To the Editor:

On July 25, The Enterprise printed a letter I had sent, which needs a clarification. [“Is my understanding of Knox Zoning Ordinance correct?”].

In this letter, it states that Bob Delaney, when he was the Knox building and zoning administrator, had said the setback for a building that did not exceed 144 square feet was a “gray area.”

OK. In 2006, to “short circuit” a claim of “adverse possession”by the former owners of 98 Singer Road, I was forced to take this matter to the town.

Not knowing how to approach this to Bob, in a phone call, I started out stating that Gerald Hackstadt had built a woodshed on my property.

Bob says something close to, “Tell him thanks; he just built you a woodshed.”

Then I told Bob that the woodshed was only on my property by a matter of inches, and Bob asked me, “How big is this shed, because over a certain size it would be subject to a setback.”

I responded, “It’s all in the setback; house, swimming pool, woodshed, furnace.”

Bob says, “Wow,” and I made an appointment to go in and see him at Town Hall.

The size of the woodshed was not addressed, so I didn’t know what size Bob was referring to.

After my meeting with Bob, I obtained a copy of the Knox Zoning Ordinance, and I saw where it stated that construction exceeding 144 square feet would need a “Certificate of Compliance,” but the woodshed at 12x12 would not, because of its size.

So, I found myself in this situation where I can’t move the woodshed, and the town can’t do anything because of the size of the woodshed, and my only option was to sue Hackstadt to have him move it a few inches.

This situation existed until I wound up suing Hackstadt, and part of the suit involved access to the woodshed being a cause for a trespass complaint.

At the Aug. 25, 2011 public hearing for a variance on the Hackstadt property, Amy Pokorny made a motion to grant a variance with the stipulation that the woodshed be moved to comply with a 50-foot setback requirement, which in my reading of the ordinance, and my conversation with Bob Delaney in 2006, would not apply.

After the public hearing, I asked Bob about this, and then he was saying that this was a “gray area” and I never got a definitive answer.

I still believe that Bob was right in 2006, and my understanding of the ordinance is correct, and the woodshed would not be subject to a setback requirement.

I believe the woodshed was not moved to get it out of the setback area, but was moved to help the Hackstadts get out of the lawsuit I had brought against them.

Vince Virano

Albany

Editor’s note: Robert Delaney died in 2015. More than a decade ago, The Enterprise covered Vince Virano’s situation with the Hackstadt property as it unfolded.