BETHEL — A Main Street resident asked selectmen Monday night to seek voter approval for an easement so she can park on town property being considered for a veterans monument.
Interim Town Manager Steve Eldridge said the town acquired the lot for nonpayment of taxes and was 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 property, sent a letter to selectmen saying she has used the property for “quite some time and hope to do so in the future.”
She said she has no other parking options except for on-street parking.
She asked selectmen to allow her to park on the lot into 2015 and place an article on the 2015 town meeting warrant providing for sale of a driveway easement.
“The situation is far from ideal, and I realize that it is not the town’s responsibility to provide me with a driveway,” Mills wrote. “If my current parking arrangement can continue into next year, it will provide ample time to explore alternatives, which includes construction of a driveway on the north side of my home, identification of my northern boundary and removal of encroachments placed by others on my property.”
Selectman Don Bennett said it “makes more sense for the town to work out some kind of a deal to have (Mills) keep parking there. If there’s no place for her to park, she’ll end up parking on the street, and that’ll be problematic in the winter.”
Several members of the veterans memorial committee were dissatisfied that it has taken the selectmen so long to solve the property issue.
One resident said he was worried that fundraising support of the new veterans memorial would fizzle out if they didn’t get started on the project soon.
“Who’s going to want to throw their support behind a project that has no momentum?” he asked. “We’re all going to be dead before it’s built.”
Selectman Peter Southam said he would be willing to give Mills another two weeks to explore alternatives, but he didn’t want to wait for another month or two.
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