HATFIELD — A lawsuit filed in Hampshire Superior Court this week contends that Hatfield Town Meeting action last November to take easements for construction of a raw sewage pumping station at a Route 5 property was illegal and should be reconsidered by voters.
John McLaughlin, an attorney with Greens, Miles, Lipton LLP of Northampton, said Wednesday that the lawsuit against the Hatfield Select Board on behalf of Susan Berry comes because the easements on the property she owns at 34-36 West St. are invalid after only 45 voters were present at the Nov. 21 meeting.
Although the Select Board voted to reduce the quorum requirements for Town Meeting due to the pandemic, McLaughlin said the meeting had insufficient participation because the state attorney general’s office was not notified in advance about the reduction from the legally required 75 voters. The meeting also was problematic because Berry was not properly notified about actions that would be taken at the Town Meeting, the lawsuit alleges.
“She didn’t know about it until after it was done, and that’s a real problem,” McLaughlin said.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the vote was not lawful and injunctive relief against the town proceeding with a permanent easement of 1,100 square feet at 34 West St. and temporary construction easement of 250 square feet at the same site. Those are both part of a $3.6 million water and sewer infrastructure improvement project along the state highway being supported by a MassWorks grant. The project will extend sewer service on Route 5 from Linseed to Rocks roads, and water service for 2,200 feet along Route 5 south of Rocks Road.
“Through this civil action the plaintiff respectfully asks this court to declare the vote invalid because it violated both state law and the town’s bylaws, primarily because the legally required quorum was not present at the town meeting,” the lawsuit states.
It also leaves open the possibility of monetary damages related to potential eminent domain and takings of Berry’s property.
McLaughlin said Berry would like to do the vote over so that she and engineers can make an appeal that the sewage pumping station be on the west side of the road rather than next to The Waxwing Cafe, a restaurant that leases the space Berry owns and which could affect the restaurant and its outdoor dining.
The lawsuit names as defendants the three Select Board members, Chairwoman Diana Szynal, Edmund Jaworski and Brian Moriarty, who changed the quorum guidelines, allegedly without giving proper public notice, and allegedly failed to inform the state’s attorney general’s office within 10 days of the vote to change.
Town Administrator Marlene Michonski said the town would not comment on pending litigation.
Berry, who lives on Old Stage Road in West Hatfield, maintains she was unaware Town Meeting was taking up easements on her property.
The lawsuit alleges that Berry was sent a letter from Town Hall in October, but that it was sent to the Waxwing, her business address, rather than her home address. The letter requested Berry donate a permanent easement and a temporary construction easement, but didn’t inform her that a special Town Meeting could take the property by eminent domain.
Berry didn’t see the contents of the letter until after the Town Meeting, when she went to Town Hall in mid-January, and even after conversations with an employee of the Hatfield Department of Public Works and the engineering company, was not aware a project could be proceeding soon.
“If the defendants had informed her about that [Town] meeting, she would have attended with legal and engineering experts who would have made compelling arguments to her fellow citizens not to take her property by eminent domain,” the lawsuit states.
McLaughlin said this may be the best option if the town responds that it will bring the topic back to a Town Meeting warrant.
“We would love for that to occur,” McLaughlin said.
“If they keep pushing forward, what they’re doing is at risk to taxpayers of Hatfield,” McLaughlin said. “All we want is a chance to go before her fellow citizens and say please put it on the other side.”
