STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine — A contentious 2 1/2-year legal dispute over an old grain storage shed turned home could finally be coming to a close.
The Stockton Springs Select Board ironed out an agreement with Hollie Ann Beal during a Thursday morning meeting, giving her until April 25 to finish the work needed to make her house livable again.
The extension will likely allow Beal to finish work on the house, capping an uncommonly long legal battle that had eaten up resources and energies on both sides.
“I’m happy we’ve almost made it through this,” Beal said after the meeting. “I’ve worked hard to keep it going, and I wasn’t going to give up and I’m going to get this done.”
The house, perched on the banks of a brook at 65 Sandy Point Road, has been the focus of legal fights since November 2014, when town officials voted to condemn the building. Beal had lived there for a decade, until a neighbor complained about the state of the building, prompting a visit from an inspector who raised serious concerns about the structural integrity of the house.
After a series of appeals, the case made its way to the Maine Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the town in January. That started a 30-day clock in which Beal had to fix up the property or risk losing it to demolition. She asked for an additional two-week extension, which the town granted.
The heated disagreement was ultimately decided by Maine’s top court, after a series of legal appeals and attempts to shore up the property cost both the small town and the owner tens of thousands of dollars.
“Every time we started making progress, there was a snowstorm that set us back and forced contractors to cancel,” Beal said.
Beal’s family, helpers and a few contractors made progress on the building, strengthening the structure, rewiring the electricity, putting in new plumbing, installing a new roof and siding, among other changes. They spent about $9,000 in February alone, and invested about $40,000 in the building overall, according to Beal.
An inspector, joined by the town’s police chief, examined the property on Wednesday, and found enough work had been done to make the building structurally sound, but it was not yet habitable.
Beal will have to finish plumbing, install a permanent heat source and finish a few other minor items, such as putting faceplates on the electric outlets, before receiving a certificate of occupancy. The building is still a construction site, littered with debris and unfinished walls.
“We’re going to get this done,” Beal said.
If she doesn’t finish that work by the late April deadline, the town reserves the right to demolish the building.
Stockton Spring Selectwoman Lesley Cosmano vented her frustrations with the process at Thursday’s meeting.
“We really don’t think this was fun, for 2.5 years we’ve been driven through the court system unnecessarily,” Cosmano said, adding that the process has cost the town about $20,000 in legal fees. “It has been a burden for us to bear.”
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.