[C]HARLOTTE – Residents of one of Vermont’s wealthiest towns are calling on the selectboard to address what they say are problems at two abandoned properties valued together at more than $4 million.
Neighbors near two vacant homes say the parcels are spreading poison parsnip into adjacent lots, creating rodent problems, and are the site of noisy parties, all of which are harming neighboring property values.
Both of the homes have ties to the Abeles, the wealthiest family in Vermont.
The selectboard, however, appears to have stalled in taking action after the owners had overgrown lawns brush hogged.
The issue was first raised to the selectboard during public comment when residents turned out to a June 3 meeting. The item was placed on the agenda for June 24, and almost 20 people turned out to call for an ordinance to address the deteriorating homes, one at 102 Stockbridge Road and the other at 353 Island Farm Road.
Dean Bloch, Charlotte’s town administrator, began the discussion by telling residents the zoning administration had found an ordinance for St. Albans City that addresses abandoned properties.
“I think there’s a possibility some of that restrictiveness and specificity may be considered, in Charlotte, perhaps overly restrictive,” he said. “I think the devil’s in the details.”
Bloch said there is a covenant that the property at 102 Stockbridge Road has to be maintained with the “character” of the neighborhood. He said the owner pays property taxes.
Chuck DesLauriers, who lives to the adjacent property on Stockbridge Road, told the selectboard he has noticed bobcats on the porch, loud parties held at the “eyesore” house and parsnip growing into his yard.
Wild or poison parsnip is common on roadsides and unmaintained areas in Vermont, and contact with the sap from its flowers can cause burns to the skin, rashes and blisters.
“We’re appealing to the town to give us assistance because as neighbors we’ve tried literally everything to encourage the owners of that property to maintain it properly,” he said.
The property located at 102 Stockbridge Road is currently owned by Katie Gilley, who is listed at an address in New Hampshire, town records show. She paid $9,636 in taxes for the 5.5 acre parcel, which is assessed on the grand list at $525,200. The two-story, wooden house is set back from the road and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fireplace.
The home was originally built in 1987 and changed ownership twice before being sold for $442,500 in 2000 to Alexander and Heather Abele, property records show. Gilley is married to Heather Abele’s brother, Matthew Maloney, according to The Charlotte News.
An undated photo of the house, likely in the early 2000s, shows it had white clapboard siding and a manicured lawn.
The home was one of the first four of approximately 20 in the development. The neighborhood has a homeowners’ association, but that house does not belong and is therefore not subject to its bylaws since the house was built before the association was created.
An update to the property’s listing record after an inspection in 2011 noted that the house was “vacant” and “looks abandoned.”
Documents show the supposedly vacant parcel remained the Abeles’ property until it was sold to Gilley for $559,850 in April 2016.
Alex Abele is the son of John Abele, the co-founder of Boston Scientific, a medical device company. John Abele, 82, has a net worth of $640 million and was named the richest person in Vermont, according to Forbes magazine. Now retired, he resides in Shelburne. Attempts to contact John were unsuccessful. John’s wife, Mary, fell ill a few years ago.
DesLauriers said he pursued legal action against the Abeles for neglecting the property, and entered into a settlement. The agreement included standards for maintenance, but none were followed before the property was sold, he said.
Efforts by the neighbors to contact Gilley, the new owner, have been unsuccessful, they said.
“It’s basically all of the houses in the neighborhood have been very well kept and this house has been let to completely deteriorate,” DesLauriers said.
A visit to the site in late August showed a home that had seen better days. Thick brush and grass has sprouted up around the building, which has grey plastic covering up some windows. The paint is peeling or completely gone on most of the wooden siding. Vegetation around the structure is so overgrown that much of the front of the house is obscured from the road.
Residents also complained to the selectboard about the property at 353 Island Farm Road.
Ginny Paton, who lives on nearby Lake Road, said poison parsnip and parties have also been an issue at that home. It is located on a long, private drive and not visible from the roadway, but an abandoned truck can be seen near the entrance of the driveway.
Paton told the selectboard a lien on the house or raising the owner’s tax rate wouldn’t have any effect on coercing them into action.
“If you’re talking to someone who has more money than God, and really doesn’t care, how do you address that particular person,” she said.
The property includes a three-bedroom home with 7,755 square feet situated on 10.5 acres with a pool on the shoreline of Lake Champlain. It is assessed at $3.5 million and the owner paid more than $59,000 in taxes this year.
