wasn’t just the town truck that turned around in their driveway, but garbage trucks and other vehicles. Another neighbor, Nicholas Weiss, said some trucks have to back down a half mile because there is no place to turn around. Town Manager Robert Forguites said the cul-de-sac was the original design when Park View Road was first developed, and the land under the end of the road was deeded to the town. “The gate is illegal,” he said. “It’s across a town road.”