Larry Drown Acting Without Counsel Sues Northfield, Two Others, Requests Damages of Nearly $3,000,000

Photo by Rob Wills, The Northfield News Larry Drown has complained that the new flower boxes installed by Martha Mahan of MJM Properties restricts his ability to bring trucks down the road to his property and in a lawsuit against the town and MJM states that they were maliciously placed there making him entitled to damages until removed. Larry Drown together with two other people that are allegedly land owners of the old Dupere saw mill site off Wall Street and a fourth that claims injuries from a fall, have sued the town of Northfield.

Their suit, filed without counsel, has also been brought against MJM Properties, LLC [MJM], the owner of the former railroad property that abuts the plaintiff's property and Northfield Wood Products, Inc., the tenant of a portion of the property owned by MJM.

Last year, Mr. Drown filed a protest with the Environmental Court over the application by MJM to re-develop the engine house built in 1855. That building is the last remaining original railroad building in Northfield which was part of the railroad repair and maintenance operation from the 19th century.

Photo by Rob Wills, The Northfield News Larry Drown claims in his lawsuit that this property is three lots and he sold two of them. The State says they are one lot and have never been subdivided.The town is suing Mr. Drown and the new owners for zoning violations. The engine house is being completely restored by MJM and will be used as offices and a warehouse for RH Associates.

Before they could start construction, Mr. Drown filed a protest to the project. He claimed in his appeal that he had 32 areas of concern but each was ultimately rejected.

Mr. Drown was also the spearhead behind an Act 250 action which ultimately helped to doom the redevelopment of the old Cross Brothers [later Centrangolo] stone shed sight on North Main Street.

Mr. Drown claims in his lawsuit that he owned three separate properties which together, comprise the Politti, Pellagi and Delia properties.

Both the Polittis and Pellagis had stone sheds in Northfield during the early 20th century. The Pellagi shed burned in the 1930's.

The property which is the subject of the lawsuit is what is commonly known as the "saw mill site" which was owned by J.L. Dupere and Max Berno and was a saw mill from 1933 until it burned in 1984.

Larry Drown purchased the property in 2005 and was described as a 1.4 acre site without any buildings. Shortly after he purchased the property, he filed an application to build a 60 x 100 foot commercial building which was approved and the building was constructed.

Then, in 2007, he filed a second application to build a 14 x 70 foot mobile home and filed a sketch show- ing that the land had been subdivided into two lots. The application was denied.

Furthermore, the Natural Resources Board found that the lot had never been legally subdivided and there was never an application filed either with the Agency of Natural Resources or the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Furthermore, the News could find no application with local authorities for the subdivision of this land.

The only other transaction that could be found was a deed executed in 2008 which settled a boundary dispute with Mr. Drown and increased the size of the land to 1.79 acres, all as one parcel.

In an action last January before the Natural Resources Board, the board found that there was no evidence that the land had been two separate lots or that it was ever subdivided into two lots.

The board found that in order for Mr. Drown to develop the property, he had to comply with Act 250 requirements before he could construct any building.

So far as the News could determine, he has never made any such filing.

Mr. Drown claims in his lawsuit that the land constitutes three individual parcels and that he has deeded two of them to plaintiffs Jake Dorman and Kenneth Strong who have joined in the lawsuit.

Just prior to the filing of this lawsuit against the town by Mr. Drown, Mr. Dorman and Mr. Strong, the alleged new landowners were added to an action which was earlier brought by the town against Mr. Drown alone for zoning violations. Because the other men, Jake Dorman and Kenneth Strong now are named in deeds which claim they are landowners, the town had to add them to the zoning lawsuit according to papers filed by the Town of Northfield in zoning lawsuit.

This new lawsuit by Mr. Drown and the others also claims that Jason Law, a fourth plaintiff, was injured on property owned by MJM and leased to Northfield Wood Products.

The suit claims that he was injured on November 25, 2008 within "25 feet of [a] telephone pole . . . on property leased to Northfield Wood Products."

The suit relates that Mr. Law was airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock hospital.

The lawsuit claims that MJM deliberately and maliciously put up barricades which created a swamp and this caused Mr. Law's injuries when he allegedly had to travel through the swamp to get to his property. He is claiming $2.5 million in damages.

Martha Mahan, one of the principals of MJM said that they have installed planter boxes as part of the landscaping on the old railroad property.

She said that Mr. Drown complained that the planter boxes kept him from being able to navigate trailer trucks onto his property.

She said that if that were true, it would keep trucks from being able to get into the old engine house as well. The allegation is silly, she said.

He's a "CAVE man," she said, a "Citizen Against Virtually Everything, who now is, like Don Quixote, assaulting planter boxes."

"Just as he attempted to stop our redevelopment of the engine house, he's now attempting to keep us from landscaping," she said.

In reality, "it's taxpayer dollars that will have to be used to defend this latest assault," she added since the town will have to pay the legal bills to defend the lawsuit brought by Mr. Drown and the others