Newly Discovered Documents Dispute Town's Ownership Claim

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News: Pottle Street Land Dispute

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Paperwork Suggests Town Sold Land to Family 27 Years Ago
Newly Discovered Documents Dispute Town's Ownership Claim

By Dan Sapir and Dennis Randall

Glen and Sharon Davis review a newly discovered land plan which they believe provides proof that they, and not the town, own a section of the Pottle Street Field Project. Dennis Randall Photo

The troubled Pottle Street ballfield project encountered yet another obstacle which could eliminate one field from the final project. Documents discovered last week by Glen and Sharon Davis, abutters to the fields, put in question the town’s claim of ownership to a portion of the project.

The town has given the Davis’ until the end of this month to remove all personal property from a barn they had believed they owned. The barn is slated for demolition by the town to make way for a soccer field. Until the documents were discovered the Davis Family had no way to dispute the town’s claim. Both Anthony and Jeanette Bettencourt, original owners of the barn and parents of Sharon Davis, had passed away years ago. Sharon Davis told the Observer that, "I had no one to ask, my parents had died, I believed the town when they told me that the land belonged to Kingston and not to my family. I didn’t think they would lie about something like that."

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Davis said that on Mother’s Day, "I was feeling very down. I missed my Mom and decided to spend some time going through a box of her personal effects. It was then that I came across a packet of documents relating to the barn and the sale of the land."

Ironically, what Davis found were documents indicating that the Selectmen had apparently offered to sell the land to her father in 1975 for the sum of $4,000. It appears that the offer was accepted when Bettencourt submitted a $4,000 check to the Selectmen’s Office on July 3, 1975. A receipt was issued by the Selectmen’s Executive Secretary Bernard A Marvin. The Observer contacted Marvin in Haverhill, New Hampshire and provided him with a faxed transmission of the receipt. Although he did not recall the 27 year old transaction, he confirmed that it was indeed his signature. "The fact that my signature appears on the receipt clearly indicates that the transaction took place", said Marvin.

Further, a July 16, 1975 letter confirms a transaction was taking place and responded favorably to Bettencourt’s desire to "square off" the parcel thus adding and additional 200 square feet to the parcel.

The final piece of correspondence provided by Davis was another Selectmen’s letter dated November 19, 1976 indicated that the sale had occurred. They requested a plan of the land in order to record the deed. It is not clear at this time what action followed.
The Davis’ presented the town with a demand order to cease all work on the disputed land until there is a resolution. Sharon Davis said Town Administrator Kevin Donovan chided her for the 11th hour discovery and reportedly shrugged giving no indication of what action he would take. Glen Davis said Ballfield Chairman Ted Alexiades told him that there were a few selectmen who would love to see him spend all his money and lose the land in the end, a statement Alexiades denies.

Alexiades told the Observer that there is no stop work order. The work will shift to another location. "If we find the land is theirs, we’ll work around it. We all need to take a deep breath and calm down. I don’t doubt that the Davis’ believe their claim to be true."

The town has a troubled history with building demolitions. In the late 80’s the town illegally demolished a Rocky Nook home resulting in a $3 million judgment for the homeowners. The town was weeks away from carrying out its plan to demolish the Davis’ barn that sits on the disputed parcel.

Townhouse insiders question how the Selectmen had the authority to convey town property without Town Meeting action. They also point out that the Marvin receipt was written on a plain piece of paper. Marvin says there is nothing unusual about that citing that things were more informal back then. Others are skeptical as to whether the check was ever cashed and questioned if it was received as payment for the subject property.

Selectman Olly DeMacedo said "If the land is theirs then I’m glad they found out now. The rightful ownership needs to be established. With this kind of revelation, the questions raised cannot be ignored." DeMacedo is also a member of the Ballfield Committee.

As the Observer was going to press, sources indicate that town officials are scrambling to locate records that would refute the Davis’ claim. Sharon Davis said the burden should be on the town, and pointed out that her family has been paying taxes on the property for as long as she can remember. Glen Davis said the town agreed to remove equipment and a storage container from the property. He is concerned that the well for the sprinkler system may be located on his land. "I get the feeling that some of these people knew about the land question all along" said Davis.

If the parties cannot come to an agreement, the case could end up in land court. The Davis case could be bolstered by virtue of their use of the land for over 25 years. If the land was purchased and the deed was never recorded, an act some believe should have been done by both parties, it would not be fatal. The fact is that this matter remains essentially between the Bettencourt heirs and the Town, the original and only parties of record.

Sources tell us that there is a lot more to this story then is immediately available, the story just having broken hours before press time. We will be following and updating the story online at this website.

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