Saugus feud over private way parking heads to mediation

SAUGUS – When Dennis and Joyce Toto built their home on Charnwood Drive eight years ago, neighbors along Basswood Drive welcomed them with open arms.But when construction on the home and private way was completed, that neighborly feeling quickly turned sour, as the Totos took issue with abutters parking on Charnwood, claiming the road isn’t wide enough to accommodate emergency vehicles.”When we built the street, we went to all the neighbors and asked if they had any issues ?” said Joyce Toto. “And my neighbors didn’t want a lot of the trees cut down, which I could totally understand, so we made the street minimum width, which is 24 feet. It could be wider, but nobody wanted the trees taken down, which is fine. But nobody ever said they wanted to park there. The fact of the matter is, when somebody parks there, they’re blocking the fire access.”Now the Totos and neighbor Rita Martineau are in court to settle the matter.”This has been a real tough period for me,” Martineau said. “Being in a lawsuit they initiated has killed me financially. It’s killed me physically. I started out very friendly with them, helping them as much as I could and it turned into a nasty, horrible, I don’t even know what you would want to call it.”Kevin Geaney, who is representing the Totos, said his clients have offered several solutions to the problem, including a plan to widen the road and providing additional off-street parking for Martineau. Geaney said these alternatives would be paid for fully by the Totos.”All these streets are narrow,” said Geaney. “All these streets have safety issues and the Totos cared about it. It mattered to them. When these people started parking there and using it ? the Totos said, ‘Wait a minute. No. We set this up for a specific purpose to provide safe access to our house.'”Martineau, however, said she rarely parks on the private way and that widening the road would cut into part of her property.”I’ve been an abutter for 30 years,” Martineau said. “I don’t need to park there very often, but when I do I feel I should be able to. I want peace in my life, I want this court case to be over with because it has just about drained me. The past five years has been hell.”In 2008, the Totos went before the Board of Selectmen to try and settle the matter, but the Board voted to take no action. Town Counsel John Vasapolli said the town doesn’t enforce parking on the road because it’s a private way.”The town is not involved with it because it’s private property,” Vasapolli said. “The abutters own to the middle. This issue’s been going on for several years. Because it’s a private way, the town doesn’t enforce parking regulations down there because it’s like someone’s driveway. It’s a driveway owned by all the abutters.”When the road was first built by the Totos, it measured 24 feet wide. After the town put in drainage berms on each side, it was reduced to 22 feet. According to Geaney, if the abutters on either corner of Charnwood park there at the same time, “you’d have trouble getting a Harley Davidson up it.”Martineau is currently allowed to park on Charnwood at a designated spot 20 feet from the corner of Basswood after a judge granted her access. But with the dispute still in litigation, Toto said she thinks there are other reasons why the issue has dragged on all these years.”She definitely has a legal right to do that right now,” Toto said. “Then the courts will decide. There are some people in this town who get enjoyment from things that confuse me a little. There’s a lot of personal animosity.”The Totos and Martineau go to mediation sometime in September and Martineau said she’s looking forward to the issue coming to end, no matter how the court decides.”I’m trusting the court will, in fairness, make the right decision,” Martineau said. “Which I will abide by no matter what it is because that’s how I do things.”