The Primrose Grange building at 313 Grange Road.
NORTH SMITHFIELD - Brothers Douglas and Daniel Keene have a plan to save one of the oldest buildings in town by rehabilitating it and turning it into a rental property.
They've already installed a septic system as part of the project, and are looking at plans for parking in the small lot beside it.
There's just one problem: the Keenes have built the septic system on a neighboring parcel that likely doesn't belong to them. It is, in fact, a historic cemetery.
Moreover, any parking would have to be located on the neighboring lot as well.
And now, neighbors are questioning why the developers were allowed to build on the cemetery lot, and accusing town officials of colluding with the Keenes, and attempting to "give" the brothers land that they did not own to help the project along.
The property, known as the Primrose Grange at 313 Grange Road, is believed to have been built around 1889, and was historically used as a meeting hall for the Grange, an organization of local farmers. A second floor was added to the original building in the 1950s, and club members continued to meet monthly at the property until recent years.
With membership down to just three or four in regular attendance, the club decided to disband, and offered the historic building to the town around the year 2010. But Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton turned down the offer.
"The town had no money to support or restore it," explained Town Planner Robert Ericson.
While the building has some historical value, Ericson points out that at just 2,581 square feet, the land the Grange was built on is a substandard lot, and the property needs extensive restoration work, such as repairs to a leaky roof.
The Keene brothers purchased the Grange building in 2012 for $7,500, in part, they say, because of sentimental value it held for them.
"Our parents met there as 18-year-olds," explained Douglas. The elder Keenes, it seems, were members of the Grange club.
"Our intent is to restore it, whatever it is used as."
Abutting the land that holds the Grange building is a graveyard believed to be more than 150 years old, known as Wilkenson Cemetery.
"It's one of the oldest cemeteries in Rhode Island," suggests Douglas Keene.
In April of 2014, engineer Mark Nyberg submitted a plan for an administrative subdivision to merge the two properties, indicating the Keenes had ownership of the cemetery land. Ericson signed off on the document, an action he says is standard operating procedure when the process appears to have been handled professionally.
"When you get a class one survey from a professional land surveyor, you take it at face value," he said.
Town records, the planner added, listed no owner for the cemetery lot.
"As a result, you accept what the surveyor has given you," he said.
Just months later, Nyberg, who Ericson said has done extensive surveying work throughout North Smithfield, submitted an application to install a septic system on the cemetery lot with the Department of Environmental Management. DEM approved the system earlier this year, and Daniel, who owns D H Keene Septic Service, went to work installing it.
That's when Joel and Doreen Gardner, who own an abutting triangular lot roughly the same size, as well as a home on nearby Rocky Hill Road, took notice.
"The Keenes have installed a septic system on land that they do not own and it remains there today," said Joel.
The Gardners contacted Tax Assessor David Dolce with concerns that the cemetery land did not have a clear title. After tracing land evidence records, Dolce decided not to merge the lots on the town tax map.
"The parcel known as Wilkinson Cemetery was identified as such going back several years and was not included in the Keene's deed or referenced in the deed," Dolce wrote in email to town officials. "I do not think the subdivision is legal, have not merged lots, until additional information is provided."
Under Ericson's advice, the Keenes commissioned an extensive title search for the cemetery, which turned up nothing regarding ownership of the property.
As a result, the Planning Board had to rescind the lot merge last week, separating the two parcels.
But the Keenes' septic system remains on the neighboring historic cemetery, a problem the Garners contend should never have happened.
"We first would like to express our outrage at the improper actions on the part of town officials that have led to this action this evening," Joel said, reading a statement the couple prepared to the Planning Board. "As a result of these actions we have no choice but to spend at least $3,000 to protect our property and our rights as landowners."
The Gardners believe that both Ericson and Nyberg knew the Keenes had no right to the cemetery land.
"The town officials did nothing to respond to this misrepresentation," Joel said. "The town failed to prevent the system from being installed and did not require the septic system be removed."
The Gardners also say that last month, Ericson told them "there were hundreds of unowned lots" in town years ago, and "that this number has (since) been significantly reduced."
"We believe that the citizens of North Smithfield have the right to know how many times the town has given land away, how and why it happened," Joel said.
Now, the Keene brothers are seeking a prescriptive easement for the cemetery land to create parking for the Grange building, but the Gardners say that the latest documents drafted by Nyberg incorrectly show some of their land as belonging to the Wilkenson lot. They've hired another surveyor to look at the property line.
The Gardners also contacted Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, questioning if graves had been desecrated, but that organization found that the septic system had an appropriate 25 foot buffer.
Ericson denies that the town acted improperly on the issue and says he knew nothing about ownership of the cemetery land.
"This is one of the most unusual situations I've ever seen," he said. "Because you can lose your license screwing up, the presumption is you take (an application to merge the lots) at face value. It's a 'once in two lifetimes' situation where somebody would make a mistake like that."
Nyberg could not be reached for comment.
Ericson also says the Gardners misunderstood a conversation he had with them regarding lots where the owner was "unknown." "Land is almost never 'unowned,'" he said. "I explained that seven years ago, the town had more than a thousand 'unknown' lots, for which the town lacked recorded land evidence for at least one lot line or ownership.
"Even when the town itself lacks recorded land evidence, an extensive title search may identify an owner."
"In my tenure here, the town has not given away any land," Ericson said.
The planner questioned if the couple has brought attention to the issue because the Keenes refused to buy their abutting property. The two families reportedly discussed transfer of the Gardners' small triangular parcel, but could not agree on a price.
Doreen says money has nothing to do with the issue. She said she and her husband own several parcels in town and have put land in the forestry program.
"We want to keep the land and protect the integrity of the neighborhood," she said. "It has nothing to do with money."
The Keenes meanwhile, argue that they had good reason to believe they had rights to the cemetery lot, pointing out that the Grange has historically always used the property for parking
"There was an existing septic system on there that was the Grange's," said Douglas. "We were just upgrading that."
"We had reason to believe that we had at least an easement." Daniel added.
But Gardners point out that the septic system the brothers referenced was actually an outhouse. Further, they charge that the developers misrepresented where the small outhouse building was located on the DEM application in order to claim such a use already existed on the cemetery land.
Ericson said he believes RIDEM will tell the Keenes to remove the recently installed septic system.
What's clear is that the issues surrounding the properties will likely end up in the courts. As for the Grange, the Keenes say they still hope to turn the building into a residential rental.
"It's a historic building," Douglas said. "The only way you're going to preserve it is to generate some kind of income."
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFMWMKnbHWvmA4QXzAhgoVSIC72dg&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&ei=JJHxVbCuFYS34ALjkZHQDA&url=http://www.valleybreeze.com/2015-09-09/woonsocket-north-smithfield/grange-owners-install-septic-system-cemetery-they-dont-own
