MORRISTOWN — A dispute over property boundaries between a prominent developer in Morristown and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post has the latter crying foul over plans for a new, mixed-use development on a vacant lot in the village of Morrisville.
Sam Hannigan, commander of the Lamoille County Veterans of Foreign Wars, said his organization is intent on stopping developer Graham Mink, and Mink’s brother-in-law, Dakota Dubie, from building a surface parking lot for their Pleasant Street project.
That’s because the parking lot would, as the VFW sees it, be built on land that the veterans’ organization claims it owns.
The debate — which also involves the town zoning administrator and has turned increasingly contentious — highlights tensions around new development playing out in many of Vermont’s small, rural towns amid a statewide housing crisis.
Earlier this year, a limited liability company registered in Dubie’s name got town approval for the development, which would include 20 housing units and one commercial unit. In accordance with town zoning bylaws, the plans called for 21 parking spaces, which would have been located in a garage underneath the building. But Mink said it’s no longer financially viable for him to build the underground parking.
And, he said, there isn’t enough room on the site to put as many parking spaces outside the building. So Mink proposed a deal with the VFW last year: expand the organization’s existing, adjacent parking lot to accommodate cars from both the future mixed-use building and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Hannigan and other VFW leaders were initially on board, they said, noting the plan would have given them seven more spots than they have today. But after consulting with more members, Hannigan said, the organization decided to tell Mink, “no.”
“It would never work,” he said. “There’s no way we’d be able to keep people off of his side and he’d be able to keep people off of our side. It’d be a never-ending battle.”
Todd Thomas, Morristown’s zoning administrator, told VTDigger that Hannigan’s concerns about sharing a parking lot “are understandable.” He said survey results have shown the developer’s lot is likely smaller — and thus, the VFW’s property larger — than the developer may have originally known. But since previous uses at the site have made its boundary “really messy,” he said, identifying the exact line may require a day in court.
VFW members said they have felt pressure from Mink and Thomas to accept the developer’s parking lot proposal.
In interviews, Mink and Thomas strongly denied having pressured the VFW in any way. Mink characterized the VFW’s comments as an effort to torpedo the entire project, which he said is an important step toward addressing a regional housing shortage.
But in an email sent this month to Hannigan, which was reviewed by VTDigger, Thomas appeared to warn Hannigan that going to court against Mink would be a bad idea.
“I think it is important to know what you are potentially signing yourselves up for,” Thomas wrote on Aug. 9. “Graham’s Attorney is also the Town’s Attorney, and we call her ‘the terminator’ in the Town offices because she disembowels people in Court. So you will need to have a very good attorney fighting back on behalf of the VFW.”
Thomas also quoted the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, writing: “Per the famous ‘Art of War’ quote that says ‘every battle is won before it is fought,’ you need to have a really good plan before you get to Court in VT if you hope to prevail there.”
Hannigan said that, between this email and a phone call he had with Thomas previously, he felt Thomas was trying to dissuade him from a course of action that could end up in court, which Hannigan said is inappropriate for a public official to do.
In an email Tuesday responding to a reporter’s question, Thomas wrote that any notion he was trying to sway one party’s opinion with his Aug. 9 email was devoid of context, adding that everything in the message to Hannigan was “factually accurate.”
“It is almost always far better for property owners to work together than to go to Court to resolve differences,” Thomas wrote to VTDigger this week.
Mink said he has never threatened legal action against the VFW, though in an interview he acknowledged that, if he wanted to build surface parking over the organization’s wishes, he believes he could have a claim against it for adverse possession of property.
“I don’t want to fight with anybody,” Mink said, speaking to a reporter on a conference call with Dubie on the other line. “The VFW is a great organization — one that I’ve supported in the past — and I’d love to work together with them.”
“But again, you kind of run into this NIMBYism, I guess you could call it,” he added. “No one wants (new housing) next door to them, so it makes it really difficult.”
Several VFW members said they thought that Dubie’s plans were too large for the size of the lot, and said they would support a smaller building with fewer units.
Thomas said in an interview that the town government supports housing development and would rather not see an empty lot in the village stay empty. In an email to Hannigan, he also noted that Morristown needs tax revenue from new projects to grow its grand list. (The town’s municipal finances have been a source of controversy this year, with residents voting down two budget proposals, and a third vote slated for later this month.)
This isn’t the first time Thomas has come under fire for the role he’s played in reviewing development projects. Earlier this year, community members criticized Thomas for appearing to sidestep Vermont’s Open Meeting Law during a visit to a project site.
The zoning administrator said Mink is a polarizing figure in Morristown for his push to build new homes, including what is likely the town’s largest-ever housing complex.
Several members of the VFW post said last week they plan to dig in their heels. They have marked out a line where they intend to build a 6-foot-tall fence to denote what they believe is the property line between the post and the project site.
The organization, which boasts several hundred members, offers support and social services for local veterans, and regularly hosts community events in its banquet hall. It is also “the cheapest bar in town,” members noted on a recent afternoon.
VFW member Don Waterhouse of Hyde Park said in an interview that he thinks it would be a bad look for Mink to sue the veterans’ organization.
“If he takes us to court,” Waterhouse said, “he might as well take the whole community to court.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the expected timing of Morristown’s third budget vote.
