Shoreline Gardens v. Charles Steponkus et al. (2012)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Plaintiff initiated this action, which stems from a dispute regarding parking on a road that serves as a boundary between neighbors, by Complaint dated September 14, 2011.   Defendants, who reside together and are all members of the same family, filed an Answer, Special Defense and Counterclaim dated December 5, 2011.   On December 22, 2011, plaintiff filed a Reply to the Special Defense and Counterclaim.   Trial was held before the Court on March 27, 2012.   Defendants filed a post-trial brief dated April 7, 2012 and plaintiff filed a post-trial brief dated April 10, 2012.

Plaintiff's Complaint consists of three quiet title claims;  the first based on its alleged easement over the aforementioned road, the second on its alleged ownership interest in the road, and the third on its alleged ownership interest in a gravel parking area on its property.   Plaintiff also seeks court orders permanently enjoining defendants and their guests from interfering with plaintiff's use of the road and from entering the parking area.   Defendants' Special Defense alleges that their use of the road is permitted by statute, while their Counterclaims allege that plaintiff has obstructed the road, that such obstruction constitutes a nuisance, and seek an injunction against plaintiff obstructing the road.   Subsequent to the filing of the Complaint in this matter, the parties stipulated that judgment should enter in plaintiff's favor regarding any claims related to the gravel parking area, leaving the parties' use of road as the only issue at trial.¹

I

Findings of Fact

1. Plaintiff Shoreline Gardens, LLC is a limited liability company organized and existing under the laws of the State of Connecticut.

2. Suzanne Baker is the sole member/manager of Shoreline Gardens, LLC.

3. Shoreline Gardens, LLC purchased real property known as 31 Old Post Road in Clinton, Connecticut (hereinafter “the Shoreline Gardens property”) by warranty deed dated September 15, 2004.   Old Post Road is also known as Route 145.

4. Since the date of purchase, the Shoreline Gardens property has featured a seasonal retail garden center known as Shoreline Gardens consisting of several greenhouses and a semi-structure.   It also features a gravel parking area for customers.

5. Suzanne Baker and her husband Charles Baker reside on the Shoreline Gardens property in a single-family house that lies south of the gravel parking area.

6. Defendants Charles Steponkus, Jr. and Donna Steponkus, a married couple, purchased real property known as 35 Old Post Road in Clinton, Connecticut (hereinafter “the Steponkus property”) by warranty deed dated November 9, 2006.   The property features a single-family house.

7. The other four defendants in this matter are the adult children of Charles Steponkus, Jr. and Donna Steponkus, all of whom live with their parents in the Steponkus property.

8. The Shoreline Gardens property abuts the Steponkus property to the west, with Old Road (a/k/a Brush Hill Road # 2) serving as the boundary between the properties.

9. Old Road is a narrow two-lane road that runs north from Old Post Road and provides the only vehicular access to the parking area for Shoreline Gardens.

10. The entrance to Shoreline Gardens' parking area is less than one hundred yards up Old Road from Old Post Road. This portion of Old Road is paved, but it turns into a dirt road at the beginning of the entrance to the parking area.

11. By Order of the Court dated June 15, 1990 effectuating a Stipulation of the Parties in a zoning appeal entitled Frechette v. Clinton Planning and Zoning Commission, Judicial District of Middlesex at Middletown, Docket No. CV 90–0057095 (Higgins, J.), plaintiff was ordered to file an application with the Town of Clinton seeking “a discontinuance of the roadway bearing the name ‘Old Road’ ․” The Order also requires plaintiff to perform certain improvements “prior to the date of the Town meeting on said discontinuance.”

12. On August 19, 1992, the Town of Clinton Board of Selectmen voted to discontinue Old Road as a public highway.   The Town has not performed any maintenance on Old Road since that date.

13. There is no record of there ever having been a Town meeting approving the discontinuance of Old Road nor was there any evidence presented at trial of any subsequent transfer of ownership of Old Road.

14. Sometime after the Steponkus' purchase of their property, Charles Baker constructed a stone wall between the eastern edge of the parking area and the western edge of Old Road.

15. The northern end of the stone wall connects with an existing stone wall running along the western edge of Old Road, while the southern end of the stone wall terminates about twenty-five feet before the southern end of the parking area, leaving sufficient space for vehicles to pull in and out of the parking area.

16. The stone wall was constructed entirely on the Shoreline Gardens property and does not encroach into any existing right of way.

17. The residents of the Steponkus property and their guests frequently park their vehicles along the eastern side of Old Road, both opposite the entrance to the parking area and south thereof.   This activity not only makes it difficult for emergency vehicles and garbage trucks to access the properties on Old Road, but also interferes with access to the parking lot by Shoreline Gardens' customers and delivery vehicles.

