Letter To The Editor – This Used To Be Done With A Handshake

To the Editor: (submitted August 3, 2010)
We were pleased to receive the Judgment and Order by the Town of Petersburgh Court dismissing all of the allegations against us by the Petersburgh Planning Board. At the advice of legal counsel we have not commented publicly regarding the private matter of Star Ridge Way, but the Town Court’s recent ruling affords us the opportunity to clarify a number of facts surrounding this issue.
In 1988 (yes, 22 years ago) the Petersburgh Planning Board approved our plan for a five home development, including a detailed and specific private road agreement that each homeowner accepted with their deed upon purchase of their property. Because one homeowner refused to live up to this agreement and cooperate with their neighbors, we were forced to request the Rensselaer County Supreme Court to verify and uphold their deed agreements (not a suit as has been reported). Though we still await the final outcome of that matter at this time we wish to note the following:
1. The 1988 Petersburgh Planning Board approved the 5-lot subdivision which was filed in Rensselaer County that same year.
2. The 1988 Petersburgh Planning Board approved the survey map and description of the private road which would serve the five homeowners’ exclusive access to their property.
3. The 1988 Petersburgh Planning Board approved protective deed covenants as well as the private road agreement, in its entirety. The document covers virtually all necessary maintenance and responsibility issues associated with the management of the private road system clearly protecting each homeowner and even the Town of Petersburgh.
4. As presented in the private road agreement, our responsibility for the maintenance of the road ended with the sale of the last lot in 1999. Title of the road and all maintenance were to pass to the homeowners at that time.
5. It was the homeowners that requested the Town to take over Star Ridge Way in 2000-2002, not us. The Planning Board voted not to remove the Covenant that states our original intention, “The road is to remain privately owned and maintained by the owners of the five parcels.” After this time the homeowners made no other attempt to involve the Town.
In essence, our Petersburgh Planning Board approval in 1988 came with a clear understanding of the range of personal responsibilities homeowners would expect in their neighborhood. Indeed, all of the homeowners have participated cooperatively and in accordance with the road agreement until recently. Collectively, they took care of road maintenance and taxes but had not yet taken title to the road, despite our efforts to bring that about.
In 2009, one homeowner (who has resided there for 10 years) stopped honoring the deeded agreement. The other homeowners have and continue to fulfill their legal agreement with each other but are currently being prevented from performing some very necessary upkeep due to that homeowner’s threat of legal action if they do any work on the road. Although the dissenting homeowner, who serves on the Planning Board, recused himself from voting on this issue, it is curious that this private matter was even pursued by the Planning Board. The majority homeowners have no issue with us and fully intend to meet their obligations. They never requested any intervention by the Town and, in fact, asked the Town to refrain from any action regarding their private business.
Nonetheless, we are truly relieved by the ruling and wish to thank the supportive homeowners and others in the community for their faith in our insistence to seek the common ground in this matter and to compel those who commit to a legal agreement to honor it. You know… this used to be done with a handshake.
We have built over 30 homes in our town and surrounding communities and have never experienced such a distorted reaction to our good work and intentions. At Star Ridge Way we established a small neighborhood of homes, surrounded by working farms in a harmonious environment with legally binding covenants to protect everyone. It was always our intention to foster a sense of community and cooperation, to allow for the enjoyment of private property with respect for the same by everyone we worked with. What a reality check our experience with the Planning Board has been!
We write this not only to set a few facts straight but to caution the community of the turmoil that can be unleashed when individuals with an agenda have access to municipal bodies willing to carry their gripes to an extreme.
Respectfully,
Michael and Joan Buzerak
Petersburgh