Town officials on Monday will consider approval of a non-monetary settlement in a dispute involving Pastures Lane neighbors.
The driveway gate at 78 Pastures Lane on Nov. 24, 2024. Credit: Michael Dinan
Multiple lawsuits have been filed since the town in 2024 issued a permit for a driveway gate at 78 Pastures Lane. That property, and an adjacent one at number 92, are owned by a Delaware-based limited liability company. In addition to the gate, neighbors have objected to stockade and deer fencing that appeared on the properties, saying the fencing violates local zoning regulations.
The dead-end lane, a cul-de-sac of seven (soon-to-be eight) homes, runs south off of Silvermine Road between Canoe Hill and Valley Roads.
Under an agreement that the Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to consider at its 7 p.m. meeting, the driveway gate—still in dispute in state Superior Court following a successful ZBA appeal by neighbors—would remain while “certain landscaping modifications” would be made.
The stockade fence on Pastures Lane. Contributed
The agreement, which requires the town’s signature on behalf of the ZBA, is separate from a second agreement between neighbors and the property ownership company, RKVN LLC, regarding the fencing. Under the latter, the LLC will “[r]emove the existing stockade fencing” in two areas while installing deer fencing as well as evergreen trees.
After a 3,000-square-foot house is constructed at 74 Pastures Lane, RKVN is to “use reasonable efforts to discuss…the plantings they intend to install” with its new neighbor.
“The Parties understand that RKVN’s obligations with the plantings will only be to plant such trees that will match those originally planting with the understanding that over time, they will grow as those that have been planted,” the proposed agreement says. “It shall be understood that it may be difficult to find trees that are currently of the same size and width.”
The landscaping work would start this spring and wrap up by June, under the proposed agreement. All active litigation related to the properties is to be withdrawn. The town has spent about $12,000 in legal fees on the matter, according to bills approved by the Board of Selectmen at its June 17 and Dec. 16 meetings.