Tiny Neuman Place eyed for big changes

One of the most persistent headaches for the city’s public works officials has long been a tiny Chippens Hill byway called Neuman Place.
“It’s an ugly kettle of fish,” said Public Works Director Walter Veselka.
Since 1944, when the water department needed a road from Hill Street to a reservoir, the city’s public works department has plowed the street, cleared brush from, paved it at least once and occasionally sent trash trucks to resident James Wargo’s house at its end.
That made sense, officials said, when the water department used the street. But it appears that water crews haven’t needed it for 30 years – developments closer to the reservoir offered better access – yet the city’s help for Wargo continued.
But the long driveway badly needs repair and officials are trying to figure out if there’s a better way to access Wargo’s property now.
Veselka said it would cost taxpayers $80,000 to fix the little-noticed byway that runs just south of Hopmeadow Road. A couple of dozen backyards line its north side.
But it might be possible to do it for much less coming from another direction, he said.
Officials looked into accessing Wargo’s land from Mano Lane, figuring it would cost about $54,000 to build a driveway there. But the configuration makes that option touchy, they said.
So now they’re eyeing the possibility of using a 50-foot section of open space behind Wargo’s house to put in a driveway from Penwood Place instead.
Veselka said he’s not sure if it’s possible because of wetlands issues or other factors that officials can’t tell from looking at maps alone.
He said it may be possible to swap the existing driveway from Hill Street for the land between Penwood Place and Wargo’s property. That would resolve the problem, Veselka said.
Dale Clift, an assistant city attorney, said the property owners are willing to at least consider the idea.
“I want to see this thing move,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the Real Estate Committee that would have to give the plan a green light.
Clift said it may not work out.
“It’s very tentative at this point,” the lawyer said.

Here's a Sept. 25, 2001 story with a lot more background:

By STEVE COLLINS
The Herald Press
BRISTOL – It isn’t quite true that City Hall wants James Wargo dead, but it’s not entirely untrue either.
Wargo said, with a chuckle, they want him gone within five years.
City officials opted recently to keep taking care of a tiny Chippens Hill byway called Neuman Place – whose legal status is up in the air – until Wargo keels over.
Once he’s dead, they said, they would no longer have anything to do with the third of a mile street that’s been a thorn in the city’s side for decades.
“If I get hit by a bus, what happens?” Wargo asked the city’s Board of Public Works. “It’s all over?”
The answer is: probably.
Since 1944, when the water department needed a road from Hill Street to a reservoir, the city’s public works department has plowed the street, cleared brush from, paved it at least once and occasionally sent trash trucks down to Wargo’s house.
It made sense, officials said, when the water department used the street. But it appears that water crews haven’t needed it for a quarter century – developments closer to the reservoir offered better access – but the city’s help for Wargo continued.
The services Wargo received, said former Mayor Stretch Norton, amounted to “a gift” from a city that was trying to be “congenial and friendly” to someone who would have had a major headache if the city ceased lending a hand.
“Everything they got so far has been gravy,” Norton said.
The city attorney’s office agrees that Neuman Place is not a public street.
But Wargo said that with all the services he’s gotten for so long, the byway does count as a city street and City Hall can’t just drop its care. His daughter, Lisa Ledger, backed him on the claim.
Ledger said the city took care of the street when it had a reason to care and otherwise has sought to wash its hands of the responsibility.
Councilman Gerard Couture said that there might well be a continuing responsibility for City Hall. He said the city could well have accepted the street “by implication,” a legal term that means that at some point the city has done so much to indicate it considers a street public that it becomes a public street.
It’s an issue that may well land in court someday, when Wargo’s heirs inherit the problem.
In the meantime, the city is probably given them some more ammunition for their case.
Neuman Place is falling apart, washed out by rain in sections and paved only in spots, badly in need of regarding and other road-building services.
But not for long.
City overseers decided recently that when Tilcon is fixing nearby Hill Street next month, the taxpayers would cover the tab to have its construction personnel and equipment fix the supposedly private driveway.
Mayor Frank Nicastro said it would be “foolish” to let slip the opportunity to take care of the street’s problems when Tilcon is available for a reasonable price. Passing up the chance, he said, would miss “the perfect opportunity” to spruce up Neuman Place.
At first, city officials said they wouldn’t do the work this year unless Wargo signed a contract relinquishing any claim the street is public. They said they would keep taking care of the byway as long as Wargo and his wife lived but no longer.
Wargo, however, refused to sign.
Councilman Joe Wilson told Wargo the city could not give him “this infinite right” to have the street maintained.
But Wilson also cleared the way for Neuman Place to get repaired soon.
He said the city did not need to have a signed deal to stop providing services for the street.
“We can just do what we want to do,” Wilson said, convincing the public works panel to vote to cut off the road once Wargo and his wife die.
At one point, Norton sought to lock in a Sept. 2006 deadline.
“You’re cutting my life even shorter,” Wargo protested.
Only Norton and Don Padlo, both public works commissioners, supported the deadline. But the entire panel, except for Norton, agreed to care for the street until the current owners die.
Neuman Place is a tiny lane that runs just south of Hopmeadow Road. A couple of dozen backyards line its north side.
What’s at stake in the battle over Neuman Place is relatively little – a few thousand dollars worth of annual maintenance at most – but the mostly forgotten road is just the tip of the iceberg.
Couture said that small streets with questionable status exist all over town.
“These aren’t isolated items,” he said. “These are commonplace.”
Norton said that Neuman Place illustrated the danger City Hall faces when it doesn’t stick to the rules.
“That’s the problem the city gets in when it does favors for people,” Norton said. “We should just cease doing it.”
Couture said he hopes the city can resolve the issue.
After Tilcon fixes the road, he said, “it’s not going to last forever and we just can’t be doing it forever.”


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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com