Who that owner is, however, is unclear. Charlotte property records and tax bills list the parcel in the possession of the Converse Bay Realty Trust. Documents show the home was built in 2004 and took a few years to complete.
The trust, which was created in Boston, purchased the parcel for $1.5 million in 2002. It was acquired from another trust under the name of Fatima Al Fahd Al Salim Al Sabah, who owns a single property in Charlotte and is believed to be a member of the ruling family of Kuwait.
Residents said at the selectboard meeting that the Abeles, who have ties to the Boston area, built the home and lived there in the past. The property tax return notes it was sold to the tenant at the time.
One neighbor said the Abeles used to summer in Charlotte but she hasn’t seen them in years.
Residents at the June 24 selectboard meeting discussed possible approaches the town could take to compel the owners to maintain their property.
James Barker told the selectboard the neighbors have done everything they could without success.
“Our only remedy, that I can think of, is that the town step in and protect our rights as property owners,” he said.
Barker said he thinks the owners of the two parcels do not care.
“We are the victims of these people’s very expensive trash,” he said.
The idea for an ordinance on abandoned properties prompted discussion from the selectboard.
Selectboard vice chair Frank Tenney said it could potentially impact other homeowners in the town.
“When we do an ordinance it’s for the whole town, so it affects everybody,’ he said.
Board member Fritz Tegatz said he noticed about seven to eight houses that could fit into the category of being abandoned because of deterioration. He said he thinks the issue is a conflict “between rural and urban.”
“I struggle trying to find any kind of rule which you can apply fair and evenly to everybody, because that’s what we have to do as a selectboard,” Tegatz said. “We can’t pick different neighborhoods over others to apply different standards.”
Charlotte is an affluent community located just 25 minutes south of Burlington in Chittenden County. The median household income is $117,400, placing it one of the highest in the state, according to the U.S. Census. The town of 3,700 contains a mix of sprawling lakeside estates, smaller homes and farms.
After hearing the resident concerns, selectboard chair Matt Krasnow said he was open to looking into and examining an ordinance but didn’t want to set “unrealistic expectations.”
“I think this one would reach so deep into kind of the community fabric, the status quo of people’s property rights, that it would take some time to present and advance,” he said.
Krasnow said the selectboard could probably draft a letter to the Abeles and the other owner, telling them the town is considering a “public health and safety ordinance” and asking them to discuss the situation.
Tegatz suggested a citizen could take out an ad in the local newspaper where the out-of-state owners live to shame them into addressing the property.
When the selectboard reconvened for a meeting on July 8, Krasnow had an update.
The landowners of the Island Farm Road property, who were not identified, came into Town Hall in late June, spoke with the assistant clerk and “had some questions” that could not all be answered because the town administrator was out. No contact information was left.
Krasnow said during selectboard updates that he went to the property later that afternoon to see if the owners were still around. He encountered them and had an “informal discussion” on the porch.
“They are not interested in having a public appearance in any form, they want to maintain their privacy,” he said.
Krasnow said the selectboard should notify the owners as a courtesy if future agenda items pertain to them. He said he was told the overgrown vegetation at the Stockbridge Road property would be attended to soon by the new owners.
“The property had been brush hogged when I was there, so something had happened,” he said of the Island Farm Road home.
The driveway at 353 Island Farm Road no longer appears as overgrown as residents described. But at 102 Stockbridge Road, it is unclear if any maintenance to the lawn has occurred.
Bloch, the town administrator, said in an interview that he believes improvements to the overgrown lawns have been made at both homes by the owners.
He said the improvements seem to have addressed the situation and that abandoned properties are not a “burning issue” in Charlotte.
“Those two properties really are kind of unusual, so at this point the selectboard has not done any work on an ordinance and I think it seems like they’re not going to,” he said.
But Tegatz said in an interview that the selectboard determined the properties to be a “pretty complex issue” and have prioritized other matters, but expect to re-examine an ordinance next year after budget season.
He said residents have not brought further complaints to the selectboard and have an understanding that the “unresolved” issue will take time to address.
“You’d like to think in a small town like this that your neighbor would have a little more self-respect or a little more thought for his or her neighbors rather than let it become an eyesore and a health hazard,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the number of properties in Charlotte owned by Fatima Al Fahd Al Salim Al Sabah. She has one.