II

Discussion of Law

Plaintiff argues that it possesses an easement over Old Road pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes § 13–55 and that defendant's use of Old Road for parking violates that easement.   In the alternative, plaintiff claims that it is the owner in fee simple of the western half of Old Road to the center line and that that defendant's use of Old Road for parking violates its ownership interest.   Defendants counter that the road was never properly discontinued by the Town, that it remains a Town road, and that parking is permitted to Town roads.   In the alternative, defendants maintain that even if Old Road is no longer a Town road, they are still permitted to park on it.

A) Is Old Road Still a Town Road?

The threshold issue before the Court is the current status of Old Road. The evidence presented at trial supports the conclusion that Old Road was not legally discontinued pursuant to § 13–49 of the General Statutes because the issue was never presented to a Town meeting as required by the statute.   However, the Town could also have abandoned, rather than discontinued, the road, which does not require a Town meeting.  “ ‘Discontinuance’ and ‘abandonment’ are not synonymous terms as applied to highways.   A highway may be extinguished by direct action through governmental agencies, in which case it is said to be discontinued;  or by nonuser [sic] by the public for a long period of time with the intent to abandon, in which case it is said to be abandoned.”  Marrin v. Spearow, 35 Conn.App. 398, 403–04 (1994).

While the 1992 vote of the Board of Selectmen to legally discontinue Old Road stands as unequivocal evidence that the Town intended to abandon Old Road, the critical issue is whether there has been nonuse by the public since 1992.   Clearly, the Old Road is still used as a road, both by the people who live on it and by Shoreline Gardens' customers and delivery persons.   Rather, the question is whether those uses are public or private.   While it can be argued that use by the people who live on Old Road, who presumably have assumed it was a private road for many years, is private, there is simply no convincing argument for the proposition that use by Shoreline Gardens' customers and delivery persons is anything but a public use.   As a result, the Court finds that the portion of Old Road between Old Post Road and the end of the stone wall marking the northern end of the entrance to the Shoreline Gardens parking lot has neither been discontinued nor abandoned by the Town and, as a result, remains a Town road.²

B) Are Defendants Permitted to Park on Old Road?

The finding that the portion of Old Road between Old Post Road and the end of the stone wall marking the northern end of the entrance to the Shoreline Gardens parking lot continues to be a Town road does not conclusively establish defendants' right to park thereon.  “The power to regulate the use of streets and highways by restrictions on the parking of vehicles is one universally recognized, and its reasonable exercise is consistently upheld.   The power is in the legislature.   It may be delegated by it to its municipal subdivisions.”  Edwards v. Hartford, 145 Conn. 141, 145 (1958).  Section 13–49 of the General Statutes provides that “[n]o person shall park or leave stationary on a public highway any vehicle in front of or so as to obstruct or interfere with the ingress or egress from any private driveway or alleyway.”   Defendants' parking along that aforementioned portion of Old Road constitutes a violation of § 13–49 of the General Statutes in view of the Court's finding that the defendants' parking along that portion of Old Road interferes with access to plaintiff's parking lot.

III

Orders

A) Judgment shall enter in favor of defendants on Counts I and II of plaintiff's Complaint.

B) Judgment shall enter in favor of plaintiff on Counts III and V of plaintiff's Complaint pursuant to the agreement of the parties.

C) Judgment shall enter in favor of plaintiff on Count IV of plaintiff's Complaint.   Defendants, their agents, servants, employees, invitees and licensees are hereby enjoined from parking any vehicles on the portion of Old Road between Old Post Road and the end of the stone wall marking the northern end of the entrance to the Shoreline Gardens parking lot.³

D) Judgment shall enter in plaintiff's favor on defendants' Counterclaims.

James W. Abrams, Judge

FOOTNOTES

FN1. Plaintiff originally sought a Temporary Injunction regarding defendants' use of the Old Road, but at a hearing on the issue, the parties reached an agreement regarding parking that would remain in effect until the Court's decision after a trial of this matter..  FN1. Plaintiff originally sought a Temporary Injunction regarding defendants' use of the Old Road, but at a hearing on the issue, the parties reached an agreement regarding parking that would remain in effect until the Court's decision after a trial of this matter.

FN2. The court would have reached this conclusion even in the absence of Clinton Zoning Enforcement Officer Thomas Lane's testimony to that effect..  FN2. The court would have reached this conclusion even in the absence of Clinton Zoning Enforcement Officer Thomas Lane's testimony to that effect.

FN3. The court makes no findings as to the status of the portion of Old Road north of the entrance to Shoreline Gardens' parking area or defendants' right to park there as such a determination has no bearing on the dispute between the parties..  FN3. The court makes no findings as to the status of the portion of Old Road north of the entrance to Shoreline Gardens' parking area or defendants' right to park there as such a determination has no bearing on the dispute between the parties.

Abrams, James W., J.