This isn’t the only property with missing inspections

— From Vince Virano
The map of a subdivision on Singer Road in Knox shows property owned by Vince Virano and by Gerald and Traci Hackstadt. Henry Whipple says he paid a surveyor to draw the map and added handwritten notes.

To the Editor:

On Jan. 10, 2019 [“If something is good, Vas takes the credit”], and on March 7, 2019 [“Check it out”], I had sent two letters to The Enterprise, and both letters had a link to an editorial [“The laws are meant for everyone to follow”] written on July 11, 2013.

This editorial had to do with a story that had run on July 11, 2013, saying that the house belonging to Gerald and Traci Hackstadt was sited using a “hand drawn” plot plan.

This “plot plan” was referred to by John Dorfman, Knox’s town attorney at the time, as a “hand drawn” map.

On Dec. 6, 2011, John Dorfman had sent me a copy of this map calling it a “tax map,” with reference to a drilled well. This map has a “proposed house,” “proposed leach bed,” and “proposed well” printed on it.

There were also some things handwritten on this map such as “driveway to proposed house, 10 gallon per minute drilled well, wooded, and field,” which were added to the printed part to create a “flyer” to be left at Lot 5 when it was for sale.

On Dec. 6, 2011, I had received a copy of an actual tax map from the town assessor, and this map showed the property lines for all of the Singer Road subdivision. This map doesn’t have any proposed anything on it, just numbers.

On Jan. 25, 2019, I sent Russ Pokorny, the Knox town assessor, the following email with a copy of the “tax map” from John Dorfman attached:

“Russ:

“The document below is being described as a ‘Tax Map’ but it is very different from what you had sent me some time back.

“Is the document below something that was produced by the Town, or is it from another source?

“Thanks,

“Vince Virano.”

On Jan. 31, 2019, I received the following email from Russ Pokorny:

“Hello Vince,

“Sorry for the delay, but I was out of town.

“I’m not familiar with the document below. It looks like an enhanced map perhaps from the Knox building/zoning department.

“The Tax Map I sent you comes to me from Albany County.

“Thanks,

Russ”

In 1990, I was given a copy of a survey map when I bought Lot 6 on Singer Road. This survey map was created in, I believe, 1989.

On May 12, 2009, before a town board meeting, I had given John Dorfman a copy of this survey map, and a copy of a receipt from RD Snyder, land surveyors, for checking and re-staking the property line in August of 2006.

It turns out that the “tax map” from John Dorfman was created from a section of this survey map.

OK, so what goes all this mean?

The “Tax Map/flyer/hand drawn map/hand drawn plot plan” was made from a survey map. Albany County sends the assessor a tax map showing the Singer Road subdivision on it, with the property lines all marked out.

In the Singer Road section of this map, it has the words “Survey for Henry Whipple.”

So, there had to be a survey for the county to know what was in the Singer Road subdivision to send back to the town. So John Dorfman had to say, even though he knew differently, that the map was hand-drawn, because to call it a survey map or a tax map would be to acknowledge that there had indeed been a survey.

So all this about needing a survey, and hand-drawn maps, etc., was a smokescreen.

But why?

The town could not ticket the Hackstadt house for being in violation of the setback because the house has a certificate of occupancy saying everything was legal, but there are no inspection reports on the house.

Recently, it has been coming out that this isn’t the only property with missing inspections, and that is including Knox Town Hall.

Vince Virano

Albany

Editor’s note: Knox Building Inspector Dan Sherman said that he is not familiar with the inspections of either the town hall or the Hackstadt property, as those properties were handled by previous building inspectors. He also said he does not know what Vince Virano is referencing with missing inspection reports elsewhere, and said it was too broad of a statement.

Russ Pokorny confirmed that he did have the email exchange referenced above with Virano.

John Dorfman said on Tuesday that, when he was Knox’s town attorney, he had provided Virano with a tax map given to him by the town’s zoning board. The zoning board, he said, received it from the Hackstadts, and he said that Henry Whipple later testified that he prepared the map. Whipple said he paid to have a surveyor draw the map and added some notes.

Dorfman said that he and the late Robert Delaney, who was then the Knox building inspector, reviewed the Hackstadt property but could not confirm what the setback was.

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