THETFORD — Town officials have come to an agreement with former gubernatorial candidate and longtime Thetford resident Ruth Dwyer on the removal of a 60-by-24 wall she built to block her view of a newly constructed home across the road.
Dwyer has agreed to remove the structure, which the town says violates zoning rules, on her Sawnee Bean Road property by Nov. 1, according to a settlement agreement filed with the state’s environmental court. The agreement, dated Sept. 14, was signed by Dwyer and members of the town’s Selectboard.
If she fails to remove the wall by Nov. 1, Dwyer will face a penalty of $200 for each day the wall remains in place. In addition, the town reserves its right to take Dwyer to court if the wall is not removed on time.
Created during court-ordered mediation, the agreement settles a nearly yearlong dispute between Dwyer and town officials.
“This situation is slowly starting to resolve itself,” said Patrick Perry, Dwyer’s Sawnee Bean Road neighbor who was not involved in the agreement. “I hope that this thing can come down and we can go on with life like normal.”
Perry contacted town officials after the wall — built from utility poles and green fabric — went up last fall. He recalled thinking, “Is this some sort of a joke or normal behavior in Thetford at Halloween? … When you look at this beautiful farmhouse one day and the next day there’s this giant thing, it’s really jarring when that first happens.”
Perry and his family moved to Thetford and became Dwyer’s neighbors about two years ago. Until the wall went up, Perry said, he was unaware that Dwyer disliked her view of his home.
“(The wall) always certainly felt very unwelcoming and, I guess, very unneighborly,” Perry said. “It creates an atmosphere that you never intended or wanted to be a part of.”
In November, Zoning Administrator Mary Ellen Parkman determined that since the wall exceeded 10 feet in height, it required a permit. The town in February rejected Dwyer’s after-the-fact permit application and began assessing fees of $200 per day on March 12.
The fees, which total in the tens of thousands of dollars, will be waived “if the wall comes down,” Parkman said in an email Monday.
Dwyer, who did not return voice messages left at her home Monday and Tuesday, expressed her frustration with the town’s actions in letters this spring. She accused town officials of adopting the policy establishing the $200-per-day fine specifically to target her.
The Selectboard approved the fee in late February after it was determined that Dwyer was violating zoning rules.
Also in letters to the town, Dwyer said she was exploring other ways to block her view of the Perrys’ home, including a solar array, a pole barn for hay storage and a 9- to 10-foot-high “privacy screen that adequately blocks the television-light pollution emanating across the road.”
Dwyer, a former Republican state legislator, challenged then-Gov. Howard Dean in 1998 and 2000. As a politician, Dwyer often championed private-property rights and opposed civil unions for gay couples.
Town officials have said the fine policy was not intended to target Dwyer. The zoning bylaws reference such a policy, but it wasn’t formalized until February.
Calls and an email to Selectboard Chairman Stuart Rogers on Monday and Tuesday were not returned by deadline.
In addition to the “unwelcoming” and “unneighborly” qualities of the wall, Perry said he worried the structure would affect his property value. Upon visiting his home, a Realtor told Perry potential buyers likely would be scared away by “such an imposing presence.”
Asked whether he plans to sell his home, Perry said he wasn’t sure, but when the wall comes down, “I think (we’ll) feel better about being here.”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
