Although he had to go to Grafton County Superior Court this week, Jed Smith is able to keep his 1952 International Harvester farm tractor in front of a vacant house that has been largely abandoned in recent years. .
Smith and his mother, Martha, have been in a 10-year conflict with the Town of Lyme over two properties they own at Dorchester Avenue and Goose Pond Avenue (home of the tractor).
In August, I wrote about the town enforcing a 2015 court order requiring the Smiths to clean up the property that had been a mess for years.
The houses on each site have fallen into disrepair and are currently uninhabitable. That aside, the focus of the Lime Selectboard, you might call it a mission, is to clean up the grounds around your home.
The Smiths have about 20 unregistered vehicles on their 17-acre Dorchester Road property alone, many of which Jed considers collector’s items.
The Selectboard is not alone in its efforts to boost the Smiths’ property in one of the state’s most affluent areas. By a vote of 80-51 at the March town meeting, residents approved spending up to $150,000 of taxpayer dollars on the cleanup effort.
After hearing the wishes of voters, the Select Board gave the Smiths until Aug. 31 to remove the items they wanted to preserve before the town brought in a private contractor to remove what was left.
With help from his family and volunteers, Smith has made progress over the summer, but he still has a long way to go as the deadline passes without immediate action from the board. In an Oct. 10 letter after visiting the two properties, the board informed the Smiths that the first phase of cleaning would begin this week at the Goose Pond Road property. The commission said any items that “contribute to the junkyard condition of the property” will be removed. Benny’s Auto & Hauling of Warner, New Hampshire, was hired for this work.
The board also gave the Smiths a three-page list of items they had designated for removal.
So let’s get back to agricultural tractors.
The edict banning everything in town didn’t sit well with the Smiths or their pro bono attorney, Lebanon attorney Barry Schuster.
After meeting with the Smiths last Friday, Mr. Schuster, who specializes in land use law, had to work quickly. The state courthouse was closed Monday for the holiday, and cleaning crews were expected to arrive Tuesday.
Schuster filed an electronic petition Monday asking Superior Court Judge Jonathan Frizzell to grant a temporary injunction to prevent the cleanup from starting.
“The town’s action is unreasonable and excessive and will result in the loss of personal property used by Mr. and Mrs. Smith for business and personal use,” Schuster said in his complaint.
Schuster added that many of the items on the town’s list are not “junk,” noting that Jed Smith uses a tractor to scavenge for his property management job.
He paid $1,000 for the tractor and considers it a prized possession. “It runs beautifully,” he told me.
I can see why the town wants worn tires and broken vehicle parts removed. But are the old “Farmall” tractors still around? That’s too much gentrification.
In addition to tractor and snowplow blades, the Smiths also lost a metal swing set and children’s outdoor toys, Schuster said in court. These are things that “other families in town” keep in their gardens.
Early Tuesday morning, Schuster drove to the North Haverhill courthouse and spoke with Judith Brotman, chair of the Lyme Selectboard, and Laura Spector Morgan, an attorney from Laconia, New Hampshire, who represents the town. I met with you. The two sides reached an agreement before the judge ran out of time to hear Schuster’s plea. The Selectboard approved it at Thursday’s meeting, and Smith agreed as well, Brotman said in an email.
Under the contract, cleanup work at 172 Goose Pond Road cannot begin until Monday, and the Smiths are given an additional six days to do as much work as possible.
I stopped by the property on Wednesday. There was a trailer home and a small barn on a half-acre lot. I counted 10 lawn mowers, six rusty children’s bicycles, and three gas barbecue grills in my front yard. An abandoned washing machine was around the corner.
In early September, Ray Clark, a longtime Lyme resident, wrote a letter to the Selectboard asking for volunteers to help the Smith family. “Jed’s life had many challenges and difficulties,” Clark wrote. “He is a hard worker and struggles to support his family. He also has psychological barriers to overcome.”
Volunteers include medical professionals who tried unsuccessfully to get Smith treated for hoarding, Clark added.
Smith, 45, is a skilled jack-of-all-trades who works multiple jobs, including Wednesdays and Saturdays, at the Norwich Transport and Recycling Center.
The Smiths acknowledge that many people describe their property as an eyesore.
Martha Smith grew up on what was once her family’s small farm on Dorchester Road leading to the Dartmouth Skiway. The Goose Pond Road property is where Jed Smith and his late wife Katherine raised their two children, who were in elementary school when their mother died of heart failure in 2014.
“We know we need to clean up the place,” Martha Smith told me this week, echoing what she and her son said at a Selectboard meeting I attended. “We’re working as fast as we can. Sometimes life gets in the way.”
This summer, Jed and his partner Taylor Gray found themselves without a roof over their heads. They moved into a camper with their young son Colton and Gray’s 8-year-old son Keegan.
This week, campgrounds in Bath, New Hampshire, remained closed for the season. They are trying to find an affordable place to live before winter arrives. In the meantime, they’re renting a room at a motel in White River Junction.
“We have two beds, a refrigerator and a microwave,” Smith told me. “There’s also free breakfast. There’s nothing fancy about that.”
Jim Kenyon can be reached at jkenyon@vnews.com.
